Entertainment Weekly’s review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was reported as a C+ and attributed to critic Chris Nashawaty. The excerpts reproduced by contemporaneous outlets acknowledge the film’s scale but criticize its sprawling story, busy action, visual effects and broad performances. Because the original EW review page and full text are not established here, those details should be read as secondary reports rather than a complete record of the review.
Who reviewed the film, and what grade did EW give it?
Contemporaneous coverage identifies Chris Nashawaty as the Entertainment Weekly reviewer and reports that EW assigned Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice a C+. Just Jared reported the grade and reproduced the review’s opening thought, while The Independent’s roundup also named Nashawaty. Just Jared and The Independent are secondary sources reporting on the EW review.
What was EW’s central reaction?
Just Jared reproduces an opening line that frames the film as beginning with an intriguing idea: “Dawn of Justice starts off as an intriguing meditation about two superheroes turning to an all-too-human emotion: hatred out of fear of the unknown.” That suggests the review saw potential in the conflict at the film’s center, even as its reported overall grade and later quoted criticism indicate reservations about the execution.
E! reproduces a sharper summary attributed to EW: “Dawn of Justice is big, all right. The brawls are busy and brutal, the story is sprawling in scope, the effects are an embarrassment of pixels, and the performances (well, some of them, at least) couldn’t be broader.” The line sets up a contrast between scale and control: the film’s ambition and spectacle are apparent, but the review’s quoted objections concern how those elements work together. E!’s review roundup provides the excerpt.
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What the available excerpts do—and do not—establish
The excerpts support describing EW’s response as mixed to negative: they preserve an initially receptive observation about the premise alongside criticism of the action, story, effects and some performances. They do not provide the complete review, so they cannot establish the full development of Nashawaty’s argument or every qualification he made.
The original EW review page and its exact publication date are not established in the available contemporaneous reports. Accordingly, the C+ and quoted wording above are attributed to secondary reproductions; they should not be treated as a substitute for the full original text.
Rank #2
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How EW’s reaction fits the wider critical conversation
Other contemporary reviews raised related concerns, but these are separate critics’ judgments, not evidence of EW’s specific reasoning. ABC News characterized the film as convoluted and underdeveloped, while GameSpot’s roundup said its attempts at philosophical and human themes often did not make for much fun. ABC News and GameSpot offer that broader critical context.
TIME described the film as grand spectacle while criticizing its solemnity and arguing that its themes were not sufficiently shaped. That comparison helps clarify the fault line in the contemporary response: visual scale and ambition could impress, while story coherence, tonal variety and thematic clarity remained points of contention. TIME’s review is a distinct assessment, not part of EW’s review.
Quick Recap
Rank #3
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