Hell yeah.
On the one hand I actually liked the content of the flashbacks but I knew they eliminated any chance of my 6 year old son being able to follow the movie for quite some time. I was his age when I saw ESB in the theater and I didn't know what the **** was going on when Luke faced Vader in the cave, but that was just one moment and they immediately cut to "real" Vader on the Executor when it was done. Bruce's dreams within dreams? Yeah, forget it.
However as someone who's able to follow such things I was pretty on board with them.
One of the big problems I had with the trailer was Clark's seeming continued smugness with how quickly he told Bruce "not everyone shares your opinion" in response to the claim that he could burn everything. The trailer made me think that Clark should have paused and digested that with a bit of empathy before responding and the finished film gave him that extra beat. In fact I didn't really find myself disliking Clark at all in this movie. I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that Zack and Terrio "nailed" his character but I did come away thinking that his portrayal was an admirable effort.
Bruce/Batman and Wonder Woman though, I thought they were pretty much perfect. I could probably write paragraphs about how much I loved the two of them (especially Bruce!) but I'll save that for another time. I did enjoy how WW seemed to enjoy the adrenaline rush she got from actually taking blows in combat.
I will say this about Bats though because I'm sure people are weighing in on the fact that he kills. I just don't think you can really sell the fact that he wants to off Superman if he's never actually taken a life before. Pretty simple. I never read Miller's TDKR, and I'm guessing that the Batman who fought Superman there wasn't a killer, but on film I think it plays better if that's something we already know that Batman is capable of, it really gave extra gravitas to the scene where he's holding the spear above Superman's chest.
I didn't mind Luthor, I thought he played much better in the film than in the trailers, though I was the only one in the theater who laughed at a couple of his antics (like the stuffing of the jolly rancher in the guy's mouth, so random, lol.) And "Speech speech, bla bla bla, open bar, the end" really cracked me up as I'm been to enough corporate conventions and seminars to know that whenever there's a gathering and a bar, no one really does give a **** about what any big wig is saying on stage.
Other little things:
1. I thought the prologue with the destruction of Metropolis was very well done and actually more intense than the actual finale of MOS.
2. I liked the synthesized score that played during the batmobile chase, I felt like I was back in Terminator 84.
3. Beautiful photography, much better use of the alternating aspect ratio than the irritating back and forth (sometimes from shot to shot!) that Nolan gave us in TDK and especially TDKR.
4. I was really starting to get pissed at what I saw as Lois' shoehorning into the final battle (I guess she still kind of was) but I feel like we did get adequate payoff with her last moment with Clark.
5. Superman and Doomsday's deaths did feel a little "Thorin and Azog" to me. I liked it, but I did literally think back to the end of BOTFA when it happened.
6. Kind of funny that Doomsday's creation is reminiscent of Nuclear Man in Superman IV, Lex combining his DNA with a Kryptonian (I'm assuming that is not how Doomsday was created in the comics.)
7. I did roll my eyes a bit at the gratuitous "good thing this fight is after business hours so that half the city is vacant!" type lines which were so obviously inserted due to complaints against the first film. I don't think they needed that, especially since we saw Superman doing everything he could to not only get Doomsday out of the city, but out of the Earth's atmosphere as well.
Above all I just felt that with regard to superhero films that we've been watching the kids play (Marvel) and finally the big boys showed up. And I'm saying that as a Marvel guy. There's just such a damn mystique with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman that Marvel's greatest heavy hitters (save Captain America) just can't touch. That isn't translating to "BvS was better than all Marvel films," no, I'm just saying there's an elevated mystique with DC's big guns that is almost palpable.
I absolutely loved seeing the "Trinity" in action and almost don't want a movie bogged down with Aquaman and Cyborg just because I like the big three so much. But I am SO glad that Snyder will remain at the helm because I absolutely want to see this onscreen world continue into JL 1 and 2.
