Wow...not the movie I was expecting to see. After swimming through the ocean of pessimism, mediocrity, and downright terror- I clung to the few safety floats of positivity, hoping they would help keep me from drowning in the cesspool of despair and denial- then I saw the movie. I tried my hardest to enjoy the movie to the best of my ability, but I failed. All I could muster was a range of emotion that went from genuine excitement to borderline interest to eventual boredom. I was basically in 'meh' mode for most of the movie, save for a couple brief moments of excitement.
I guess I'll collect my thoughts and splurge in no defined order.
Affleck and Alfred were fine in their roles, no issues there. I just had a hard time digesting batman outright killing people. I knew he would be killing people and believed I could handle that sort of tone for his character- but, it seemed off. He just didn't feel like batman anymore. I think for me to believe that behavior, I would have needed a solo film or the movie to delve deeper into how he got to that breaking point. Sure, it's referenced in some dialogue why he's like that, but that doesn't do it for me- my mind can't be immersed in it. Yes, a lot of these cinematic heroes, marvel included, are practically killing villains and it's easy to tell if a person should have died, but batman is fucking brutal. Superman as well.
Gadot was fine as wonder woman, and she was good in the end fight- practically the highest point of the movie, where they are working together. That was some good shit, but that didn't last long. Everyone was loving it when the trinity was interacting with each other, the chemistry was on point. As for the resolution of the fight- "meh".
The cameos were cringe worthy. Like, why??? There must have been a better way to introduce them.
When Snyder introduced his more realistic superhero take with Man of Steel( like a 6.5/10 for me) , of course, I was on board- coming from my Dark Knight high. But, I don't know what to make of the tone going forward for this universe. I feel like I do want a bit more of a realistic take than what Marvel is giving me- but, it's coming at the expense of these characters' likeability. It felt a little too dark and I thought I would be up for that tone. I envision something like the justice league animated series as ideal, but if the JL film is supposedly lighter in tone maybe we'll get there. It just felt a lot less like a superhero movie and more about a whole bunch of other shit, which it is. It needed to focus on a few concepts/aspects and could have been much better for it. I didn't enjoy the batman and superman fight that much- superman got duped hard and I am even team batman.
Superman had some progression which was nice but how he got there was like wtf. Point being, the scenes are there, but their depth and time spent focusing on specific themes/character development is lacking. I can't get invested in an idea or concept with just: a couple of scenes that delve into said subject matter, erratic jumping that kills pace and immersion, overused hallucinations(yes, yes, darkseid and what the hell are you doing here Pa?!). I understood most scenes and their purpose, but all I was left with was a sense of indifference and disbelief- that I was hoping the film would end soon. Also, tired of Lois being used in the story so much, but that's probably a superman thing, and NO!!! I can't do Jesse as Lex- maybe... if he doesn't snivel like a rat in the next movie. Not sure who's fault it is, but I just don't like his current persona.
Bottom line: 5/10 and that's coming from someone that prefers the DC universe over Marvel. I am even more demotivated when it comes to comic book movies, but, I wanted to watch this for myself to form my own opinion. This wasn't the first dud, but there was a lot riding on this movie. I hope Suicide Squad is good but not sure how much I will truly enjoy this cinematic universe. There are marvel movies I am looking forward to but didn't want to muddy the waters.