Everyone who’s seen this movie already knows that it’s strong points were visual comic accuracy, phenomenal cinematography and CGI, magnificently-choreographd action sequences, and generally the best superhero movie eye candy ever. What it initially lacked though was the proper character and plot development that a MOVIE should have. I have had endless debates with many people on this, most of whom are filmmakers. The theatrical cut was very poorly done to the point that majority of the audience members left that cinema scratching their heads and shaking their fists, cursing Zack Snyder for making a “terrible film”. I never saw the film this way. In fact, I felt quite the opposite for the film. I loved it, but this version of it, solidifies how good the film really is. The internet at least, has definitely turned on it’s head lately since the release of the Ultimate Edition with people taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to apologise to Zack Snyder and the rest for bashing BVS.
Here were a few things that this cut did way better than the rest:
1. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
One key issue with the initial cut was no one could really quite understand anyone’s motivation. Here, it is explained quite well.
Superman is conflicted about his place and purpose in this world and whether he actually has one. He is also going through the issue of accountability with his actions. Knowing when and how to act or whether he should act at all along with the reason he does what he does.
The people are split between whether they actually want a “Superman” to exist or not even though, you know, he does. This movie actually quite accurately reflects how modern society sees…well…God. People don’t want an all powerful being watching over them. They rely on him when times get tough, blame him when people things go bad, and curse him when he can’t/won't fix it. Mankind in this movie seems to be using Superman as a scapegoat for their problems.
Lex Luthor was motivated by his hate for "gods". He blames the lack of a “higher being saviour” intervention from the abuse he suffered under his father’s hands. He doesn’t want anyone more powerful than man ruling the earth and that is why he’s so hell-bent on destroying Superman.
Batman however, is clearly shown here as a completely broken shell of his former self. The opening scene let’s us see him witness the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands, in the Wayne Tower crash that happened in the Metropolis Battle. Later in the movie, you see the Robin suit. The Jason Todd Robin suit. Well all know what happens to him. He gave up on hope, his principles, people, and his morals and because of doing so, has become absolutely blood-thirsty. Batman, in a way, he was the bad guy in this one as much as Luthor was. He was a criminal. He said so himself. Alfred told him that Superman wasn’t their enemy, but he clearly did not want to hear that. A “1% chance that he is our enemy” is not exactly a plausible statistic. Batman WANTED to kill Superman out of a pure need to hunt down any potential threats whether proven to be so or not. This was not Batman the hero, Batman the detective, or Batman the Dark Knight, no. This was Batman the hunter and that’s all he wanted out of all of this was to wipe every single evil or potential evil that plagued the world.
Wonder Woman was the way she is because she, like Batman, gave up on people too. Whatever happened during WW2 must’ve broken something in her that made her feel like she wanted nothing to do with people anymore and therefore chose to just sideline herself.
Those are just a few characters. I could do this all day, but that would take too much time. Point is, you’ll understand what each character stood for and why they did what they did.
2. PLOT HOLES WERE FILLED
From the courthouse bombing to the incident at the desert, it was all explained. The 30 minutes really filled everything out that we weren’t shown in the initial cut. So much of the narrative was clearly explained. So much of the narrative was clearly laid out and now you don’t have to speculate for yourself why plot points pan out the way they do.
3. BETTER CGI
Subjective, but didn’t you all notice that the CGI seemed to be a little more well-refined in this one? To me, key CG parts in the movie just seemed more crisp, like Doomsday.
4. BATMAN KILLING
Batman’s allegedly “indirect killing” was not so indirect here. You could clearly see how many people he blatantly killed and you know he meant to do it and that Snyder owned up to this Batman being a killer.
5. MARTHA
You all know how this scene went if you already watched the original movie. I already understood it when I first watched the movie, but after watching the Ultimate Edition, this became more to me than just Bruce getting a wake up call. This was DC/the DCEU’s way of telling us that this was going to be the revival of hope and positivity in the DC Cinematic Universe. Goodbye dark, gloomy, and depressing ways of storytelling and hello hope and heroism again. This scene actually sums up what the movie’s really about. It signals the death of DC’s old formula for movies. It’s telling us that they have no plans to “Christopher Nolan” their films again. This was the death of old DC going back to the values of a more classic and enjoyable DC.
There really is so much I could say about BVS Ultimate Edition, but that would cease to make this a review and inadvertently turn it into a play-by-play of the movie and I do not want to do that for any of you. You need to see this version of the film yourself.
Overall, this really was a better film than the one we were initially given. Is it perfect? No, but about 95% of it’s flaws were rectified. With that being said, the flaws are very forgivable. The movie is a lot of fun, very tense, and quite the visual spectacle. Everything else will make up for it’s minor flaws. This version of the movie I believe, should be the only version of the movie people should watch from now on. Buy it. Don’t pirate this movie. It is a work of art and fine works of art deserve financial reward from it’s fans. Buy it on Blu-Ray or digital. It deserves your money. I give this movie a 4.9/5
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