By no means am I a fan of DC Comics, I understand they are the first and their characters started the superhero movement but my biggest problem with their characters are they are Gods. Gods I cannot relate to, Gods I cannot fathom their problems or why they have them. To think I could would make me the worst narcissist. The only character that I ever felt a kinship to is Batman. A character while endowed with the wealth of gods has the problems of any mortal man and the courage to stand with or against the gods of the DC Universe. One of the many reasons Batman endures in pop culture, he is mortal that dares challenge those who should be beyond his comprehension and often outsmarts them. Going into this movie I had many problems. I had an affinity for the fun carefree yet dramatic stylings of Richard Donner and Christopher Reeves take on Superman, which honestly made Man of Steel an utter blood soaked and over dramatic bore. Batman has had more iterations than any other comic book character out there to hit the big or small screen with at least three others in the past decade donning the cowl. What more could they do with this character what could make me care? All the trailers I had seen were nothing less of a mess of editing, spoilers and over dramatization. All indications that I would loathe this movie. Not to mention the fact that Frank Miller's classic, "The Dark Knight Returns" is one of my all time favorite Batman stories, a story of which was promised within this film yet seemed to be a footnote in the grand scheme of it's plot. How could all of this balance yet keep me excited? Perhaps it was my lack of love for the source material or my low expectations but I will say this was a very decent film. However I will say die hard fans of original DC may hate it. 
The film begins by retelling the origin of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman in the opening credits and segways into the storyline of Man of Steel told through the eyes of Bruce Wayne and the horrors he sees. It goes into present day where Superman is being accused of causing terrorist activity by interfering with political affairs that center around the reportings of Lois Lane. The world watches as Superman saves it while it questions whether his interference makes these terrorists pull the trigger upon the innocent. The government feels his vigilante activity must stop. Antithetical to this is the people of Gotham publicly helping the vigilante actions of the Batman. This version of Batman is far more brutal and Superman takes offense to his actions, warning him to stop. Bruce Wayne becomes obsessed with finding out more about the Superman and the alien race he comes from. Enter Lex Luthor who has spared no expense to acquire every bit of information and piece of alien tech he can get his hands on. Like a master of Chess, Lex orchestrates the two to go head to head and demolish each other as he builds his own Doomsday weapon from the ashes of the Kryptonian civilization.
The plot is pretty cut and dry when you finish the movie but there are so many elements in between it almost throws you off the main point. If you're looking for action, you will get small moments here and there but no big action pieces until the end of the film as a majority of it is political jargon on why Superman is the enemy. Those looking for that aspect of Miller's original writings will get what they want except instead of political satire of why we hate Batman you get the flipped view of why we should fear Superman. This is a huge chunk of the film that makes it more adult than for children, I will say I don't think this is a movie to take the whole family to and have fun with, but it never set out to be that ironically considering how kid friendly DC was originally. The most amazing thing about this movie is its ability to balance all these characters and story arcs into a cohesive plot that actually makes sense.
This movie is about Batman and Wonder Woman, they are the reason to see it and the only characters you truly care about. Those complaining about Batfleck need not worry as his performance of Bruce Wayne in his golden years is very much believable as he carries the weight of a man who has seen and done it all in the line of duty. If you are wanting to see Bruce trick the public into thinking he's a billionaire playboy there is only one scene that touches upon that as the rest of the film is his obsession in conquering Superman. The opening of the film is all about Batman/Bruce and how Man of Steel was his own personal 9/11 and the sequence showing his horror pulls no punches leaving your mouth agape at the damage Superman has caused making you immediately side with Bruce in his quest for vengeance. Here though is where I have to draw a line. Cinematically Bruce's anger and rage makes sense. His drive to destroy all Superman stands for makes sense. The lengths he goes to achieve it, while making sense in the movie completely go against his character in general. Batman guns people down and even in one case stabs them. The stab was the moment I froze the most at the length this man went. That's completely against Batman's code. There's a reason the Joker is still alive, if Batman had no problem mortally injuring someone then why is there a Joker in the Suicide Squad film? Even in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight, Barman couldn't hit Joker with his bat cycle because it went against his code. This bothered me a bit as a comic fan. Aside from that, in this iteration of the DC universe he was perfect. I didn't get my perfect Frank Miller Batman but he came damn close. As much as o love Michael Caine, Jeremy Irons perfectly captured Alfred from the first Batman film and combined him with a man who over the years learned to adapt to Batman's technology enough to become the perfect sidekick. He helps Batman take down bad guys with a dry wit and perfect servitude toward his master. 
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman seemed to come out of nowhere for no reason in the trailers. While her build up in the film is small it is indeed a decent build up as to why she would be there during the final battle. Her past is uncovered and she is forced into helping Batman and Superman fight their true opponent in the most glorious entrance in the entire film with a musical score that inspires and invokes her battle ready heritage. Her part is small but when you see her do what she does best and use some of her tricks that she is famously known for you cant help but smile at all she does. More than anything I am excited to see her carry her own film and there are plenty of tidbits to induce chills as to her past and where her solo film will go.
Superman from the beginning is built up as the film's antagonist in a strange way. This was probably the film's biggest flaw. Having not cared for Man of Steel and seeing him lord over everyone and everything like a god to the point that he even told Batman that his days as the caped crusader were over I hated him. I felt no love for him, I didn't feel bad for him and he had a superiority complex throughout the film that made it hard to care when he wondered if his actions were wrong. Every time he was on screen I was bored or angry. He had no redeeming qualities in this movie until the very end when he finally did something that felt like Superman. The sad part is I'm not sure if I cared at the end because of his actions in the film or because of the nostalgia and knowledge I had of the character in comic book form. I can't say it will translate well either way but audiences will have a tough time connecting with him.
I hate Jesse Eisenberg. He has played the same awkward stuttering character in every film I have seen him in and is often interchangeable with Michael Cera. Because of that to me his acting in this film was sheer brilliance. This is not at all the Lex Luthor comic book fans are going to want and in no way reflects the true mad genius of the character but rather is a new beast entirely reminiscent of the Joker. His motives are meticulous yet mad and everything is theatrics to him. While he plays a mad genius and I applaud his performance, his story is never really clear. For no real reason he hates Superman and Batman and wants them both dead. He's a bored billionaire it seems, egotistical and his youth wants to challenge God. In a sense he is the truest form of a satanist wanting to challenge God and overcome him. Proving he himself could attain the same level of god hood.
The oddest thing is why the plot is very simple it is also bogged down by so many quirks from the characters it's almost as if they are there to make you think there is more to it than there should be. Of course much of those arks seem to be plot lines that will lead into future installments, but it can confuse or bore the average audience member with too much information if they don't have prior knowledge to the source material. Making some sequences a little irrelevant to the plot that perhaps could have been better utilized as after the credit sequences of which this film has none. 
Zack Snyder has constructed a decently enjoyable cohesive film that I have to praise him for pulling off. What could have been a horrid mess in the wrong hands turned out to be a fun ride with actual plot and dialogue instead of a giant CGI fist fights devoid of any type of drama. I feel this is not the movie for purists of older DC story lines as their beloved characters have indeed been take a bit too far into darker territory. Funnily enough the public craved Batman to become darker and darker but I question has this one gone a bit too far? In that aspect to an average movie goer who won't care of a heroes dilemma this will be half a bore and half a blast. The best way I can put it is the first half fulfills the drama of the comics and the second half quenched the thirst of an average action lover. 3.5 Batarangs out of five for Wonder Woman and Batman alone!
