Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, and Ezra Miller.
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 151 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2016

| |

Rating notes: Intense sequences of violence and mature themes

This American film is the follow-up to the 2013 movie, “Man of Steel” which starred Henry Cavill and was directed by Zack Snyder. It is the first live-action film to feature both Batman and Superman together in the same movie.

Subsequent to “Man of Steel”, Gotham City’s Batman travels to Metropolis to do battle with Superman. Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), alias Batman, is dedicated to protecting Gotham City from the criminal underworld. Clark Kent, alias Superman, works for the “Daily Planet” and uses his superhuman powers to protect whoever he can. Batman decides to fight Superman, because he, like others, fears that the actions of Superman are being left unchecked. After Metropolis was virtually destroyed by Superman’s conflict with General Zod, there is a cry for justice and retribution for the chaos that Superman has caused.

Batman and Superman battle each other with ferocious intensity and aggression. While they are fighting, a new prehistoric super-villain, called Doomsday, is created by Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), a billionaire psychopath. Luthor – one of the Batman movies’ least successful villains – wants to destroy Metropolis, and he is particularly bent on ending the life of Superman, his long-time enemy. Doomsday is a powerful, virtually indestructible villain, and Batman and Superman finally lay aside their differences and join forces with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to try to stop him.

Like previous movies starring Batman and Superman, this movie has a dark edge in which the heroes have private doubts about how best to use their strength – a worry that affects them both. With two super-strength heroes fighting it out, the film pulls the stops out to show some startling action sequences. Episodic violence prepares the way, and their “duel” is a very long time coming.

To achieve its action impact, the movie puts the cinematic future of the “Marvel” comic book franchise at risk. A true superhero (Superman is one, and Batman is almost another) is dedicated to goodness, puts wrong right, and will do what’s possible for the greater good of mankind. Such dedication is noble and ultimately stamps the virtuousness of character. Here two people, whom we have assumed up to this point in time pretty much fit this edifying description, are opposing each other, and the film forces us to ask whether the conflict between Batman and Superman will weaken the goodness of their essential nature. If the answer to that question is: “They are only human, after all”, then goodness takes a hit, and virtue falters The war-like conflict between one super-hero and another might make for spectacular cinema, but, while that is allowed to happen, genuine nobility is compromised and the difference between “good” and “bad” is being blurred.

Aside from setting Batman and Superman against each other, the film introduces us in a visually erratic way to a variety of fantasy figures for whom justice is all-important. Wonder Woman, the demigoddess daughter of Zeus, appears for the first time, anticipating future film appearances. We also briefly see Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and The Flash (Ezra Miller) in roles that herald future films for Justice Leaguers. Romantic interest is maintained for Superman who lives with a caring Lois Lane (Amy Adams), and Jeremy Irons gives serious advice with comic relief as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s trusted Chief of Security.

This movie is dark, and it departs from type to push its special effects one notch too far to the point where the effects begin to look silly and excessively violent. The film asks us whether fantasy superheroes can continue to be the unsullied heroes we thought they were, which poses a real problem for superhero sequels.

The message this film unfortunately communicates is that the concept of noble heroism that was current not so long ago, is now outdated. That is a shame!