5 out of 10
Cast:
Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Superman
Amy Adams as Lois Lane
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor
Diane Lane as Martha Kent
Laurence Fishburne as Perry White
Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth
Holly Hunter as June Finch
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
Scoot McNairy as Wallace Keefe
Callan Mulvey as Anatoli Knyazev
Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves
Directed by Zack Snyder
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition Review:
It’s been several months since Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released and it’s not worth it to rehash all of that film’s many, many, many faults. It is worth it to bring up the central problem underlying most (not all, but most) of the film’s issues: Snyder’s take on his central characters is unlikeable and unrelatable, which is a real dilemma when one of those characters is Superman (Cavill).
It’s like trying to redefine Captain America as a secret Nazi; it’s so far removed from the premise of the character, it would require storytelling beyond the levels of genius to work for an average audience. It’s the type of move seen when a writer is either a) desperately experimenting to find a new take on a well-known character or b) does not understand why the character works the way they work and is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Why is this worth bringing up again?
Because Snyder is releasing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition, an extended cut of the film with an extra 30 minutes of footage returned to the movie. It begs the questions ‘are the problems of the film due to the shorter theatrical cut’ and ‘with more material does Snyder’s judgment of the characters make more sense.’
The answer to both questions is a definitive NO, but for fans of the original film, the extended cut is more than just a curio. Besides following the continuing adventures of the Man of Steel, it also has to introduce a major new player in the form of Batman (Affleck). This, combined with Snyder’s more natural affinity with the character and his built-in dourness, meant the theatrical cut tilted heavily in Batman’s direction, spending much of its running time attempting to explain his motivations for confronting Superman.
And when it wasn’t doing that, it was introducing Jesse Eisenberg’s scenery-chewing Lex Luthor as the prominent recurring villain in the nascent DC cinematic universe. Add in trying to find something for Lois Lane (Adams), Alfred Pennyworth (Irons) and the various other supporting cast members to do, while also introducing Wonder Woman (Gadot) and the idea of other superheroes to the mix, and Batman v Superman obviously has a tremendously high bar to clear. To a certain extent, any extra material added back to the film should help some of those problems and it does, Superman most of all.
it becomes quickly clear that the theatrical cut of Batman v Superman was at least in part a product of a desire to explain Batman and give him a good introduction, and in part a desire to streamline the plot as much as possible. The side effect of these decisions was to make Superman more inscrutable than was probably originally planned and Luthor’s actions seem more arbitrary than they were.
Most of the material added back in the Ultimate Edition addresses those problems, including making the framing of Superman more believable and making Superman’s own angst about his place in the world more palatable. He spends more time actually talking with Lois about what’s bothering him and she gets to spend some real time investigating her story, giving them both closer to something like actual lives rather than reactors to Luthor’s plot.
The plot itself is better explained as well, with revelations that everyone who came into conflict with Superman was pushed there in some way by Luthor. Snyder and his writers (David Goyer and Argo’s Chris Terrio) explain more thoroughly what Luthor has done and why — lining the explosive wheelchair, which sends Superman running from humanity — to better explain Superman’s actual reaction. It’s a rare case of more exposition being better as it gives us a better-explained Superman and a more cohesive plot.
None of which makes Luthor’s actions ultimately believable or Superman likeable and proactive. Better than the theatrical cut is a low bar to clear and a long way from ‘good.’ Scene order from Snyder and editor David Brenner remains unfathomable in many places and the tone is still relentlessly dreary. As much as Snyder has added back in, none of it is particularly funny or fun.
About half of the new elements are more about adding violence for the sake of violence to the film (hence the new cut’s R rating), which again seems out of place with the original premise of the characters and not interesting enough to go with. Having Batman and Superman be brutal doesn’t make them any more enjoyable to watch, it just makes them brutal.
Still, a 25% increase in run time is nothing to sneeze at, which is good because that’s all the Ultimate Edition offers. There are no deleted scenes to further expand our knowledge of the film (presumably they’ve all been cut into the film now) and no commentary to offer any more insight into why Snyder made the decisions he did.
Outside of the film itself, the Ultimate Edition offers the same EPK videos the regular video release does looking at the creation of the Batmobile and Bat-Cave as well as brief appraisals of the three superheroes lynch pinning the film – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. For most enthusiasts, the only featurrette of real interest is the one covering the Justice League itself, which offers some behind-the-scenes looks at the casting and filming of the cameos in the BvS and more crucially the plans for the characters in the upcoming films, including the first finished shot from the upcoming Wonder Woman film.
Does all of this together make the Ultimate Edition a better film than the theatrical version? Yes, marginally. Most of what was wrong the first time around is still wrong and there is likely no recutting imaginable to fix that, but for fans of the film looking for a version to watch, the Ultimate Edition is the best choice by far. Make of that what you will.
You can order your copy of the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition by clicking here.
