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Critics have weighed in on the upcoming superhero film 鈥淏atman v Superman,鈥� which stars Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Henry Cavill and opens on March 25.

鈥淏atman鈥� features the return of Mr. Cavill as Superman and is the debut of Mr. Affleck and Ms. Gadot as Batman and Wonder Woman, respectively. The film finds Batman and Superman battling over ideas of how a hero should act.聽

The movie is directed by Zack Snyder and has been publicly positioned as the possible beginning of a franchise, one that could be similar to the Marvel superhero movies. Snyder is already signed up by studio Warner Bros. to make at least one movie about the Justice League, which in the comics includes Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

So what are reviewers saying about this possible start to a movie series?聽

Reviews so far are poor. One of the more positive ones, which is written by , wrote that the movie goes 鈥渇rom great to good.鈥�

鈥淸It has] just the right amount of dark humor [and] strong performances,鈥� Mr. Roeper wrote, and even 鈥渨hen it drags, it still looks good and offers hints of a better scene just around the corner.鈥�

And writes that the film 鈥渄oes go on too long,鈥� but that Affleck 鈥渃onvincingly play[s]鈥� Batman and is 鈥渃ommitted,鈥� while the story has some 鈥渄eft notions鈥� like positioning Batman鈥檚 city of Gotham and Superman鈥檚 Metropolis near each other. 鈥淚t's a nice echo of Warner's past as a home to gangsters and gritty melodramas to find its DC world operating very much on the dark end of the street,鈥� Mr. Turan writes.

But found the movie to be 鈥渟ludgy,鈥� writing, 鈥淸The] face-off between two comics legends becomes but one in a series of big things bashing into other big things, which is what Snyder and writers Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer mistake for storytelling. The trio do manage to cough up an acceptable number of ooh-that鈥檚-cool moments, and fans who will be satisfied with those will be satisfied with those, but any other ideas and characters the movie might offer get lost in the rubble.鈥� However, Mr. Duralde found Gadot鈥檚 Wonder Woman to 鈥渋nject 鈥� some real vitality.鈥�

And wrote that the film is 鈥渁bout as diverting as having a porcelain sink broken over your head (one of the few amusing things that happens onscreen) 鈥� overstuffed and preposterous."聽

So what does this mean for the future of DC Comics movies as made by Warner Bros.? Scheduled films most likely aren鈥檛 going anywhere. Many are predicting big things for the movie at the weekend box office, with writing, 鈥淭he anticipation for this one has been insane among the faithful, and the only risk is that it fills up too much demand (especially if the film isn鈥檛 general audience-friendly) before the first official day 鈥� In [a] nightmare scenario, the sequel earns $52m on Friday 鈥� for a $100m-$110m debut weekend.聽 It will be the first occasion where a $100m+ weekend was, fairly or not, heralded as an outright disaster, but there you go.鈥澛�

鈥淢an of Steel,鈥� the Superman film before this one, wasn鈥檛 liked by critics either, but Warner Bros. still moved forward with plans for 鈥淏atman v Superman鈥� and the other upcoming DC Comics superhero films.

Warner Bros. also probably doesn鈥檛 want to stop its plans for a 鈥淛ustice League鈥� movie and other upcoming films. 鈥淲arner Bros. [has an] entire DC Comics slate lined up for the next five years,鈥� 苍辞迟别诲.听

If 鈥淏atman v Superman鈥� does well at the box office, Warner Bros. will most likely continue with its plan for a DC Comics franchise as it did following poor reviews but positive box office for 鈥淢an of Steel.鈥澛�

鈥漇omewhat grim reviews won鈥檛 necessarily mean this epic caped hero battle will struggle at the box office,鈥� 飞谤辞迟别.听