Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Release Date: 24th March 2016 - Australia

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

DC Comics
DC Entertainment

RatPac Entertainment (in association with)

Atlas Entertainment
Cruel and Unusual Films

Distribution

Roadshow Films

Genre: Action

Rating: M

Runtime: 151 minutes

Budget: $250,000,000

Box Office Gross: $873,637,528 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

It's been nearly two years

since the city of Metropolis

was almost devastated by

the colossal battle between

Superman and General Zod. Some people begin to fear him for his great power, including Gotham City's vigilante Batman, who sees Superman as a threat to everyone else and embarks on a personal vendetta. Contrariwise, Superman fears that Batman's actions are reckless and tries to stop him. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor, owner of Lex Corp, is devising something big that will destroy humanity! Will one triumph over the other? Or will Lex Luthor take over Metropolis?

Cast

Henry Cavill - Clark Kent/
Superman

Ben Affleck - Bruce Wayne/
Batman

Jesse Eisenberg - Lex Luthor

Amy Adams - Lois Lane

Diane Lane - Martha Kent

Laurence Fishburne - Perry
White

Jeremy Irons - Alfred
Pennyworth

Holly Hunter - June Finch

Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman

Scoot McNairy - Wallace Keefe

Callan Mulvey - Anatoli Knyazev

Tao Okamoto - Mercy Graves

Michael Cassidy - Jimmy
Olsen

Jason Momoa - Aquaman
(Cameo)

Ray Fisher - Victor Stone/
Cyborg (Cameo)

Joe Morton - Silas Stone (Cameo)

Ezra Miller - Barry Allen/
Flash (Cameo)

Kevin Costner - Jonathan Kent

Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Thomas Wayne (Uncredited)

Lauren Cohan - Martha Wayne

Brandon Spink - Young Bruce
Wayne

Robin Atkin Downes -
Doomsday
Wunmi Mosaku - Kahina Ziri
Dennis North - Senator
Barrows
Sebastian Sozzi - Cesar
Santos
Rebecca Buller - Jenny

Harry Lennix - Secretary

Swanwick

Carla Gugino - Kelor (Voice)

Christina Wren - Major Carrie Farris

Patrick Wilson - President of the United States (Voice)

Patrick Leahy - Senator Purrington (Cameo)

Debbie Stabenow - Metropolis Governor (Cameo)

Vikram Gandhi - Himself (Cameo)

Andrew Sullivan - Himself (Cameo)

Charlie Rose - Himself

(Cameo)

Neil de Grasse Tyson -

Himself (Cameo)

Crew

Director - Zack Snyder

Batman Creators - Bob Kane and Bill Finger

Superman Creators - Jerry

Siegel and Joe Shuster

Character Creator: Wonder Woman - William Moulton Marston

Character: Alfred Pennyworth - Jerry Robinson (Uncredited)

Writer/Executive Producer - David S. Goyer

Writer - Chris S. Terrio

Associate Producer/First Assistant Director - Bruce Moriarty

Executive Producers - Christopher Nolan,

Wesley Coller, Geoff Johns, Benjamin Melniker,
Michael Uslan and Emma Thomas

Producers - Charles Roven

and Deborah Snyder

Co-Producer - Curt Kanemoto

Co-Producers/Unit Production Managers -

Jim Rowe and Gregor Wilson

Casting Directors - Jo Edna Boldin,

Kristy Carlson and Lora Kennedy

Production Designer - Patrick Tatopoulos

Concept Artists - Michael Meyers,

Vance Kovacs, Victor Martinez, Robert KcKinnon,

Christian Schuerer and Ed Natividad

Supervising Art Director - Tom Sizemore

Art Directors - Lorin Flemming,

Beat Frutiger, Gregory S. Hooper and

Tom Frohling

Art Director: New Mexico Unit - Patricio M. Farrell

Specialty Vehicles/Batmobile - Dennis McCarthy

Set Decorator - Carolyn Loucks

Property Master - Doug Harlocker

Costume Designer - Michael Wilkinson

Makeup Department Head - Victoria Down

Key Makeup Artist - Kate Biscoe

Director of Photography - Larry Fong

Aerial Director of Photography - David B. Nowell

"B" Camera Operator/Director of Photography:

