Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition)

Maybe its been obvious, maybe it hasn't, but in a way, Batman v Superman broke me a little...

Here's a movie that I was looking forward to for years. It was a movie that followed one of my favorite super hero movies, Man of Steel, and I really thought it had a chance to be one of, if not the best Superhero film out there. And then I saw it...

Here's my review and my spoiler review.

But what I don't say in those is the fallout of this film. I was overly excited for all the superhero films coming out this year. But after seeing Batman v Superman, my excitement honestly went down. Maybe its the fact that I've been busy and traveling for work, but something kept me from really enjoying the other two superhero films that have come out since, Captain America: Civil War, and X-men: Apocalypse. And I kind of blame Batman v Superman. (On a side note, I'm going to attempt doing a video, at the very least an audio review of spoilers for both movies this week, so stay tuned).

But then I heard that there was going to be a Rated R Ultimate Edition being released when the movie. Its 30 minutes longer and apparently it fixes a lot of the issues that people brought up with this film. I heard some of the reviews and people started saying that the Ultimate Edition is better than the theatrical cut.

And I'll say it now, that is true. But does it redeem Batman v Superman?

For those not interested in reading about Spoilers and haven't seen Batman v Superman, all I will say is, a lot of the structural issues are fixed and if you're going to watch one of the two versions of this film, definitely watch the Ultimate Edition. That being said, there are still a lot of glaring issues with this movie and its not going to be the movie I think you will enjoy like other Superhero films have been.

And now I will give an unfiltered analysis of Batman v Superman The Ultimate Edition.

I do have to applaud this version for not being a story telling mess. In the theatrical cut, one of my biggest issues was the fact that Batman v Superman was just a structural nightmare. They jumped between so many characters with so many subplots, and so many issues that it was really hard to keep track of. The Ultimate Edition does a better job at organizing the different plots within the movie and putting it in an order that just makes more sense. In fact, while there are a couple scenes that I would say, yeah, maybe they took that out for a reason, there are a lot of scenes that don't make a lick of sense on why they pulled it out of the theatrical cut. Like I really can't stress enough how much more sense this version makes as opposed to the theatrical cut.

For example, the scenes in Africa where Lex Luthor tries to blame the butchering of a village on Superman, that scene is made more sense when his henchmen actually make it look like this is something Superman could have done. The public response to something like that makes more sense when Superman is painted as a rogue faction that nobody can control. He's not the symbol for Truth, Justice, and the America way of life, and you can understand why half the population doesn't trust him and even despise him. The ultimate thing that changed was developing more on what exactly Lex Luthor was trying to do by blaming that incident on Superman, suggesting Superman had something to do with the Capital blowing up, it makes more sense why people would be so divided on Superman.

And by developing that part of the movie, they also develop two characters that were incredibly underdeveloped, Lois Lane and Clark Kent.

One of my biggest complaints about the theatrical cut was that they still didn't give Henry Cavill and opportunity to actually act and give us some feeling behind the character of Clark Kent. It also didn't provide anything for Lois Lane to do besides almost drown.

In this version, Clark is a character. He actually goes to Gotham, he actually sees the harm Batman is doing to people and there's actually a reason for him to get pissed at Batman. And I liked that it wasn't Lex Luthor manipulating that, that's just flat out philosophical differences between Superman and Batman. There's a great scene where an inmate is killed because he has the bat brand on him and his widow says to Clark Kent, you can't stop him with words, you can only stop him with fists. That was a great motivator for Clark to process these thoughts on Batman and take action the only way he can when the Daily Planet doesn't allow him to.

And Lois. My god, is this even the same character from the theatrical cut? She does something! She actually contributes to this movie! She actually helps uncover some of the plot and reveal how much Lex Luthor was really behind things!

Now she's still kind of useless and they probably could have written her in as a better character or had her do something more useful... or not even put her in the movie at all. I don't know, that seems like something they couldn't do, but its an already crowded movie, they probably could have had her take a Natalie Portman from Thor and have her sit out a film.

What she did bring is Jena Malone back into the fray.

For some reason, Jena Malone was cast as a really small part as a crime analyst with STAR Labs. It just seems weird that this pretty successful actress would just show up for a small role in Batman v Superman. Which makes me think she's going to have a larger role in a future DC movie, maybe The Flash or something else. But for now it just seems really weird. I liked her part, but I thought it was just strange for it to be played by a good actress for such a short time.

