Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), PG-13, ★★

Here it is: the fight of the year until Civil War. 

Here it is: one of the most anticipated movies of the year with Batman fighting Superman for justice and more. This has to be one of the most challenging projects to partake due to the fan base and also the true spirit of DC comic book universe and who else to be at the helm to direct this movie? Christopher Nolan. Pssshhh...I wish. Zach Snyder: A director that I'm not fond of but when I saw Man of Steel recently, I liked the movie a tad more but because of the character development of Clark Kent/Superman especially with the scenes with his father. Those were the best parts of the movie. Now, to integrate the climactic events with Bruce Wayne's side of the story as his building collapses, it brings a different angle to the story. However, under Snyder's direction, the visual excitement persuades you to get in the moments of epic greatness but he gets lost in the sloppy narrative that jumbles so much to propel you to get excited for the next movie.

Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) is describing a dream he was having when we, the audience, see a flashback...again...of a young Bruce leaving the theater with his parents, Thomas and Martha (Jeffrey Dean Morgan (he'll be Negan in The Walking Dead) and Lauren Cohan), when they are approached by a gunman and they both get shot and die. He also says that he is running in the woods, falling down a hole and being swarmed by bats surrounding him and guiding him up back to the surface. We also, from his point of view, Superman (Henry Cavill) fighting General Zod (Michael Shannon). Zoe's heat vision tears through the Wayne Enterprises building and it collapses.

18 months later, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is conducting an interview with a warlord that gets an assistant killed and before she gets killed, Superman crashes through the warlord's home and plows him through the wall and rescues her. A press conference ensues after the mayhem in Africa and a woman testifies blaming Superman for the death of her people in Africa. Senator Finch (Holly Hunter) responds by saying that Superman must answer for the destruction he's caused.

Later, Senator Finch meets Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) who has recovered some of the Kryptonite and plans to weaponize it as a "silver bullet" in case the planets endures another attack from the Kryptonians. Bruce investigates LexCorp as to what they are up to and who they are involved with. Alfred (Jeremy Irons) says that Bruce is invited to the fundraiser in which Clark attends as he is there to report. Bruce left a lock opener on a safe in Lex's home to grab a hard drive in which it was taken by Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), a mysterious woman. Bruce and Clark meet speaking against each other's identities which would come to a battle for justice later on.

Bruce trying to seduce Diana. 

Ok. Where do I begin? There are good things in this movie and there are bad things in this movie. Unfortunately, it's 60/40 going to the bad stuff because I was baffled as to how many subplots and characters pile up to set up another movie and it's very overwhelming because the main focus was supposed to be on both Batman v. Superman. But, my main critique that so many parts were good that is was visually stunning, however, the narrative is so unfocused, underdeveloped and bloated that  once you're about the solve a puzzle, your younger brother/sister will come in and mess up the puzzle and the pieces are scattered all over the living room, making you waste time trying to find pieces. Some of the footage in the movie should not have been in the movie. I believed that it was 20 minutes too long.

Plus, the movie jumps from subplot to subplot to a dream sequence to an action sequence and it's just too much for myself to handle because in the hands of Snyder, he usually sets up the visual tone quite well but loses so much focus as to what the primary story and what the title serves for the mainstream audience. Also, the movie does not have as much joy and excitement on-screen like The Avengers, Superman (1978) or even The Dark Knight with the main villain throwing in some humorous dialogue on-screen.

Ben Affleck as Batman and Bruce Wayne is a very good choice for the cast as I saw in that role. He had more grit and menace in the suit and tough suaveness when he is Wayne especially when he sort of flirts with Diana Prince. I thought he did a good job. Henry Cavill's portrait of Superman, again, has the look and is well-served but his story is scattered and all over-the-map even with Amy Adams' Lois Lane. Their chemistry is not as believable as Man of Steel because frankly, you don't really need Lois in the story. She is titled as a damsel-in-distress in this movie along with Diane Lane's Martha Kent. I wanted more Gal Gadot in this movie because her entrance as Wonder-Woman was awesome and she deserves a stand-alone movie. I also liked Jeremy Irons as Alfred even though at times, I felt like he was in another movie. Ok, Jesse Eisenberg...is wildly miscast as Lex Luthor. He's just an evil portrait of Mark Zuckerberg. I don't feel threatened by his interpretation of Lex Luthor. He does not work, whatsoever.

The first 30 minutes is well-done trying to set-up the characters but is clumsily edited in such a fashion as to what will happen later because later, you'll be lost as to what's going on with this item or this character or the other character. But, Snyder rehashes so much stuff from his previous movies and Nolan's movies with the dream sequences and the overstuffed CGI scenes, especially with a few of the action sequences.

Bottom line, most of the cast except for Jesse Eisenberg delivers serving their character well. But, narratively, it is basically a disaster. When we get to the final battle sequence, even if the trailer spoils the moment, it is an awesome sequence that will deliver an unpredictable demise in my opinion but could potentially upset some fans. So, if I were to average Zach Snyder's poor narrative storytelling (one star) and the visual and exciting action sequences (three stars), I think that this is an unfortunate disappointment. And, I'm starting to question whether or not Zach Snyder should set up the Justice League movie which this movie clunkily sets up most of the characters.

**