“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” registered the largest pre-summer opening weekend ever this weekend. Is that an arbitrary record? Kind of, but it speaks to the success this movie has found.

People are coming out of the woodwork to see a superhero matchup that has been decades in the making. No matter what, this film was going to be successful, so the big question is if this film is successful enough to both satisfy its fans and launch an entirely new franchise.

Based on artistic merit, this movie is not great. Is it as horrible as the Internet would make one think the last few days? Far from it. But it is far from a superhero masterpiece.

Ultimately though, the film lives up to the title. There is Batman, there is Superman, and they fight. If you are in the theater to see that battle, then you will likely leave satisfied. However, there should be more to a movie than just fighting, and that is at the core of what bothered me most about the film: gratuitous violence.

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is a violent, violent film that is basically shooting and explosions for almost three hours. I would not take a child to this film, but then again, the five-year-old behind me loved it, so who am I to say?

While violence is necessary in a movie about fighting and, ultimately war, the use of violence would be most effective if used sparingly. In this, the violence is nonstop, so eventually the audience is desensitized. The more it is used, the less punch it packs, and by the end of the film the violence is nothing more than staged choreography and special effects.

While I found the excessive violence to be the most bothersome aspect of the film, it ultimately is a symptom of a larger problem in “Batman v Superman,” and likely in upcoming DC comic movies: lack of heart. “Batman v Superman” was an extremely dark movie, and while I appreciate this serious tone to bring legitimacy to the franchise, I wish there was evidence of people having fun making this movie.

For all of the impressive visual effects, fight sequences and emotional turmoil of the characters, the whole film was very formulaic. You could feel the men in suits crafting this movie beat by beat, and never did they stop and think, “Is this film too serious?” or “Are we absolutely positive the fans will enjoy this?”

Instead, they simply put Batman and Superman in the film, made the film as dark and serious as possible, promoted the film with all the marketing power in the world and then unleashed it to the fans.

It all comes down to the fact that the DC Superman and Batman universe is trying to play catch up to the success of “The Avengers.”

But unlike Marvel, which took its time and created sophisticated characterizations of its heroes, Warner Brothers is pushing years of exposition into one film. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is extremely unorganized, and is crammed with so much exposition and world-building that one can’t just enjoy the film they are watching.

For all of the excitement of seeing Batman and Superman fight, this film is ultimately just a steppingstone for a bigger project: the Justice League. That’s totally OK, but it would be better if the people creating this movie could take their time and give us a heartfelt story worth sharing instead of superhero CliffsNotes.

Erik Benjamin is a sophomore television, radio and film major. His column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email him at ebenjami@syr.edu or follow him @embenjamin14 on Twitter.

Published on March 27, 2016 at 9:26 pm