Movie Review:Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Ultimate Edition *Some Spoilers*

Movie Review:Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Ultimate Edition Some Spoilers

If you haven't seen Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice click the link to my spoiler free review. Then see the film before reading further. This isn't so much of a review but more of an addendum to my original review with some extra thoughts on the Ultimate Edition version of the film.

Without a doubt the Ultimate Edition is the better cut of the movie over the theatrical cut. The extra 30 or so minutes do clarify some of what was missing in the theatrical release and generally helps the story flow a little better.
That said, the film still has most of the same problems. If you didn't like this version of Lex, got upset at Batman killing, wished Superman would crack a smile or we're incredulous at the whole 'Martha' moment this version of the movie won't do anything to change your overall opinion.

I've seen the theatrical cut twice, a week or two after release, and this new version once so it's a little hard for me to remember what I did or didn't see in the theatrical cut. Two things did stand out to me.

In the theatrical cut, there's a moment with Bruce Wayne attending an illegal fist fight where Bruce helps up the losing fighter, gives him a quick tip that turns the fight around. The fighter nods his appreciation to Bruce for the advice.

I swear the advice part has been cut from the Ultimate edition but the fighter giving Bruce a nod for the tip has been left in. It's odd because Bruce and the fighter have this brief moment of acknowledgement that seems like they both know something that the audience hasn't seen. Maybe I missed it but I'm sure it's been cut out because the exchange between them now seems a little odd? Why they cut it I have no idea? It makes no difference to the plot, it's just a moment that shows Bruce knows how to size up an opponent and see their weakness.

The other thing that stood out is that the previously unnamed (except in the credits) CIA agent, posing as Lois' photographer, now introduces himself, on screen, as Jimmy Olsen. This means the name in the credits can no longer just be a 'fun' thing or potential mistake, that character is definitely called Jimmy Olsen and he dies. (Zack Snyder, your idea of a 'fun' thing is very different to mine!)

Personally, I'm going to believe that the Jimmy Olsen we see in the film is Jimmy Olsen senior who has a younger son called Jimmy, who is following in the old man's footsteps as news photographer. In a future Superman film we'll see the young Jimmy Olsen be teamed up with Lois Lane - maybe he'll seek her out since she was there when his dad died? Then we could have the proper version of the character rather than some expendable CIA agent (I just don't buy Jimmy Olsen as a CIA agent in any version of these characters).

Overall if you liked the theatrical cut, you'll like the Ultimate Edition even more because it does improve the film without really changing anything that you've already seen. Mostly it helps you understand just a tiny bit more about Bruce and Clark's respective viewpoints in the build up to their anti-climatic fight.

Unfortunately they don't cut out the whole 'Why did you say that name?' moment and give Batman a real reason to do a complete 180 degree turn on his motivation. Seriously, the world's greatest detective didn't do any background research on Superman's life on Earth? Lois Lane tracked him down to his Earth family before anyone even knew him as Superman... and she even leaked her initial story to a blogger.

I digress... overall I still like this film for its parts more than the whole. I hope WB and Zack Snyder have learned from all the feedback where they're missing it with audiences and, perhaps, get back on track with the upcoming Justice League movie.

Batman v Superman is a solid introduction for Batman and Wonder Woman into this new DC universe. What's needed is someone else to take the reins on Superman because Zack is making him almost joyless... which is more of a Batman thing.

For me the movie has done it's job. I"m excited to see Wonder Woman's upcoming solo movie. I'm interested to see how the Justice League pans out and, if I could get one good Batman solo movie with Ben's Batman (with a bit less henchman death) I'd be pretty happy.

Oh... and Suicide Squad... I'm really looking forward to Suicide Squad in August.

Comments

TV Series Review: The Office - Australia (Prime Video) (2024) No Spoilers

W hile I'm a late comer fan of The Office, only watching after the original and USA versions were both available on streaming services, I did watch them in the order of release i.e. I watched the U.K. version first. Now, with the release of the Australian version of The Office on Prime Video, I think it's best to approach watching this new version understanding that it is not those shows. More importantly, remembering the US version was not well received or as popular as it has become since streaming became a thing. I personally remember people often saying the original version was better, back in the day. Of course, the Australian version has analogues for all the same characters you're familiar with from the previous versions, with their characteristics, so you can easily see who is the Aussie version of each character. While there are actually 13 different adaptations of the series worldwide, I was surprised to learn this is the first time the boss has been female. No...

