Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
2016  PG-13  ACTION  2h 31min
CAST— Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot
MUSIC— Hans Zimmer, Junkie XL  DIRECTOR— Zack Snyder  BASED ON— Characters appearing in DC Comics

     Okay, there’s a lot going on here. Starting with the climactic battle from Man of Steel (2013) our film for this evening begins with a bang and barely lets up. While Superman (Henry Cavill) battles General Zod (you know, when pretty much all of Metropolis was destroyed?) Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) is scrambling to save bystanders on the ground. When Wayne Financial collapses Wayne sees red. He’s been hearing about this new supposed savior of man for a while now… but Wayne has his doubts; due to this latest turn of events he decides to take down Superman (and with this film’s brooding, brutal version of Batman, you just know he can do it). Wayne hunts down an irradiated chunk of Superman’s home planet, but he’ll have to pry it from the grasp of industrialist Lex Luthor (a horrendously miscast Jesse Eisenberg), who has acquired the kryptonite for his own nefarious schemes. Meanwhile, Superman has been embroiled in controversy as of late, forcing him to reconsider if his choice to aid mankind has been the right one. But it may be too late. Luthor has discovered that Superman is in fact mild mannered reporter Clark Kent so he kidnaps Martha Kent (Diane Lane), threatening to kill her unless Superman kills Gotham’s Dark Knight. During their duel the heroes realize that they’ve both been manipulated and decide to take down Luthor, who has used the corpse of Zod to create the monstrous Doomsday. Even with the help of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) can the world’s finest save the day (and pretty much the world, the universe, and everything in between)? Whew! Plenty of action dominates the screen but the end result is just plain ol’ overkill. The film (after Man of Steel) is a stepping stone to a bigger, expanded universe featuring some of DC Comics’ biggest and brightest. But the excess the film offers is at times exhausting. DC fans have plenty to look forward to, as the teasing additions of characters including Cyborg, The Flash, and Aquaman only serve to whet the appetite of DC fanboys and –girls. Bloated, sure, but still solid. R-rated extended version also available. Razzie-winner for Worst Supporting Actor (Eisenberg), Worst Screen Combo (Affleck and Cavill), Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff or Sequel, Worst Screenplay.
OUR RATING— ** ½
PRECEDED BY— Man of Steel (2013)
FOLLOWED BY— Suicide Squad (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019)