"Batman v Superman: The Ultimate Cut" Review & NotesI wasn’t shy about expressing my total disappointment after walking out of the theatrical cut of Batman v Superman, and after two more watches, it was clear that my mind was made up. I hated it. So now that I got the fat check from Disney from typing those words, let’s get onto the review of the “ultimate” version of the film that didn’t hit theaters. All three hours of it.
Being that I’ve seen the theatrical version of this film a few times, I took some notes while I was watching. I want you lovely readers to understand my thought process throughout the watch. Clearly there are spoilers ahead, so turn back now if you still haven’t seen it. Or don’t. 
I picked on this movie a lot (deservedly so), but things that genuinely won me over from the opening of this film was Snyder’s cinematography and Affleck’s acting. You felt the total devastation in the heart of the Metropolis battle, and the look that Affleck gave the little girl after he saved her from falling debris really hit home. With that said, the writers’ (Goyer and Terrio) complete lack of subtlety and knowledge of what reporters (and police officers, apparently) do was enough to snap me out of the viewings (yes, all three of them) and completely turn me off. Couple that with Eisenberg’s Asperger-esque role as Lex Luthor, and we’re in for a bumpy ride. 
This set of notes pretty much just hammers in what I was saying before. It is literally a journalist’s job to know their environment, investigate, and dig for information. Small things like Clark Kent having to ask someone who the richest man from the city literally next door was absurd. …But what wasn’t absurd? Jeremy Irons’s Alfred Pennyworth. Even more so than Affleck’s Batman, Irons as Alfred was my favorite thing to come from this film. The quips and banter between those two made me really wish that this was a solo Batman movie. And you know what? With the way Superman was handled, I have a feeling Snyder felt the same way. For as true as Snyder was to the Batman mythos (minus the “no kill” rule), the complete opposite could be said for his accuracy to the Superman mythos. Lack of smiles and sunlight, murder, and an uncomfortably long bathtub sex scene in a Superman movie just felt… wrong. 
If the notes feel repetitive, that’s because the movie was. In a film starring Batman and Superman that has the two characters team up with Wonder Woman to fight Doomsday I should never be bored. That was the film’s biggest accomplishment. I love a slow build, but this is a movie where two comic book icons share the screen for the very first time. At this point in the film (which is about halfway) I should still be stoked that that is a thing that I’m witnessing. Instead, I saw Batman’s ass, Superman bone his annoying girlfriend, and watch Eisenberg do a very good impression of Nicolas Cage in Vampire’s Kiss. 
This set of notes is pretty self-explanatory. The UC housed so many small scenes and bits of dialogue that not only sew up gaping plot holes, but make it flow together in ways that would have made the theatrical cut bearable. 
If I had to rank this film among the other Superman films, I might say that it’s the worst one. Superman III and IV might’ve been narratively worse, but at least they knew who Superman was. I want to admire Superman, not wish him a kryptonite bullet to the head. And I’m really not sure what Snyder’s directing notes were for the confrontation before the titular fight was, but if Superman was supposed to be intimidating when “trying” to get Batman to help him, it didn’t work. 
At the end of the day, while I still totally disagree with most of the character choices in this film, I didn’t hate this version. In fact, I firmly believe that if WB allowed this one to go into theaters in the first place, BvS would have crossed the billion-dollar mark. If you still haven’t seen this movie, but still want to, just skip the theatrical cut altogether. The editing and smaller moments make a huge difference, which is something that completely took me off guard after taking it all in. Seeing as how Snyder and company seem to be taking all the criticism to heart, I’m still oddly looking forward to what the Justice League is going to be like when it’s all said and done. Have you seen the extended cut yet? What did you think? Did it change your opinion on BvS? Let us know in the comments! 
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