TV Series Review: Velma (2023-2024) No Spoilers

A s a kid, Scooby Doo cartoons were something I used to watch fairly regularly. I wasn't a diehard fan but it was one of the better, of the many, cartoons I used to watch. I had heard about the new animated series, Velma , around the time of its release but it wasn't coming out on any streaming service I was subscribed to so it went off my radar pretty quickly. Quite by chance I signed up to a streaming service so I could watch DC Entertainment's, The Penguin, and noticed Velma was on that platform. I figured I may as well get my money's worth out of the subscription. I did know that Velma, herself, had been race swapped for the show, which made no real difference to me, though I do prefer classic Velma if pushed to choose. However the first episode of season one was a real shock to my expectations! No where had I heard this series was skewing very much into adult humor and themes. I was expecting something more along the lines of the original Scooby Doo show. Instead I...

Trump's 2024 Election Win Will Change Everything - At Least I Sure Hope It Does!

Trump by Leonardo.ai & TET A s an outsider looking in on the US 2024 election, right up until election day, it is beyond my belief that the election continued to be a 'close race'. It is even further beyond my belief that Trump won, without question. Even if the Democrats wanted to claim the election was rigged somehow (which I'm sure Trump was gearing up to do had the outcome been different) it would be hard to make the case, beyond a recount. There's no slim margin here. Trump clearly won. While I would've preferred a Blue win, I at least got one outcome I was hoping for. A clear winner on election day. If I could give the Democrats some free, unsolicited advice for the next election. Stop targeting the opposition as if they're somehow selfish, evil villains. That's not how political parties work. At the end of the day the all represent the public. The people. The everyday citizen who you're trying to convince that you have what it takes to meet t...

Movie Review: Memory (2023)

S omething a little different for me in terms of movies I usually review, Memory is a film I was invited along to see by my partner, and both of us didn't know much about the movie going in, other than it was a film where one of the leads has dementia. The basic premise follows adult, special needs social worker, Sylvia (Jessica Chastain), who leads a simple and structured life. When Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion the surprise encounter profoundly impacts both of their lives. The film starts out very awkward and disjointed to some degree, which I feel is intentional, to reflect that Sylvia, who is also a struggling single mother, is fairly resilient, she is, in many ways, just barely holding everything together because she doesn't have any other option. When Saul sees Sylvia at their high school reunion it seems like some unpleasant memories from her past are fast tracked into the forefront of her life, and things move forward fro...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices. My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe? Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Movie Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) No Spoilers

I f you're like me and didn't go to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in theatres you made the right choice. For context, I loved the first Aquaman movie . It's one of my favorites from the Snyder/DCEU era. It is a relatively well made adventure story, with some fantastic world building, amazing visuals, and included some commentary on environmental issues as well. Despite having, mostly the same creative team, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom comes across as a film that couldn't decide what it wanted to be, in terms of a sequel. On the one hand it wants to showcase the cool, fun, wisecracking, but bad ass, rock'n'roll version of Aquaman (Jason Momoa) with another rollicking adventure. On the other it feels like someone said it had to be epic with potentially world changing stakes so Aquaman would have to do 'King Shit' and be all serious, navigate deep sea politics, and generally try to be a responsible heroic good guy that he is when he's not being ...

Optimus Robots, Self Driving Cars and Buses - Tesla's 'We Robot' Event and the Evolution of Optimus

Tesla Optimus Robot Serving Guests. Image: Tesla O n the tenth of October Tesla held their 'We Robot' event, which I guess is the new incarnation of their previous Tesla AI Day annual event. There were three much talked about reveals, the driverless taxis, a driverless bus, and Optimus robots moving around the event, fully interacting with people 'on the ground'. Tesla Driverless Taxi. Image: Tesla While it was cool to see so many driverless taxis, that you could get in and experience for yourself as they drove around the Warner Brothers lot, and the driverless bus was something of a surprise reveal nobody expected, my attention was on Optimus. Tesla Driverless Robovan. Image: Tesla It was in September of 2021 that Elon Musk first announced his plan to create an affordable, humanoid, domestic robot, that would eventually be in homes worldwide. That vision was underlined with a person wearing a robot suit, that wasn't as well received as Elon may have liked, despite...

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog