It’s 4am as I start to type so this will be brief and just my initial reaction. I may update later.

As I walked into the Imax tonight it felt like I had stumbled onto the set for Big Bang Theory. Indeed I sat next to a chap who decided to wear the full rubber bat suit for the 2.5 hours of the movie.

In a nutshell this movie is great. Not perfect in total but perfect in so many ways. 

When Ben Affleck was cast I was not convinced he was a good choice even though I felt no one could fill Christian Bales shoes. I was wrong on both counts, Affleck is the best Batman so far.

Not to say I prefer this film to any of Nolan’s but Batman looks like the seasoned professional. A fighter and a detective on a level we have not yet seen. Authentic in every way.

Henry Cavill was born to play Superman and you can feel the conflict that results from his rookie mistakes despite all of his power.

I thought Jesse Eisenberg came off as a clown in the trailers but believable in the movie as someone with a deep intellect and capable of great evil. Even when he lost control he was in control. Maybe the best developed villain of any superhero movie so far. 

The opening sequence was simply beautiful.

The fight scene between Batman and Superman was epic. I wish I could find a better word as that is really the description we all hoped for and Snyder delivers in spades. You get a sense of that in the trailer and it really is only a hint compared to what is gifted to us here. Lets face it, as much as I also love Marvel, having all of their finest facing off in a parking lot for Civil War is more like the battle of the anchormen from Ron Burgundy 2. The setting and motives behind the battle between Superman and Batman on the other hand while there are greater things at stake has an intensity and gravitas that lends itself to the more grounded approach DC has decided to take on.

Batman sees Superman as a threat. Suddenly he is not in control, at least in the way he once was. So he reacts, it’s human nature. I wonder if there is some parallel in some of the negative reviews of this film being a reaction to the overwhelming positive reviews by those who are not professional. Normal people who just see the movie and loved it. If all the professional critics just agreed with the majority of amateurs they become irrelevant. Dunning-Kruger usually makes an appearance in these circumstances.

Gal Gadot for the win. She is not in as much of the film as I expected but great presence when she is.

Amy Adams is always cool. Just great to watch on screen. She gets more character development here than she did in Man of Steel and it gives depth to the story.

There were some weaknesses and those in the last action scenes that to my mind could have easily been overcome. I’ll address those in a spoiler discussion at some point. I wonder too if that had some impact on reviews. It’s known that people remember how they felt at the beginning and the end of something. So if something is great in the middle but bad at the start and finish they remember it as bad but if flat in the middle but great at the start and the end they remember it as being great.

On last thing I should say. I love Marvel films and I love that we live at a time when it is possible to have comic books on the screen. But a point of difference in style is that Marvel are lighter in tone, described by some as more cartoon. There is nothing wrong with that. However don’t expect that from this film, it’s deep, the action comes but sometimes the film is not as fast paced because each scene means something that propels the story. If switching off and just enjoying the ride is your thing this may not be the film for you. If you like your mind stimulated as well as your other senses then get along, you won’t be disappointed.