CNS photo/Warner Bros.

NEW YORK (CNS)—Darkness hovers over the neighboring cities of Gotham and Metropolis, the main settings of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (Warner Bros).

It’s not just the looming clash of the DC Comics titans promised by the film’s title. This follow-up to 2013’s Superman reboot, “Man of Steel,” directed again by Zack Snyder, is awash in cynicism and angst. Optimism and goofy fun take a back seat as our superheroes grapple with identity crises and personal dramas.

The movie is, nonetheless, at once thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking, even if its operatic scale comes at the cost of endless mayhem and an ear-splitting score. Snyder straps viewers into a roller-coaster ride that is often exhilarating and ultimately exhausting—and much too intense for the younger set.

The plot picks up where “Man of Steel” left off. With Superman (Henry Cavill) continuing to battle his archenemy, Gen. Zod (Michael Shannon), over the skies of Metropolis, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) watches in horror as buildings topple and thousands are killed, including employees of his own firm, Wayne Financial.

(Quiet moments of people praying to God—not Superman—for salvation, and blessing themselves, are a welcome sight in a contemporary Hollywood blockbuster.)

Batman comes to regard Superman not as a benign savior but as a conveyor of death and destruction. It’s a discussion pursued by many as the world comes to grips with the mighty alien from the planet Krypton—and wonders what his true intentions are.

Meanwhile, Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent, and his Daily Planet newspaper colleague Lois Lane (Amy Adams), have moved in together and are seen making love in the bathtub. Domestic bliss, at least of the shacked-up variety, seems at hand.

Not so fast, of course, for a dotty young megalomaniac, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), is determined to bring down the Man of Steel who threatens his own desire for global domination.

“Devils don’t come from hell beneath us,” Luthor warns. “They come from the sky.”

He discovers Superman’s Achilles heel, the mineral kryptonite. Luthor also hatches an elaborate plan to discredit Superman and prey upon Batman’s growing resentment of his rival crime fighter. Before long, hearings are held in Washington by Sen. June Finch (Holly Hunter), holding Superman responsible for the deaths and other collateral damage inflicted by his actions.

So is Superman a champion or a false god? His stepmother, Martha (Diane Lane), offers straight talk: “Be their hero, Clark. Be their angel, be their monument, be anything they need you to be, or be none of it. You don’t owe this world a thing. You never did.”

As Superman embarks on some serious navel-gazing and Batman broods in his cave, Luthor instigates what he calls “the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world. God versus man. Day versus night! Son of Krypton versus Bat of Gotham!”

Snyder pulls out all the stops in a fight worthy of Pay-Per-View. Besides the main duo, a malevolent monster called Doomsday is thrown into the mix. So too is Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). A 5,000-year-old Amazon princess (she doesn’t look a day over 25), Wonder Woman has no love for Luthor, and joins the resistance to him.

Double W.’s appearance heralds the introduction of several other new super beings the script code names “metahumans.” Their arrival sets the stage for a raft of future movies about a crime-fighting team, the “Justice League,” that’s clearly intended to rival Marvel’s Avengers.

Prepare yourselves—and don’t forget the earplugs.

The film contains relentless and intense action violence, cohabitation, brief partial nudity as well as occasional profanity and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III—adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13—parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” (Universal)

The close-knit Hellenic family featured in the 2002 original—loving, clingy, earthy and in your face at all the most inopportune moments—returns in this romantic comedy, but without the zest of that first outing. The problem is not so much the ambling plot, which involves marital strains between star and screenwriter Nia Vardalos’ self-sacrificing character and her husband (John Corbett) as well as a technical glitch requiring that her long spliced parents (Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan) go through a fresh wedding. The real difficulty is that Vardalos only manages the occasional adept gag, while director Kirk Jones can do little with the rest of the project. As a result, the story comes down to a few pithy quotes interspersed with half-hearted physical comedy that has the taste of stale moussaka. Sexual references and light banter. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III—adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13—parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

“The Divergent Series: Allegiant” (Summit)

Third time’s not a charm with this ponderous adaptation of the final book of the futuristic trilogy by Veronica Roth, the sequel to “The Divergent Series: Insurgent,” directed by Robert Schwentke. Having brought down the wicked faction system that divided families in post-apocalyptic Chicago, our heroine (Shailene Woodley) and her mentor-lover (Theo James) venture beyond the city wall to discover who is really behind the city’s troubles. There in a gleaming city a charismatic leader (Jeff Daniels) oversees the Windy City experiment gone wrong, but his true intentions are unclear. While the film is not nearly as violent as its predecessor, it does contain several scenes that may be too strong for younger viewers. Intense violence and action, brief rear female nudity, and some crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III—adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13—parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.