This morning my sweetie-wife and I went out and saw Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and the film is lacking. Some mild spoilers follow.

It looks like the decision was made over at Warner Brothers that the DC cinematic Universe had to catch up right away with the gains made by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Where Marvel used 5 films to build up to their big team picture. The Avengers, WB is trying to take a shortcut and get there with only two films for the build up. (Despite the subtitle Dawn of Justice, the forming of the Justice League is not part of the movie.)

This movie follows on directly from the events in Man of Steel and using new angles and footage to place Bruce Wayne aka Batman in the chaos of the metropolis fight at the conclusion of that film. Due to Superman’s massive abilities and the carnage caused by the Kryptonian fights Batman has gone utterly paranoid, quoting Ex-VP Dick Cheeney that even a 1 percent chance of danger from Superman requires his elimination.

The overall and crippling flaw in this film is the script and its lack of any coherent plot. There really is no story here at all, and characters act wildly at odds with their established natures. Batman, though a gifted fighter and technologically capable person is, at heart, a detective. He follows clues and figures crap out, but not in in this film. This Batman is led by the nose, makes flagrant assumptions, and engages in mindless cruelty.

Superman has been DC’s boy scout to Marvels’ Captain America and as such that make him a double hard character to write. He possesses near limitless power and is utterly good. The writers here solve this problem by simply throwing out his character. Superman man is sullen and broody, hardly sparing a thought other than for himself and how terrible is his burden.

The plot – such as it is – turns on incomprehensible events. For example after a number of armed baddies or killed in a far away land, by bullets, shot to death, Superman is suspected of their murders, Really? Not scorched to a crisp or crushed into itty bitty diamonds, but simply shot and we’re expected to think that lots of people are going to buy that Superman did that? Including the world’s greatest detective? Give me a break.

The best of part the film is Gal Gadot as Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman. She doesn’t have a lot to do, but what she does is nice, the actor is very good, and her story isn’t messed up, but perhaps that is a function of little screentime. Maybe if they tried to write more for her they would muck it up.

I can not recommend the move on any level. There are tons of action scenes, lots and lots of action, that makes no sense and have no emotional
meaning because of the lack of a story.

It boils down to – who cares?