The movie had the momentum from the previous Batman trilogy and the hype from the marketing. It should have dared to be more than an action movie.
Despite the aftermath of first movie, only Batman is preparing to attack and defeat a godlike entity. Superman tries to help us rebuild, despite being mistrust and shamed in the media as a tyrant. Humanity comes to terms that it is not alone in the Universe and that it knows even less about life on Earth than before. Meanwhile evil-doers have been manipulating events so that Batman and Superman must eventually engage; the end-game is to secure their mutual destruction or unilateral shaming into exile, paving the way for global domination or destruction.
These are things I would have loved to see.

Simple. It was set in the "Man of Steel" universe and was made by the same people who created that turd.
Same reason Steve Martin's "Pink Panther 2" failed. Reward people for creating a turd and they'll give you a bigger turd.

Trying to set up Justice League..

This message has been deleted.

I liked the movie, but I recognize its flaws. I think its biggest problem is that Superman was not likeable enough.

Zach Snyder
Defense Rests.

And cheat the would of MAAAAAAAAAAARTHA!

THe biggest reason for me was that Lex kidnapped Superman's mother to get him to fight, especially after the Ultimate Edition. All Lex needed to do was tell Superman that Batman is trying to kill him, maybe even show him the security footage, and would release Doomsday after seeing Superman winning and refusing to kill him.

When you attack the source material to defend an adaptation then you are admitting defeat

No Aussies say that
We don't even call them shrimp.

Would Truth, Justice and a shrimp on the barbie" have been more to your liking?

The truth justice and the American way, is what would make this character interesting. It's been done before but, the in this day and ago, with governments acting in ways that may not be conducive to protecting our freedom and privacy, would have made for interesting conflict. What we got instead , was moping

it was a pretty good film but the Superman character is pretty douchy. "truth, Justice in the American way". Anyone with half a brain can see why they left that stupid beep out.

For me, the Nostalgia Critic worded it perfectly in his review alongside AngryJoe of Batman v Superman;
"This movie is trying to be; Marvel, The Dark Knight, Wonder Woman, Justice League, The Death of Superman AND Batman v Superman. When Batman V Superman would've been more than enough"
If they had kept it at Batman V Superman, with a hint of WW and JL, this film would be getting far more praise as a film.

I don't even think it was trying to be a 'cinematic masterpiece', Snyder doesn't really appear to suffer from Nolan's pretentiousness.
Heh heh heh. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Pffftttahhahahahahahahaha! HA HA HAAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ha haaaaaaaah!

Snyder is far more pretentious than Nolan
At least Nolan knows how to sort of explore these ideas. Snyders dumb ass lacks a clue at what they even are or how to even tell a coherent story
Snyder is the clown whose always claiming his movies were "too complex" and audiences "missed the imagery". Nolans never had to do that. And Nolan is pretentious. Just not Snyder level.

It made almost 900 million dollars in the face of massive negative critical response. It quite obviously found an audience. Unless those who said they hated it saw it several times, of course.
I don't even think it was trying to be a 'cinematic masterpiece', Snyder doesn't really appear to suffer from Nolan's pretentiousness. He did however intend for it to be seen as a mythological story, the direct references to 'Excalibur' being the most obvious manifestation of same.
An opinion is not offensive just because you do not agree with it.

I wouldn't agree that it really "failed," but we'll run with it.
Snyder, DC and WB were too concerned with accelerating towards their "universe" and it detracted from the story they were supposed to be telling. Thus, the movie seemed overstuffed and pulled off the not-insignificant feat of feeling too long and rushed at the same time.
The dream sequences had nothing to do with
this story
, and they were long enough and obtrusive enough that they jerked me right out of the BvS storyline. I like to think my brain can handle complex stories with different threads in the same film, but it was hard not to see these as, essentially, trailers for Justice League embedded in the middle of a different movie. This aspect of the film wasn't "complex," it was clumsy and desperate.
DC fans might get tired of hearing about how Marvel does things, but the fact remains that they nailed the build-up to The Avengers. Each film was self-contained and kept the focus on its star, only tossing in small tidbits now and then (some in the framework of the story being told and some in post-credit scenes) to remind us that this was part of a larger whole to come.
All that said, I actually enjoy Batman vs Superman and think the DCEU is still salvageable as a competitor to the MCU, and certainly as viable entertainment. We just need to get to the point where it doesn't seem like DC is playing catch up, and, in a nutshell, that's what kept BvS from really crushing it.
Well, that and they blew their Doomsday wad wayyyyy too early.

I have meddled with the primal forces of nature and I will atone.

Actaully , Doomsday, The Story, the plodding direction, are all just the topping of a turd cake. The main reason I hated this movie, was that I felt nothing for the characters , and so was therefore just bored throughout the whole film. Nothing peaked my interest, at all, after the initial re showing of the Metropolis attack

It also was not one issue.

Doomsday was not "squeezed" in though, was he? Not in the comic book. He was a prominent character. He was the whole story, not just some dumb after thought. God, you really are blinkered in your hatred of all things MCU, and your devotion to DCEU. It makes you come over as ludicrous

You never read the Death of Superman event, did you?

Doomsday was squeezed into the comic book just so Superman could die too. It wasn't like Luthor or Brainiac finally killing Superman. He was invented for no other reason but to kill Superman in one issue. At least the movie gave his death more motivation by being a Luthor plot rather than just a random monster that popped up.
"Pretentious" is a three-syllable word for any thought too big for little minds.

1. Trying too hard to connect all of the characters together in a small amount of time.
2. The editing was weird.
3. Batfleck felt stiff and the voice was just too much, cringeworthy at times.
4. Luthor.
   Things I did like was the way Superman died, it was kind of heroic even though Doomsday was pretty much squeezed in just so Superman could die. I liked the Batman backstory, even though they went back and fourth in time, which should have worked but didn't. Wonder Woman was a fun addition, I didn't feel like she was squeezed in, that was the only supporting character that didn't feel rushed in.
   This is a signature. Just wanted to point that out.