Batman v Superman on course for record $172m opening weekend despite terrible reviews

A.V. CLUB: 'Directed by Zack Snyder, of faithfully butchered Watchmen fame, Batman V Superman takes a title fight kids of all ages have been speculating about for decades - costumed titan from the cosmos, meet costumed vigilante from the city - and invests it with all the fun of a protracted custody battle.'

BOSTON GLOBE: 'Gotham City is actually Jersey City. Or maybe it's Hoboken. Whatever, it's right across the river from Metropolis/Manhattan, which makes sense in this movie, because Cavill's Superman is one of those graceful 1-percenters with no body fat and hand-tailored outfits that not even a nuclear warhead can wrinkle. He doesn't sweat, whereas you just know Affleck's Batman has a bad case of bridge-and-tunnel B.O.' 

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: 'When it sings, 'Dawn of Justice' is a wonder. When it drags, it still looks good and offers hints of a better scene just around the corner.'

CHICAGO READER: 'Not as bad as Bush v. Gore, but close.' 

THE DAILY BEAST: 'This was supposed to be the most epic superhero movie ever made. Instead, we got a cliched, manic villain and two well-intentioned heroes fighting for no reason at all.' 

DEADSPIN: 'Oof, Lex Luthor is a drag. Jesse Eisenberg preens and over-enunciates and waxes crazily pedantic, like no one told him he's not in a Sorkin movie anymore; his method of conveying Brilliant Insanity is to make as though he just ingested touring funk band quantities of cocaine.'

EMPIRE: 'There are moments that make the whole enterprise worthwhile, and introduces an intriguing new Batman. But it's also cluttered and narratively wonky; a few jokes wouldn't have gone amiss, either.' 

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: 'It’s another numbing smash-and-bash orgy of CGI mayhem with an ending that leaves the door open wide enough to justify the next 10 installments. Is it too late to demand a rematch?' 

GQ MAGAZINE: 'This is a film so bad it wears you down and makes you wonder if there was ever such a thing as a hero anyway.'  

MIAMI HERALD: 'In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel duke it out and the audience loses.'

THE NEW REPUBLIC: 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a joyless slog. Filled with scenes of gloomy characters confronting their demons or wrestling with their insipid moral quandaries, it’s not a superhero movie so much as it is an excruciating therapy session in which there are occasionally huge explosions and guys in capes.' 

NEW YORK POST: 'Constantly threatening to collapse from self-seriousness, this epic has way too much of everything, including CGI and Oscar winners up the wazoo.'  

NEW YORK TIMES: 'The studio has, in the usual way, begged and bullied critics not to reveal plot points, and I wouldn't dream of denying you the thrill of discovering just how overstuffed and preposterous a movie narrative can be.'

TIME: 'Batman v Superman lunges for greatness instead of building toward it: It’s so top-heavy with false portent that it buckles under its own weight.' 

TIME OUT NEW YORK: 'If there's any justice, dawning or otherwise, at the multiplex, audiences will reject Zack Snyder's lumbering, dead-on-arrival superhero mélange, a $250 million tombstone for a genre in dire need of a break.'  

VULTURE: 'With Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the movie division of DC Entertainment and the parent studio, Warner Bros., have given the fanboys and the Nolanoids what they crave—and lo, it is impressive and, lo, it is godawful.'

USA TODAY: '[Batman v Superman] will please those either waiting for the two main players to lock horns on a movie screen, or those who've just been pining for Wonder Woman forever.'  

THE WRAP: 'That 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.'