Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice - Spoiler Review (Reposted)

NOTE: This is a review drafted on 3/27/2016 on a different blog that is no longer in use. I decided to transfer content from that website to this to maintain consistency. 

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice - Spoiler Review

**NOTE** This is my first spoiler review so a quick rundown of how this is going to work. My non spoiler reviews all follow a consistent template. These will not. For these, I will go in depth on anything and everything that I feel needs discussion. You will be given plenty of time to click away before reading the review, so you have no reason to blame me for spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING

Still here? Let's do this

Lex Luthor: I really hated this guy. Can I make that clear? And no, I did not say I hated Jesse Eisenberg, I respect him truly for his work. But I hate this iteration of Lex Luthor. The scenes where he's talking to Senator Finch were really disturbing, because I got a clear stalker vibe from him. And the scene where he was talking to a government official and he pops a Jolly Rancher in the guy's mouth, I nearly gagged. That was almost as bad as it got, until I reached the scene where he's giving a speech at his own party, just atrocious. Also, when he's in his jail cell going insane, it was so bad because this insanity coming from an actor like Jesse Eisenberg was absurd to watch.

Superman: Let's talk about the big spoiler. And that is a clear warning, if you have not watched the film, don't care about spoilers and want the movie ruined, you do not want this spoiler ruined for you. Still here? Either you don't care at al about spoilers, or you've seen the movie, in which case, hey. So Superman dies. The famous scene from "The Death of Superman," is recreated when Doomsday is killed at the same time as Superman. And I thought this was a bold move, and the right move. And I wanted him to stay dead. Not forever obviously, but I wanted him dead for Justice League Part 1. The whole mission of Justice League Part 1 should be to get the members and defend against a villain (Darkseid) while trying to revive Superman, which they do at the end of the movie. But no, they leave the movie off with him obviously alive, and that bothered me. They had the guts to go through with that move, but they couldn't finish it off.

Justice League Set-Up: I really didn't like the way that they set-up the Justice League through those emails that Bruce sent to Prince. Of course, the scenes which showed Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman were amazing, and the new photo of Wonder Woman was cool, but the e-mail was so blatant as to have the logos for the new characters on their files. It's not like we were that stupid as to not realize that a guy with a trident underwater in a DC movie is Aquaman. I really felt it could have been handled much better.

Third Act: I mentioned in my non-spoiler review that I enjoyed the third act of the movie so much, or the last hour. It really was a delight to see Batman and Superman fighting, and seeing the Trinity onscreen together was just a sight to behold. One of the things that bothered me obviously was Doomsday, but that did not bother me because, as mentioned in my non spoiler review, the Trinity was way cooler. However, the other thing that I hated was the resolution to the fight. The way that the word Martha suddenly made Batman and Superman best friends was rather ridiculous. More on that in a little bit.

Martha Kent and Martha Wayne: I honestly really liked the beginning scene where Bruce's parents are killed (minus when Bruce is flying in the air surrounded by bats). I really thought that it was handed well, especially with the pearls falling to the ground. However, I hated how the fight ended so abruptly with Batman's foot on Superman's throat, and Superman only having to utter the word "Martha" to get him to snap. It was a very anticlimactic way to end a very short fight.

Lois Lane: Lois Lane struggled to remain relevant throughout the entire movie. The whole subplot with the bullet was completely and utterly extraneous and could be taken out of the movie without anyone caring. And the whole thing about the Kryptonite spear was also stupid. She dumped the spear into the water, then while watching the battle between Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Doomsday, suddenly realized that she had to go grab the spear. Unfortunately for her, as soon as she dives into the pool, rubble begins to fall on her and Superman has to go save her. She was a useless character, and honestly I could've done without her completely save for her being Superman's love interest. 

Kryptonite: The subplot with the White Portuguese I felt was only there to shoehorn in Batman's detective abilities. It was an extraneous way for Bruce to retrieve the Justice League files and find out that Lex is trying to get the Kryptonite at the same time, which could have been done in much more clever ways. The way Batman crafts the Kryptonite into weapons was fantastic however, and I really believe that it showcased some of his skill. 

Doomsday: What can I say, this guy's a mess. I really did like when he and Superman had a brief fight in space, because it showcased a new arena where Superman and his opponents could fight in, as well as being visually stunning. All the destruction that he caused was completely unnecessary, and it showed Zack Snyder learned nothing about how to handle all the destruction from Man of Steel. And yes, he did evolve, by growing spikes out of his back from being a smooth rock monster. Which is not saying much at all. He was like Venom from Spider-man 3; completely irrelevant and only for fans, and the fans didn't even want him in this movie. I hope Darkseid isn't like this. 

Conclusion: Yeah this movie was a mess from start to climax, and there were lots of components that were completely unnecessary, and should've been taken out. However, that does not make this movie unenjoyable, and I strongly believe there is a good movie hidden in this rubble.