What a terrible title — “v” should be “vs.” (this isn’t a court case, after all) and there is no justice, either for Batman or Superman.  The “Dawn of Justice” refers to the origin of the Justice League, which is at least imagined by the end of this interminable film, teaming the Caped Crusader, the Man of Steel, Wonder Woman and at least three other “meta-humans,” The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, in superhero parlance.  Hopefully the two upcoming Justice League movies will be a whole lot better than this mess, and that director Zack Snyder is prohibited from having anything more to do with them (he is scheduled to direct both).  Why?  Because this movie plays as if an adolescent child imagined it, clamoring to smash his or her Batman and Superman action figures together until one of them breaks apart.

Snyder messed up Man of Steel three years ago and now has done it again, directing a film filled with irrationality, headache-inducing special effects and cardboard characters.  The main premise is absurd — that Batman, or anyone, for that matter, should consider Superman to be a threat to humanity.  Bruce Wayne’s argument — that if only a 1% chance exists that Superman might destroy the Earth, that chance should be considered a certainty — boggles the mind.  I think it’s meant to reflect our current global state of fear, but I found it patently ridiculous.  If another alien entity arrived on our planet promising salvation, like in the recent TV version of “V,” I might believe it.  But we all know Superman, and even though this movie and Man of Steel are supposed to be “introducing” him to the world, along with Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), the premise doesn’t work because of the long, familiar history of the character.

And character is something this film decidedly lacks.  It isn’t that there are too many characters; it’s that way too much time is given over to mayhem and destruction, lightning effects and explosions, bodies crashing into brick walls and buildings tumbling down.  Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) is a caricature; Alfred (Jeremy Irons) is rather creepy; Lois Lane (Amy Adams) has incredibly little to do.  Amy Adams does have the best scene in the film, however, early on when she takes a very provocative bath.

Snyder’s film is determined to explore the “dark sides” of superhero-dom; Batman (Ben Affleck) is a decided villain here, killing various evil henchmen quite violently, stealing Lex Luthor’s stash of Kryptonite and attempting to kill Superman (Henry Cavill).  For his part, Superman cannot decide whether to stick to his plan to help humanity or to give up entirely.  This doesn’t interest me at all.  I’ll always believe that Superman is a super guy, dedicated to fighting evil and saving lives.  I thought that was what Batman was all about, too.  Maybe that’s boring nowadays, when the lines between good and evil are increasingly blurred, but that’s how I feel.  I’ll admit that both Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice contain a modicum of entertainment value, yet I deplore these films.  ☆ ☆.  31 March 2016.