As far as films go this one seems to be one of the most divisive comic book film in recent year, it seems that comic fans and film fans either love it or hate it. Even before the film began shooting fans were voicing their opinions on the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. So it was not a big surprise to me that when the film was released, it was meet by a stream of hate and seemingly glee that the film could be a flop. However as with most things I decided not to believe all that I read and make up my own mind, so last Saturday my wife and I paid our money sat in the cinema with the hope of been entertained and entertained we were.
I absolutely loved this film it was everything I had hoped it would be but as a DC fan I'm an easy sell, my wife who isn't a comic fan and doesn't have any preconceived notions on how things should or shouldn't be also loved it. On reflection and after talking things through with my wife there are area the film could have been tightened up, but as a first film in what will hopefully be an on-going franchise it was a great start.
Ben Affleck nailed it for me as both Batman and Bruce Wayne, in fact I would go as far to say he is the best Bruce Wayne we have seen on the big screen. This is a Batman who has been worn down by years of fighting crime, he has suffered losses and has little faith left in people and the world. He is even secretive with his butler Alfred the man he should trust implicitly, this isn't Adam Wests Batman its not even Tim Burtons this is Frank Millar's Dark Knight, and its played superbly.
Henry Cavill was once again great as Superman and gave a better performance in this film than he did in Man of Steel, his portrayal of a Superman who is still finding his place in the world and who makes mistakes is a joy to watch.
Gal Gadot is also fantastic as Wonder Woman and while people are complaining she is underused, I think she is used just right her entrance in costume at the climax of the film had this geek nearly jumping out of his seat cheering. It was a perfect set up for her much anticipated and long overdue film, which is due out around July 2017 and cannot come out soon enough for me.
Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor is as far removed from the Lex Luthor of previous films and TV shows as you can get, while I wasn't totally sold on this interpretation of Lex his performance of what seemed to be an hyperactive genius was excellent. And to be fair to Jesse if he had played him like previous versions of Lex then he would still have been slated, a case of dammed if you do dammed if you don't.
Other pluses for me were Jeremy Irons as Alfred the inclusion although briefly of Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg all of which were perfect setups for the forthcoming Justice League film. If I had one niggle it was the inclusion of Doomsday, I thought this was maybe one character too many. I would have preferred to have seen Luthor in his powered armour take on the heroes but that's the fan in me, I understand given the ending on why Doomsday was included I just wasn't a fan of how he was shoehorned in.
Since the arrival of the Marvel films that ultimately led into the Avengers, fans have been asking why DC cannot build towards a Justice League film. Well we now know Man of Steel and this film are building towards what the fans have been asking for, is it perfect no it isn't but then again not all the Marvel films were but that tends to be overlooked. So while the haters some of whom openly say they haven't seen the film and don't intend to, continue to revel in the poor reviews and fall in 2nd week attendances. I will continue to tell people to go see the film and make up their own minds, because I loved it and I want to see more of my DC heroes on the big screen.