But let me go back and talk about Lex Luthor's plot a little bit.

So on one hand, Lex's plot is a little more developed in this version. You actually see how much he has his hands in everything and you see how much he is manipulating. It does give a little more credibility to a character that before just seemed to be a little bit of a bumbling idiot.

However, my issue with this version is the fact that it takes away from the philosophical differences between Batman v Superman.

With this version, EVERYTHING is manipulated by Lex Luthor. He pays off the woman from Africa to say that Superman killed all those people in the village. He intercepts the checks to Scoot McNairy's character. He manipulates EVERYTHING.

And while that does make him, I think, a little more menacing of a villain, my problem is that I don't think it needed to be meticulously manipulated the way it was. Lex Luthor didn't need to manipulate both the public and Batman in the way that he did, to the level he did. Public trust in Superman could have been eroded just from an event like what happened in Metropolis in Man of Steel. Batman could still hate Superman for destroying Metropolis from what happened in Man of Steel. The public distrust is already there, the xenophobia Bruce Wayne has is already there. Just use it! I think Lex Luthor only needed to set up the dominos, and watch them fall. Yes, having his hands in everything makes Lex Luthor seem like a more meticulous villain, but it also looks like he's trying WAY too hard.

I really don't see why, in both versions, Zac Synder couldn't just let Batman and Superman have philosophical differences. Differences that put them at odds and make them fight. Lex Luthor still manipulates Superman to fight Batman to save his mother. Its still overly complicated.

And while we're on that, this movie did not need to be 3 hours long. I will say, because of the new scenes and the restructuring of existing scenes the movie is more enjoyable and easier to watch so much that it doesn't necessarily feel like 3 hours, but I still feel like this movie did not need to be three hours long.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this movie is essentially, at least two movies in one. I mean you could have made about 4 movies with the plotlines going on in this movie, but the way I see it, there is Batman v Superman, and then there's Dawn of Justice. There are scenes, especially juxtaposed with the new scenes that add clarity that don't really need to be in this film. Of course, I will say that Doomsday did not need to be in this movie. That's a given. But I'm going to give an even better example.

Batman's dream of Apocalypse, Darkseid, and Injustice Superman did not need to be in this film.

As much as I've gone back and actually really enjoyed this scene, it did not belong in this film.

We're not totally sure if this is a vision of the future, if this is a dream being given to Bruce Wayne by Darkseid or the parademons, but even in its new place in the structure of the movie, it takes away from the plot and does absolutely nothing to further the story. Yes its a cool scene. Yes it probably will come into play in The Justice League or some other movie coming up in the future, but for Batman v Superman, it stops the storyline dead in its tracks and did not need to be in the film.

I looked and the whole scene is about five minutes. And I thought for a little bit that this could just be used to manifest Bruce Wayne's prejudice about Superman. That these are the nightmares of what could happen if Superman gets too out of control. But the dialogue in those five minutes is way too specific to just be fear manifesting itself. Superman saying, she was my world and you took her from me, Bruce being visited by The Flash saying he was right about him and that Lois Lane is the key, its just too specific to not make the audience pause the movie and say...

I only hope that scene will pay off down the road. Obviously they are going to try and develop the Justice League and I have a very strong feeling they are going to try and do the Injustice Storyline. However, this movie would have saved five minutes if that scene was left out of the movie or left at as an end credit sequence.

The same goes for Wonder Woman on her computer seeing the videos of all the future members of The Justice League.

One thing I wanted to see changed was the introduction of The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. In both cuts of the movie, the tension is building, Batman removes the tarp from the Bat signal, Lex Luthor is waiting for Superman to arrive, Martha is kidnapped, as is Lois.

Its about to go down, you can feel it...

Aaaaaand then Wonder Woman checks her email...

Once again, the movie is thrown off the tracks and a commercial for DC's upcoming movies comes on. Watching the behind the scenes of the forming of the Justice League movie, I can understand how a studio would want to gather all these characters together. I would understand why they would want to get people excited for future films. And if I'm Zac Snyder, I can understand why I'm excited to put these guys in this movie just to show them off. But you gotta put them in at a strategic place.

