Billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who hunts criminals as the masked vigilante Batman in Gotham City, is furious to see Superman (Henry Cavill) partly responsible for so many deaths in Metropolis.

The 3D sequel to Man of Steel (2013) is more ambitious, visually and narratively, but once you get over the thrill of watching these legendary superheroes clash there isn’t much to derive pleasure from here.

Bombastic, grim and solemn, with an irritating music score, the movie is cluttered (Wonder Woman barely makes an impact) and the climactic Doomsday battle inspires fatigue.

2016-U.S. 153 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Zack Snyder. Screenplay: Chris Terrio, David S. Goyer. Cast: Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Jesse Eisenberg (Alexander “Lex” Luthor), Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot… Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner. Voices of Carla Gugino, Patrick Wilson. Cameos: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller.

Trivia: Co-executive produced by Christopher Nolan. Also released in a 183-min. version (where Jon Stewart has a cameo). Several news personalities have cameos, and so does U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (just as he did in three previous Batman movies). Followed by Justice League (2017), but Batman also appeared in Suicide Squad (2016). Gadot also got her own spin-off movie, Wonder Woman (2017).