(2.5 / 5)
Hyped up piece of nonsense.
I guess if we’re being completely honest with ourselves, you can’t really expect much from a concept like Batman versus Superman. With the right execution they just might have been able to pull it off. Unfortunately, they didn’t.
I did my best to reserve judgement until the film came out, but it turns out that people were spot-on with their reservations about Ben Affleck as Batman. His acting is way below par; most of the time he just looks bored. This isn’t at all helped by the fact that he spends half the film channeling Bane rather than Batman. However this is more down to the flawed character development than the acting itself.
Batman isn’t the only character who seems a bit off. This incarnation of Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) is awkward and nerdy – he’s more like The Riddler played by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever. Certainly not the powerful and strong business man that he’s meant to be. Then there’s Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons), who looks like he should be working for some high-end men’s fashion brand. There’s no way you can believe he’d lower himself to the ranks of butler. He’s not even dressed like Alfred.
Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) seems like an afterthought rather than an integral part of the film. Then there’s the story, and the script, the uninspiring action scenes… I could go on.
There was one thing they did get right, though. Henry Cavill IS Superman. He gives a flawless performance in spite of what he has to work with. This makes a huge difference to the film, and saves it to some extent. It’s a shame that Spiderman is on Marvel rather than DC Comics, to see Andrew Garfield’s Spiderman vs Superman instead would have at least been superb acting on both counts. Jesse Eisenberg does give a decent performance though, in spite of the odd direction of his character.
For all its flaws, at least it’s not mind-numbingly boring – and i’ve ranked it accordingly. All I can say now is: “Internet, bring on the memes!”
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice premieres in Sweden on March 23.