I mean imagine if the movie is coming to a close, Bruce Wayne is at Clark Kent's funeral, Wonder Woman is not there, she's in the wind, Bruce Wayne has no idea where she is. We say one more good thing about Clark and then it cuts to black. Next scene is the Darkseid scene, and you see Superman but he's all evil. The audience would be confused, until Bruce Wayne wakes up to the Flash telling him to be wary. Bruce Wayne is confused. He's not sure if it was a dream or a vision of something darker, but you cut to credits.

After credit scene, Wonder Woman has retreated to some hotel around the world, she pulls up her computer and Bruce Wayne says, you're not just a badass now, you've been a badass for hundreds of years. I need your help. Cut to black. Wouldn't that have been awesome?

I mean that's probably the best way they could have hinted at the return of Superman but with a bitter sweet tone. Saying, Superman might be back, but he might not be the superman we remember.

I'm just ranting now instead of actually talking about The Ultimate Edition but its for a good reason. The fact of the matter is, as much as the Ultimate Edition cleaned up a lot of things with Batman v Superman, the movie still just wasn't quite right. There are a lot of great things in this movie, especially with the added scenes. The added scenes give development to Clark Kent as a character and makes you actually care about him. I love that. The action is really good. Ben Affleck is still probably gonna end up being my favorite Batman. There is a lot of good here being set up. But this movie did not need to be the sacrificial lamb I think its going to end up being.

In essence, whether you watch the Theatrical cut or the Ultimate edition, the fact cannot be avoided that this movie is jam packed with too much. It doesn't matter that the 3 hours allowed it to be cleaned up more, this could have been 2, maybe even three movies.

Based on what we're given, this is how I see it could have gone down.

Batman v Superman is essentially the fallout of Man of Steel. Humanity needs to decide if they love or hate this strange Kryptonian. We can keep Senate hearings all we want but it must actually bring forth a debate on whether or not the world will accept a Superman. Meanwhile, Batman blames him for the destruction of Metropolis. At the same time, Superman sees the antics of the Batman menace and decides to do something about it. This leads to a class of philosophies, one being Superman does everything by the books, and Batman who does whatever it takes.

All the while you have Lex Luthor, afraid of the unlimited power of a demi god like Superman and stays in the background pulling the strings manipulating these two, just enough to keep them focused on one another. Just enough to create his own monstrosity to show the power of man, but something he can pick up in a later sequel.

This movie allows for Superman to actually be a hero. Show us that he's out there saving the world, doing good, saving cats out of trees. As well as showing the flip side of that coin and showing the absolute terror Batman can instill in the criminals he goes after. Near the end, it is actually a question of what approach is better, and what approach is more effective. That should have been the first movie.

The second movie should have been after Batman and Superman fight and realize that beating each other to a pulp isn't going to help anybody. That there are larger things out there than just a philosophical squabble. And just in time. Remember that monstrosity Luthor was cooking up? Well its wreaking havoc over the world and Batman and Superman may not be enough to stop it. Good thing we were introduced, but didn't see Wonder Woman fight in the last film (you know, because it was Batman v Superman, a fight Wonder Woman didn't need to be a part of).

That's when the trinity can form. That's when we can even start to gather the Justice League. That's when Lex Luthor can, if he really needs to, be revealed. And as much as I still wouldn't want it to happen, this is when Doomsday can appear and if absolute need be, this is where Superman can die. If Zac Snyder and Warner Brothers are so determined to make Batman the head of this outfit and ignore the opportunity for Superman to be a leader and develop his character more, then fine, kill off Superman. But don't do it in the second movie!

Again, if you haven't seen Batman v Superman, or you know someone who hasn't, show them the Ultimate Edition. People are still going to develop their thoughts on the movie regardless because the story is still pretty much the same. However, The Ultimate Edition makes the movie coherent and enjoyable. It makes a helluva lot more sense and while you may be like me and say that the story is too crammed and not what we needed, you can at least say its a crammed movie that makes sense.

But those are my thoughts on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition). What do you think? Does the extra thirty minutes and restructuring save the movie? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. So I'm finally watching Daredevil Season 2 and I definitely have a lot to say about it already. Here's the trailer to give you a taste of my review to come. Enjoy!