Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice Review
Movie: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Rating: PG 13
Running time: 2 hours, 31 minutes
Moviegoers: Mom and daughter, 13
Family movie faves: Inside Out, Harry Potter (the entire series), Zootopia, Princess Diaries
Fave movies for grown-ups: The Godfather Part II, John Hughes movies (Pretty in Pink), Stars Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Review of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice:
What’s the story: The ultimate smackdown question, who would win in a fight, Batman – The Dark Knight or Superman – The Man of Steel is what has gotten the fan boys and fan girls all excited since the movie was announced way back in 2013. Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) basically don’t agree on how and what is needed to save or protect our world. Their differences can’t last for long as they have to both confront the iconic evil billionaire Lex Luther (Jesse Eisenberg).
What parents may like about this movie: Even though superheroes like Superman and Batman are supposedly the good guys, both men struggle with their ability of doing good. Are they doing good or making things worse? This movie might be fantasy and action adventure but it shows our heroes as more relatable.
As a mom of a daughter, I loved the introduction of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) into the story line. Sh may be just a minor character in the movie but she holds her own with the two main characters and will be inspiring to girls and women alike. I look so forward to Wonder Woman’s stand alone movie coming out in 2017.
I personally liked the story line of you can’t do it alone and it’s okay to have help to accomplish a goal.
What kids will like: The action scenes and suspenseful nature of the story. The movie very quickly introduces members of the Justice League: Aquaman (Jason Momoa); The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher.) There is a super hero for every one in this movie.
Concerns: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is rated PG 13 but make no mistake there are some intense scenes of violence throughout all the action sequences. The fight scenes are many and pretty graphically brutal. In a $250 million action picture, there are lots of everything, lots of things that getting blown up, lots of guns, lots of explosions, lots of buildings going down, all in all just lots of violence and mayhem. Lex Luther is responsible for a mass murder so that’s not exactly family friendly.
My 13-year-old daughter has seen The Hunger Games series which is intensely violent so she was prepared for the violence. This movie did not bother her. I would definitely suggest this movie for older tweens.
Bottom Line: If you are Batman or Superman or super hero fan or a fan of action pictures you will like the movie. There was much to like about the movie. I do think much criticism was made of Ben Affleck being cast as Batman after Christian Bale’s amazing performances was for naught as I do think he did an adequate job.
Henry Cavill was just okay in my opinion. You expect The Dark Knight to be all angsty given his history but the Man of Steel is supposed to be the positive one. I think he is the one that was miscast. He has no charisma at all to play this role. And his Clark Kent is unlikeable that it’s odd. I just think Superman is harder character to get right.
Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, the superheroes arch nemesis does a horrible job as the villain. It’s just an over the top performance. I felt like director said “act crazy” and he does. Maybe I have fond memories of the Lex Luthor’s and villains before him that they were so much more interesting. His lines were terrible.
Is this movie worth seeing yes because movies like this deserve to be seen on the big screen? Should it be 2 1/2 hours long? No.
And if your child is an older tween that you take, they need to be prepared that this is a dark movie and nothing like the animated series or whatever happy notion they have a super heroes. And just because it’s PG13 please don’t take a elementary school age child because I just think you should let them have a few more years of thinking Superman and Batman are superheroes not dark guys with issues that need to be worked out.
The highlight I do think was the introduction of Wonder Woman and the other Justice League members.
Positive themes: 2/5
Violence/scare factor: It is a violent movie overall. 5/5
Sex/Romance: Clark Kent and Lois Lane kiss a couple of times. 1/5
Visit Fandango.com to order tickets.
Disclosure: In accordance with the FTC Guidelines, NYC Single Mom has received compensation from Fandango for my time and participation in the Fandango Family Digital Network. Opinions are 100% my own.
