**Note: Thank you to a good friend for pointing out that I mislabeled Alfred as Albert. **headdesk** For the record, yes, I know his name is Alfred, not sure where the Albert came from today. The situation has been rectified.**
Yup. I saw it early. Thanks to our local gaming store owner, we got tickets to an early screening. How was it? Well, let's establish first and foremost that I'm more of a Marvel girl than a DC chick. That doesn't mean I'm not willing to expand my fandom--it just means I'm not an expert on either Batman or Superman. So perhaps my opinion won't mean much. Let's also point out, for those who may not know, that the story line of this particular movie apparently has little to nothing to do with any Batman or Superman comic plot that currently exists. So if you're a dedicated comic fan, this may not be your cup of tea.
For me? An uneducated nerd with little background knowledge and no expectations? It was perfectly adequate.
It was a long and fairly disjointed film with just enough entertaining and humorous moments to keep it from being completely dull. This is especially true of the first half of the film, which is composed of short scenes that jump from character to character to character with no real continuity or sense of momentum. A number of scenes also lack any real sense of relevance, which is only exacerbated by their being "out of order;" while technically in chronological order, there is no flow to the "plot." Let's put it this way: at one point I leaned over to ask my husband what time it was. I had to suppress my groan when I realized we were only an hour in to the two and a half hour film.
The battle scenes that compose the second half of the film are definitely more entertaining and pass the time much more quickly. Watching the level of hatred Batman feels for Superman come to life in combat lets the viewer truly experience his emotions. And for a new fan like me, seeing the seemingly invincible Superman brought low by a superhero with no real "superpowers" was interesting to watch. It was a bit like cheering for the underdog, which I tend to do. As to Doomsday, brought to life by Lex Luthor and LOTR cave troll look-alike, I missed the point altogether. That may indeed be due to my lack of DC world background knowledge, but I couldn't tell you much about Doomsday other than he's a Kryptonian. I'm not sure why Lex created him, why he's so indestructible, or why he's out to destroy the world. The battle is pretty, I'll give it that. The explosions, Superman's X-ray vision, the flipping and turning and dodging of Batman and Wonder Woman--they flow in gorgeous sequences the rest of the film would have benefited greatly from.
As for the characters themselves? Honestly, I think the best performance was given by the one person the majority of the public seemed to dread most. Ben Affleck plays an exceptional Bruce Wayne, if a not-so-exceptional Batman. He leaves Christian Bale in the dust, that's for sure. Jeremy Irons is no Michael Caine, but his portrayal of Alfred is enjoyable. I personally was disappointed in the lack of relationship portrayed between Bruce and Alfred; it seemed to me as if Alfred was promoted down to nothing more than tech-savvy buddy rather than deeply caring and involved father-figure and mentor. I'm used to Alfred being Batman's conscience of a sort; that aspect of his character didn't exist in this film. They tried to insert it in one major scene; they failed. Alfred warns Bruce of taking his brand of justice too far, of becoming a criminal, to which Bruce replies they've always been criminals. It's a brush-off, both in that singular scene, and in their relationship as a whole.
I haven't seen the other Superman movies in which Henry Cavill stars, so I can't rate his performance in this film against those. I can say that it felt as if Superman continually acted under the duress of others' expectations, rather than his own conscience. Cavill broods through most of the movie, giving the viewer the feeling that Superman isn't happy about the way things are going, yet he does nothing to change his course of action.
Personally, I enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, but remember, I have absolutely no true concept of how Lex Luthor is meant to be portrayed. I got a kick out of Lex's little quirks and obvious hints at lunacy, though his motivations weren't clear outside of the fact that he was obviously cuckoo. While he did feel a bit Joker-esque, I think Eisenberg's performance left a lot of room for the villain's maturation in future films, should he reappear.
While the film was lacking in a number of ways, it was not lacking in cameos. I think there might have been more people listed in the credits as themselves than DC characters. Appearances by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charlie Rose, Anderson Cooper, and more did give the film a sense of realism, though the resources spent on such big names might have been better spent in other aspects of the film.
The score and cinematography were both exceptional, in my humble opinion. The film looked and sounded pretty. Unfortunately, those weren't quite enough to make up for the lack of depth in character and plot development.
Overall, I give it 3 out of 5 stars. An average score for a perfectly average film. The one thing I can say with absolute certainty? I'm glad I had the chance to see it for free.
