I'm gonna lay down a few thoughts about the movie so careful for SPOILERS if you haven't seen the movie yet.
Let me start by saying that I really don't think it deserves the poor 29% average from critics on . I would give it a good 60% at least. It's not a perfect movie but there is a heck of a lot worse. Not being a DC geek necessarily, yet having a long-time attachment to the Superman character, I may not have the same perspective and expectations as other DC fans so keep that in mind while reading.
5 Pluses of the movie
1. Wonder Woman
I wasn't sure what to expect from Gal Gadot's performance, besides the comics, which I haven't read much of (I would if DC had the equivalent of Marvel Unlimited but hey). My experience of Wonder Woman on screen was seeing some episodes of the 70's show with Linda Carter years and years ago, which I don't recall being terribly fond of (I think I preferred The Bionic Woman) and some excerpts of the failed WW pilot starring Adrianne Palicki. I'm not gonna mention the animated series here too much.
So with that in mind, I thought her portrayal of essentially a demi-goddess trying not to meddle with human affairs but dragged back into it because it was the right thing to do was very well done. Both her performance as Diana Prince and as the Amazon Warrior were very well done. It made me hopeful that the upcoming Wonder Woman movie will actually be quite good.
2. Batfleck is Awesome
Do you remember the hype when it was announced that Ben Affleck would be playing Batman and so many people were pissed by that because … reasons? Well I will say it right here: he played the best Batman on screen ever, better than Adam West, better than Michael Keaton and Better than Christian Bale (do I need to mention the other two?). I'm sure many people will disagree with me but to me he did a great job at fixing all the little niggles that made the Batman character no quite so believable by the other guys.
I really enjoyed some little sequences such as the training he does while the files are decrypting just to show you the kind of dedication he puts into keeping himself up in shape despite not getting any younger. I think the state of the Wayne Manor was also a good metaphor for Bruce's broken spirit as well, which I think got repaired a little by the end of the movie.
3. Soundtrack
For me part of having a good movie experience is to have a great quality soundtrack. I'm a huge geek for movie soundtracks and sometimes these can be enough to redeem what would otherwise be an average movie. Man of Steel and Thor – The Dark World are good examples of this where to be the soundtrack was very memorable. Here Hanz Zimmer does a terrific job but then again you would expect no less from him.
4. Justice League characters cameos
When Bruce wayne goes through Luthor's files and stumbles upon the "Meta Human" folder (nice consistent terminology with the Flash TV show here) we get glimpses of not only Wonder Woman but also The Flash , which seems a much more experienced character than on the TV show, Aquaman and his impractical-underwater long-hair and cyborg, which I won't comment on because I'm really not at all familiar with the character except for a brief appearance in the Flashpoint animated movie.
I'm not sure it was such a smart move to have Luthor not only name them but also give them their symbols but then the tone of the DC movie universe doesn't have much room for a meta-human naming Cisco Ramone.
5. Doomsday
Again I'm not super familiar with all the villains of the DC universe but I knew Doomsday, which was the first to kill Superman in the 90's, an event so cataclysmic it made it in the news, would be of the right level for a first iteration of the Justice League to fight against. Perhaps they could have made him a little more expressive than just a rip-off Abomination who can shoot fire with his face. Still it was nice that his presence meant they went with the same consequences as his comic book appearance, even if it's not likely to last.
5 Minuses of the movie
1. Lex Luthor
I really didn't like Jesse Eisenberg in the movie, his portrayal of Luthor is just too crazy. My wife even thought he was playing the Joker at first. I appreciate his involvement in orchestrating the fight between Batman and Superman but it could have been done with Luthor being a more coy and shrewed character. I'm surprised they didn't get him to do some "muah-ah-ahs" as this is how his character felt like.
2. Too Many Dream Sequences
There are a lot of dream sequences in the movie, between Bruce dreaming of his parents and then of a post-apocalyptic Darkseid invasion where Superman turned bad because Lois died and Clark hallucinating his dad, it felt like you weren't sure if they were dreams, metaphors or warnings from an external force. Even the actual warning that Bruce got, in apparently another dream from what may have been the Flash in some sort of armour was really confusing.
3. Sulky Superman
I get that Superman is a lonely alien in a world that half hates and half loves him but there's supposed to be a certain amount of humility and greatness to the character that doesn't quite show. Maybe because they didn't give him the Fortress of solitude or maybe because of something else but he comes across as distracted with his head in the clouds more than literally. Perhaps his lack of confidence is meant to make him look more human but it seems so contradictory to the kind of person Superman is supposed to be.
4. Killing Jimmy Olsen
Yeah sorry that was just wrong. You don't kill the photographer.
5. General Plot Holes
The whole Zuck… I mean Luthor being given access to the Kryptonian tech in exchange to … what exactly? The concept of Secret Identities seems to have disappeared altogether, perhaps not a plot hole in itself but Luthor seems to know quite a lot of things and they don't tell you how he knows them. The same goes with the end bit about the bell being rang, if you're a DC fan it probably means something but I wouldn't be surprised if most people who saw the film got confused by that.
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So this is just a quick overview of the movie, which again I liked quite a bit, not as much as a Marvel movie perhaps but it was good.
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