Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) (Blu-ray Review)

zombiesdontrun October 15, 2026No Comments

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) (Blu-ray Review)
DIRECTED BY: Zack Snyder
STARRING: Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Henry Cavill
RATED: UR/Region: O/2:40/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 3
AVAILABLE FROM Warner Bro.

Ah yes, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — the movie that asks the important question, “What if two of the most recognizable superheroes in the world spent most of their time looking miserable, arguing, and standing around like they just found out their favorite restaurant closed?” Zack Snyder’s superhero showdown has plenty of things going for it, but it also has enough brooding, convoluted plotting, and unnecessarily grim faces to make you wonder if somebody accidentally swapped the script with a prescription for antidepressants.

On the plus side, Ben Affleck makes a pretty damn good Batman. He’s older, meaner, and looks like he’s been dealing with Gotham’s bullshit for so long that retirement and a bottle of whiskey are starting to sound pretty appealing. Henry Cavill is solid as Superman, too, even if the movie seems determined to make being the world’s most powerful superhero look like the most miserable job imaginable. And when the movie finally lets Batman and Superman throw hands, there’s some genuinely entertaining stuff going on. The action looks great, the visuals are impressive, and Wonder Woman showing up is easily one of the movie’s highlights. Gal Gadot makes a hell of an entrance, and suddenly you’re wondering why we weren’t spending more time with her instead.

Unfortunately, getting to those highlights requires wading through a movie that sometimes feels like three different films fighting over the same running time. There’s political drama, superhero angst, Lex Luthor doing his best impression of a hyperactive guy who has consumed an entire warehouse of energy drinks, and enough ominous dream sequences to make you wonder whether Bruce Wayne needs a therapist more than he needs another gadget. Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex is certainly a choice. Whether it’s a good choice depends on how much you enjoy watching a villain behave like a nervous tech-bro who accidentally inherited a billion dollars and immediately decided to become everyone’s problem.

And then there’s the famous conflict between Batman and Superman. Two heroes with wildly different philosophies, both capable of incredible things, finally facing off against each other! Surely this will lead to a complicated moral debate and an epic clash of ideologies. Or, well, we could just have them get distracted by the same name and suddenly become best buddies. Yes, the infamous Martha moment is still one of the strangest ways to resolve a superhero grudge. Somewhere, a screenwriter was apparently convinced that sharing a mother’s name was the emotional breakthrough we’d all been waiting for.

Still, I can’t completely write this one off. There’s a lot to admire in the ambition, the production design, the performances, and the sheer spectacle. I actually like the idea of a world where Superman’s existence creates fear and political controversy instead of everyone immediately agreeing that the flying alien must be a swell guy. And Affleck’s Batman is a version of the character I’d happily watch again, preferably in a movie that doesn’t need to spend half its time setting up the next five movies.

The problem is that Dawn of Justice seems so determined to be important, dark, and mythological that it occasionally forgets to be fun. Not every superhero movie needs quips every thirty seconds, but a little breathing room wouldn’t hurt. These characters are supposed to be larger than life, yet so much of the movie feels like watching a support group for people who have recently discovered that life is complicated.

In the end, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a frustrating mix of impressive superhero spectacle and storytelling decisions that make you want to grab the script, shake it, and ask what the hell it was thinking. There are things I genuinely like here, and enough memorable moments to make it worth watching, but it’s also a bloated, overly serious mess that could have been considerably better with a little trimming and a lot less brooding.

It’s not a total disaster, but it’s definitely a case of two legendary superheroes entering the ring and the screenplay somehow being the one that gets knocked out.

Verdict: A visually impressive, occasionally awesome superhero slugfest that takes itself so seriously it practically needs a cape of its own. Worth watching, but don’t be surprised if you leave wishing somebody had saved the Justice League setup for another day.

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