The title of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice doesn’t leave much to the imagination; it’s Batman fighting Superman, at least for most of the movie. But what the title doesn’t tell you is that it’s really Batman versus Superman versus Lex Luther and also kind of versus Wonder Woman.
The entire plot of the movie relates back to Lex Luther, the villain. He somehow has ties to both Superman and Batman, and for some reason wants them to fight, yet the audience is never made fully aware of the details. However, it is unclear as to which side he is on in the beginning and towards the end he hates them both.
Aside from the confusing villain, much of Batman v. Superman seemed random and did not make much sense. There are seemingly aimless sequences of Batman dreaming scattered throughout the movie attempting to clarify various plot points; but instead they just make the movie more confusing.
On top of the randomness of the movie, there are way too many plot lines developing simultaneously. There’s the Batman plot, the Superman plot, the Wonder Woman plot, and the Lex Luther plot. Wonder Woman was a character that didn’t appear to have any real function in the movie, except for maybe being introduced for a Justice League movie. However, this introduction could have gone much more smoothly, as she just seemed to appear at random parts until she finally came in to help with the final fight scene. Eventually all of these plot lines intertwined, but for the first half of the movie, all of the stories seemed relatively separate.
Despite the plot of the movie being confusing, one of the highlights was the acting. Ben Affleck, who played Batman, and Henry Cavill, who played Superman, both managed to play their characters with a perfectly conflicted sense of self. Both showed their character’s struggle with the concept of whether or not they cause more good than harm as well as doing a great job developing a range of emotions that matched each character’s journey.
The acting was not the only good part of the movie. The story is told in a unique way that not many action movies attempt to accomplish. It begins by showing the backstory between Batman and Superman and continues throughout the movie to show both sides of the story. The back and forth throughout the movie was a new take for a superhero movie, but because of choppy and confounding nature, it did not necessarily pay off.
Overall, Batman v. Superman was not a bad movie. All of the plot lines came together and the movie began to make sense at the end. It certainly would have been better if the whole movie had made complete sense, but for huge superhero movie fans the movie probably has enough redeeming qualities to make it worthwhile. If not, there’s not enough here to justify the time and cost.
