Alternate Cut Review: 'Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice- Ultimate Edition'

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice proved to be one of the most controversial comic book movies in recent memory and upon release news soon arose that there would be a Director's Cut including 30 additional minutes of footage called the "Ultimate Edition" that would be in the Blu-Ray release. Technically, the "Ultimate Edition" debuted about a month ago digitally but I like to wait for Blu-Rays because I like getting the Blu-Ray disc, the DVD, and the digital copy all in one for nearly the same price so I waited out and my copy arrived recently but I had to wait till I had three hours to spare to watch it. So yes, this is a lengthy watch but I'll soon be able to inform whether it fixes issues with Batman v. Superman or opens up a new can of worms for Warner Bros. and that's primarily what this review will be, a comparison of the two versions of the film.

I won't exactly re-review the film as you can find my thoughts on the theatrical cut below but I will provide my updated thoughts and my newfound perspective. I also think I'm going to do something different in this review, I'm going to go back and alter my previous Film Assessment score on the Theatrical Cut because I feel I scored it a tad too high and in light of that decision will be modifying it because sometimes it takes a while for my opinion to truly settle in on a film. Be forewarned as in order to discuss the differences, I will be including slight spoilers for both the theatrical cut and The Ultimate Edition.

'Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice- Ultimate Edition' Review

Theatrical Cut Review- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Review

"Ultimate Edition" Review- The Ultimate Edition of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is an improvement over the theatrical cut for many reasons. One, it's competently edited together. The editing in the theatrical cut was a complete disaster as scenes would jump from one subplot to another leading to a convoluted mess. The Ultimate Edition fixes this by allowing lead-in for these scenes so they don't feel misplaced or random and instead one scene flows into the next and the transitions are quite remarkable. 

Two,The Ultimate Edition fills in the major plot holes. In the theatrical cut, there is an African action sequence that is commonly referred to that we never got to actually see. Superman is blamed for killing several people and it seems farfetched since all he did was save Louis Lane but The Ultimate Edition elaborates by actually including the full Africa action set piece. This explains that Lex Luthor hired men to set Superman up and the logic behind it is actually quite smart. This made Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor more of a puppet master figure in the grand scheme of things and a slightly more interesting villain. With that being said, I still found Eisenberg to be too kooky for the role.

Three, it made for a better "Batman v. Superman" movie. No, there's not an additional fight between Batman and Superman and it actually takes two hours and thirty minutes for the two to throw down. However, the buildup to their showdown makes a lot more sense this time around. The Ultimate Edition explains why Superman is opposed to the way Batman has been operating by including a few scenes of Clark Kent investigating the Batman. The theatrical cut felt more like a Batman movie that happened to have Superman in it as a supporting character but the Ultimate Edition balances the heroes more effectively, which in turn makes Superman's death more compelling.

My one major gripe with the Ultimate Edition opposed to the theatrical cut is that the film still feels too long with a three hour runtime. Three hours is a big time commitment for a film, especially one that received such a mixed response, and this is no exception. The Ultimate Edition didn't really do much to alter my opinion of the performances as Ben Affleck's Batman remains to be the best part of the film, Henry Cavill is a serviceable Superman, and Gal Gadot still stole the third act with her full appearance in Wonder Woman regalia.

If you want to read my thoughts on the entire cast, you can find that above in my review of the theatrical cut. The visual effects are virtually the same with the only alterations being the additional footage and I can't really say that this changed my mind on Snyder's directing.

With all that being said, the Ultimate Edition is a competent film as opposed to the sloppy theatrical cut. I've come to my own conclusion that Warner Bros. likely asked Snyder to trim out thirty minutes and in doing so, the remaining patch work simply didn't fit together. I doubt the Ultimate Edition will change hater's minds about the "Martha" moment but it provides testament that a slightly better version of BvS does exist. The film still has problems but they aren't as glaring and numerous as the issues to found in the theatrical cut. From this point on, if I'm ever going to sit down and watch Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, I'll brave the three hour runtime of the Ultimate Edition for a more complete experience.

Film Assessment: B-