Here's my first impressions of the movie. There's a bit of spoiler here and there. EDIT: I did minimize the spoilers to make more readable if people want to just link to this post by itself.
First off, the screening itself was packed. I mean packed. I thought Star Wars was nuts, this took this to the next level. At least the NDAs weren't as bad. Just to expand on that a bit, the way Disney handled TFA's secrecy, which I'm sure fans approved of, was a nightmare to deal with honestly. Really cool to see so many people out to see Batman and Superman in a live action movie on big screen.
I went in with a mix of hype/anticipation and a bit of dread . I loved Watchmen, while I thought MoS was enjoyable it was a mess in the last half.
BvS is pretty dark, but there's humor here and there, way more then say MoS or Watchmen.
Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman was pure awesome and dark. You can see he's traumatized by the events in the past, and he has some fantastic lines in general (Yes we see the whole parents thing again). Nobody should really be surprised that he was good with the role considering he's a solid actor, but I thought he was great. Versus Bale? That's a interesting question, because Affleck definitely regards Batman as a permanent part of his persona, while in Nolan series he eventually doesn't want Batman. In combat he's pretty much everything everyone would hope for from a film with Batman. One comment on the latest BvS trailer said he fought like the Arkham video games from a scene they showed. That's a good comparison. He's incredible in fights. Also the way Snyder records him in action, you can actually see him fighting unlike the Nolan films, which I'd imagine would make many people happy. He also gets a chance to use his detective skills, do not worry.
Also his relationship with Irons, who plays Alfred, is just wonderful in general. Irons was exceptional in the role (Its Jeremy Irons for christ's sake, of course he nailed the role) gets some witty lines and also gets pretty emotional later on. He didn't get a lot of screentime, just enough to be effective. Always passing advice to Batman.
Now we turn to Cavill. He didn't blow me away in MoS but in this film, weirdly I feel like he gets more to work with even with less screentime. It was the first time Superman actually feels like he's a character who deals with many issues to me. The blowback from the destruction in the last movie follows him in BvS, and everywhere he goes. He's now followed by cults, and plagued by newspapers and hearings (though the hearings are influenced by Luthor, we'll get to him in a bit). His relationship with Lois (played by Amy Adams) deserves mention here, even if not a lot of screentime. Definitely a time when Superman wishes he wasn't an alien and I felt a bit of sympathy for both of them.
Cavil and his interactions with Affleck, especially the fights, are truly something to behold. Definitely worth the price of a ticket in my opinion. I could swear some of the scenes are probably something straight out of a dark graphic novel. Their alternative personas do meet, helped along by Luthor as well.
Who got more screentime? Batman or Superman? I'd say it was about equal, but it certainly did feel like Batman might have gotten slightly bit more, but who knows. I didn't bring a stop watch with me.
Eisenberg chosen as Luthor was perfect honestly to me. I know there's a ton of concern over it, but he made it work. He's also hilarious with a dark sort of humor, but he's a very scary person in general. Obviously, he never lets his scary persona show in the public, and he basically used their duels as a distraction.
There's a couple of events that the trailers haven't showed or even hinted at, and I'm not inclined to spoil that.
Also, Wonder Woman, hell yes. Again, lots of concern about Gadot on the internet and in the industry (I heard a lot), but she did well. Her fight with Doomsday is great. For such little screentime, she was able to show that her character was diverse and interesting. Definitely left me looking forward to the Wonder Woman movie. She gets pissed off don't worry heh.
Goffe, :ohmyzod:'s dead body got maybe 20 seconds of screentime, unless you count Doomsday. ;)
Fishburne, Lane, and Hunter were okay, but I think the main problem was they didn't get enough to do, so I felt nothing about them.
Yeah, the Doomsday fight. The trinity do get a few shots of them looking badass together. If you love comic book films, again, go see this film for the fight scenes.
How's the world in the movies? Gotham City is definitely Gotham City. Obviously you don't see it for the whole film. Metropolis is still littered with destruction from MoS, so I'm glad they showed that instead of ignoring it. Whether the whole destruction angle felt thrown in at the last minute, I wouldn't know because it felt organic for Wayne to be pissed about it. Even gave you a 9/11 vibe.
Oh man, the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful. Properly dark. Batman's theme especially felt super super super super dark almost to the point of repetition. MoS's theme is still there for Superman with a hint of more. Even Luthor had his own freaking soundtrack. A hint of playfulness and amusement. This part I thoroughly enjoyed. The sound design here is just fantastic, but will be mostly ignored sadly. Not a lot of people appreciate it in general.
Lots of CGI destruction porn there, but definitely feels sort of toned down till the last act. The visuals are great overall for me, but this is rather opinion based.
I feel that Snyder did learn from his mistakes and the writing/dialogue definitely feels a lot better then MoS. There are issues though (I'll address these in a different post). Juggling the characters is extremely difficult, especially for a film like this. I'm rather amazed Snyder even handled it alright. The film gets very frantic (especially towards the end), so to me the long running time flew by really quickly, but there's a few scenes they lets you breath.
Definitely somewhere above a B+. I'll settle on a final grade in a bit. Gave me pure joy to see the trinity on screen.
I'll write more, but these are basically my thoughts.
I don't remember any 7-11s or Sears off handedly.
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Just mentioning THIS IS MY OWN DAMN OPINION IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE FILM DON'T BLAME ME.