Batman V Superman : Dawn of Justice

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 25th March, 2016
Time : 151 minutes
Director : Zack Snyder; Writers : Chris Terrio, David S Goyer based on characters created by Bob Kane / Bill Finger (Batman) and Jerry Siegel / Joey Shuster (Superman); Music : Hans Zimmer, Junkie XL
Starring : Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Laurence Fishburne, Holly Hunter, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane. Scoot McNairy, Callan Mulvey



Everyone is very angry in this film – for reasons known or unknown

The people of Gotham are not sure they want the Batman (Ben Affleck) patrolling the streets anymore.
The people of Metropolis are very sure they don’t want Superman (Henry Cavill) to be running amok – especially after an incident in Africa, which results in a lot of collateral damage and inspires a Senate hearing, led by Holly Hunter.

For some reason, Batman is furious at Superman – ostensibly for having led the aliens to Earth. For reasons even harder to decipher, Superman / Clark Kent is angry at Batman and warns him to stop answering calls from citizens for help. And finally, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) is angry at everyone and on his own trip – here, we aren’t even given any reasons as to why a billionaire, owner of a vast business empire – is so obsessed with Superman and Batman.

The only one who wears a smile for most of the film, is the mysterious Gal Gadot – who has a knack for turning up at the right place at the right time – and is as keen on examining Lex Luthor as Ben Affleck is…but what’s her secret ?

It’s all very dark, very grim and very angry. The action is good, the film moves along at a good pace, Batman in particular, has a few new tricks up his sleeve, but nothing awe-inspiring overall, nothing which really stays with you. I found Henry Cavill to be very serious, too somber in his portrayal of the Man of Steel - had the same issue in his earlier film too. And the same applied to Affleck’s Batman – was just simmering with too much rage to be caring enough about his city’s citizens.

This film smacked of DC Comics making a full-on attempt to catch up with the success of Marvel Comics. Even copying part of their formulae, trying to bring their marquee characters together. As kids, one of the aspects that intrigued us about these super-heroes was how they would square off against each other. Batman Vs Superman takes that thought quite literally, and if you take aside the heavy-duty special effects, comes across as quite kiddish on the whole.