Second Unit - William R. Dalgleish

Supervising Location Manager/Production

Supervisor - William Doyle

Location Manager: Chicago - James McAllister

Production Supervisor - Matthew Hirsch

First Assistant Directors: Second Unit - Rob Burgess,

Brandon Lamboin and Julian Wall

Second Assistant Director - Misha Bukowski

Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator - Damon Caro

Stunt Coordinator - Tim Rigby

Fight Choreographers - Ryan Watson

and Guillermo Grispo

Aerial Coordinator - David Paris

Special Effects Supervisor - Joel Whist

Senior Visual Effects Supervisor - Joe Letteri

Visual Effects Supervisor - John 'D.J.' Des Jardin

Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Guillaume Rocheron

Visual Effects Supervisor: Scanline VFX -

Bryan Hirota

Visual Effects Supervisor: Weta Digital - Keith Miller

Visual Effects Producer - Josh R. Jaggars

Visual Effects: Method Studios - Olivier Dumont,

Troy Moore, Douglas Bloom, Lisa Goldberg,

Christopher D. Sanchez and Crystal Rossman

Animation Supervisor: Weta Digital - Simeon Duncombe

Visual Effects Production Supervisors:

Scanline VFX - Frank Belina, Stephen Davis,

Evan Fraser, Hans Heymans, Joel Kittle,

Yvonne Munde, Eric Petey, László Sebõ and

Dan Warom

Sound Designer & Supervisor - Scott Hecker

Sound Designer - Chuck Michael

Re-Recording Mixers - Chris Jenkins

and Michael Keller

Foley Artists - Gary A. Hecker

and Rick Owens

Editor - David Brenner

Music - Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL

Additional Music - Steve Mazzaro,

Andrew Kawczynski and Benjamin Wallfisch

Score Mixer & Recordist - Alan Meyerson

Score Wrangler - Bob Badami

Review

In 2014, I wondered if BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE would be as good as the hype had suggested. I am sorry that it's nowhere near an improvement to Man of Steel. Unfortunately, its director, Zack Snyder, has assembled a dour narrative with all flatly developed characters except for Ben Affleck's Batman portrayal. Even the redundant inclusion of the Doomsday character is too early to be featured in the climax. Unfortunately, Zack did little to improve his mistakes from his last average feature, Man of Steel. BATMAN V SUPERMAN is in much need of a director's cut and could greatly benefit from some refinement and polishing to the editing of the feature.

The flaws of BATMAN V SUPERMAN degraded the overall quality and made it a near-unwatchable experience. Such notable deficits include Jesse Eisenberg's interpretation of the Man of Steel's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. This character is supposed to be a technological genius and be so devious. His interpretation was spastic and loopy and is mainly a cross between his previous role as Mark Zuckerberg and Heath Ledger's Joker, but not like Gene Hackman's. I was starting to like Eisenberg in Now You See Me, but after seeing his character as Lex, this has brought him down a notch in my book. The other fault is Henry Cavill, who appeared once again to try and have his Superman character similar to his previous feature and didn't make any changes to the protagonist to improve from his last film.

On a positive note, Ben Affleck's performance as the middle-aged Batman is mesmerising. It'd be impossible to cast him as a masked vigilante like in his previous role in Daredevil. It was an unexpected move to replace Christian Bale as the caped crusader, but he had a wonderful surprise for the fans now welcoming him as the new Batman. One of my favourite actors, Jeremy Irons, was a touch of surprise as he splendidly portrayed Alfred Pennyworth. I see no reason that Irons, of all the old English actors, was not having consistent success like Michael Caine. Gal Gadot was as amazingly perfect as Wonder Woman, and the action sequences are stunningly beautiful in CGI and have a sense of realism.

BATMAN V SUPERMAN does not live up to the expectations and does not beat Marvel at their own game. It's been nice knowing that this is now an average movie of 2016. After this mild disappointment, I hope the following film from Snyder will raise the bar.

Star rating: (5/10) Average

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