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Rating: Zack Snyder's style alone would be enough to sink this film, but unfortunately, it’s not the only big problem present. The director does not know the meaning of the following words: nuances, variations, delicacy. No, Zack goes all out with a heavy hand. He wanted a dark and tense film, and he got his dark and tense film. 150 minutes as heavy as a stone, covered by a tarry slime that darkens the cinematography unnaturally and excessively. The tension is exacerbated, with pompous, ancient, overly emphatic music.
But the real problems lie elsewhere. The screenplay, by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, is a half disaster. On one hand, it builds the premises of the more espionage facet almost meticulously, but on the other hand, it fails on some key concepts. It is a script that cannot be in-depth. There are three major errors. In the first part, the contrast between Batman and Superman is built without providing any complexity to the matter. In the eyes of the audience, Superman remains perfect, and thus Bruce Wayne's hatred seems at least pretentious. At a certain point, Batman's change is abrupt, making it appear almost comical. Finally, Lex Luthor is well portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, but the motivations behind his actions are not explained.
The first part is heavy, excessively verbose, and choppy in editing: it fails to create a believable contrast between the two heroes and goes on endless loops to establish not-so-complicated premises. The time should have been better spent creating more sensible friction points, showing real flaws in Superman. But this is impossible because he has no flaws. This means that the story doesn't make sense at its core, but let’s pretend otherwise.
As I was saying, the first part is heavy, but you'll miss it when the fighting starts. The final battle is one of the most dragged-out things ever seen in a comic book movie. At some point, Snyder must have gone off the rails, and from that moment on, it really feels like watching a Dragon Ball Z fight.
It’s a shame because, for example, Ben Affleck's Batman, which could have been the worst thing, turns out to be acceptable and spot-on in his being seriously tough. Sure, then suddenly he turns sweet, but let's not be too picky. Otherwise, the movie is notable for a poorly introduced but truly fascinating and sensual Wonder Woman, thanks to Gal Gadot; for a series of decent ironic cues but which get lost in the chaos; and for an overall dignified cast. Ben Affleck finds it easy to play the angry Batman with his punchable face, but with the mask, he gets a clumsy big face.
In short, Warner tried to move the comic book movie universe of recent years onto a darker and more serious ridge, but it’s a superficial attempt that highlights instead structural deficiencies. At this point, it’s better the lightness of Marvel, which at least knows how to manage the plots more fluidly. Here the mountain has given birth to a mouse.
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