I was super excited to see this movie in the theaters. I grew up a huge Batman fan and still find myself watching anything and everything Batman, even with commercials. Everyone knew how negatively the critics felt about this movie, making it difficult to head to the show without having a predisposition.

I came away from the showing pleased, however I felt something was missing to make it even better. I loved the cinematography, it added power to the story. The action was fast paced and reminded me of the dramatic interactions of the Arkham games.

I was impressed by Ben Affleck’s take on Bruce Wayne/Batman even though he received a lot of flack for the role. The bar was set pretty low for him, thanks to the critics and social media, but he was very believable in character. Henry Cavill is one of the better, if not best, Superman castings and is very good in his role. He captured the essence of the movie in his acting and made a fictional character come to life. Cavill and Affleck add tremendous believe-ability to what is otherwise an unbelievable story. Even Jesse Eisenberg gives a commendable, but different, interpretation of Lex Luther Jr. I did find his character annoying during first viewing. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I had to watch twice before I appreciated his character. I was unsure of Gal Gadot’s ability to portray Wonder Woman but she outperformed my expectations, despite her small role. Her performance in Batman vs Superman was enough to make me excited for her own movie coming out June 2017 (at least as of now).

The story feels slightly cramped to be forced inside one movie. There is quite a variety of protagonist and antagonist battles that build and shift among characters making a very elaborate story which was probably not quite enough for two movies, but a little bit much for one. Some of the dialogue could be improved, it didn’t feel as natural as one would hope.

I would give the theatrical version 3 Apologies.

When I heard that the DVD/BluRay release was going to be an unrated Director’s Cut Ultimate Edition, I thought “this must be what I was looking for from the beginning!” Naturally, I preordered the Ultimate Edition BluRay and couldn’t wait to watch it with Mrs. Apologist when it finally arrived. The cut contains an additional 30 minutes of footage, which makes a huge difference in the quality of the story and of the film overall. At 182 minutes run time it is quite the endeavor to sit down and watch the whole thing in one sitting (highly recommend to watch from the comfort of your own home, ample snacks, pause button for bathroom breaks, and a rewind capability for when Mrs. Apology falls asleep), but I enjoyed it more on the second viewing.

My rating for the unrated version improved to only 2 Apologies as it remains an enjoyable movie but still far from perfect. I am looking forward to the other movies in the group (Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, etc)

  • -Movie Apologist