Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the highly anticipated sequel to Man of Steel. You may ask yourself, what did Casey, known comic book nerd, think of the movie? Well, I think there’s a scene that describes this movie well. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent meet for the first time, but instead of it being as awesome as it could be, the camera follows Wonder Woman in the background and then the conversation is interrupted by Lex Luthor. Essentially the movie has a bit of a focus problem.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. My biggest problem with this movie is Lex Luthor. His plot in the movie is hugely over complicated for no reason. The only reason his plot is so complicated is because the movie is using it as an excuse to keep Lois Lane around. If you need to write a whole unnecessary plot for another character, just to keep Superman’s love interest around, then you obviously don’t understand how to write this character. I was not a fan of Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex Luthor. It seemed as if he was trying to be the Joker or the Riddler instead of Lex Luthor. Not a fan.

I also have to say that the movie doesn’t have focus. It’s about Superman, it’s about Batman, it’s about Lex, it’s about Lois, it’s about the Justice League, it’s about too many things. If you ask me, I think that they should have scrapped the Lois plot, and the Justice League set up stuff. The movie should have focused on how the world reacted to the existence of Superman, seen through the eyes of Superman himself, Batman, Lex Luthor, and Lois Lane if you really are desperate to have her in this movie. Logically, there will be similarities between Batman and Lex, but their paths should begin to diverge as they really get to know Superman. This would have made the movie flow much better as a narrative.

But let’s get to what I liked about the movie, because there are a lot of things that I loved. First and foremost, Ben Affleck is the best onscreen Batman there’s ever been. Period. He takes all of the elements from the comics: the detective, the ninja, the billionaire playboy, the tortured soul, all of it was there. His performance was certainly worth the price of admission alone. My favorite parts were all of his interactions with Jeremy Irons’ Alfred. The two have such chemistry and are hilarious together. While I thought her presence is part of the movies focus issue, I liked Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and I’m excited to see her Wonder Woman movie. I also thought that many of the movies individual scenes were well written and extremely interesting. The world felt very real, with all of its debates on Superman. Finally, the action is spectacular. The opening scene really makes you feel what Bruce Wayne is feeling, and the fight Between Batman and Superman is enthralling.

Overall the movie was extremely fun and enjoyable. If you’re a fan of these characters it’s definitely worth checking out. The bad stuff is bad, but the good stuff is really spectacular. 8/10.