Set 18 months after the city-leveling battle over Metropolis between Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod depicted in 2013's equally mind-numbing Man of Steel, the world is still trying to come to terms with an all-mighty alien living amongst them. Is he a savior or a an unchecked global theat? One who believes the latter is Gotham City's Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck), who witnessed first hand the kind of destruction the "man" in the red boots is capable of.
Another "non-fan" is Metropolis' Zuckerberg-like billionaire Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) who has successfully petitioned the government for access to Zod's corpse and quarantined ship in an attempt to forge a Krytonite-based weapon as a "deterrent" against any future aggression by Superman. Yeah, sure.
It doesn't take long for Batman to learn of Luthor's plot and decide that it should be he who creates and controls that kind of weapon. Of course this was Luthor's plan all along and after some cleverly devised goading on his part, gets the Caped Crusader to call out the Man of Steel for a winner-take-all showdown.
What follows is a lot of merciless pummeling until the real threat rears its ugly head: a Luthor-created Kryptonian monster hell bent on destroying both our heroes.
And since the film carries the Dawn of Justice subtitle, it isn't long before another iconic warrior reveals herself and kicks the fight into overdrive.
Cavill is serviceable as Superman, no Christopher Reeve by any means, but far better than Brandon Routh ever was. Affleck is supposed to project an older, wiser Bruce Wayne/Batman, but I can't say it's a performance that leaves an impression, other than he strangely resembles the Michelin Man every time he appears in the bat suit.
And who was the genius that thought Jesse Eisenberg would make a good Lex Luthor?
In all, Batman v Superman just feels soulless and kind of hollow, concocted solely to launch a Justice League franchise. It's too long, too contrived and ultimately too bleak to make once really care about these characters going forward. Grade: C -
