Batman v Superman was one of the last movies I watched in Berlin before going home to Jakarta. I didn't like it at that time, for me there were plenty of times when I feel like the story got botched and edited in a bit of a messy way. Then, last week another movie goer (whom I trusted) posted in his Facebook that the Ultimate Edition, with the extra ~ 30 minutes is out, and it really made the film better. So I hunt it down and finally got to watch it last night with Bizki.
This will be a total spoiler review, because I need to get to the details, so... sorry!
I was happily surprised to find out that yes, the film now makes more sense. For example, one of the arguments from the movie critics about the movie is the lack of acting on the side of Henry Cavill/Superman. As if he was in the movie only to be shown as the Messiah figure with no relevance. I myself, and I guess as mentioned in the movie critics by the time the movie was out, thought that there are plenty of story going on on the side of Batman, but there wasn't much on Superman side. Well, the Ultimate Edition gave a balanced view of the two sides fighting. We already knew Batman's motivation in hating Superman, but why is Superman trying to pursue Batman back, and this edition explained it.
the Trinity
Another scene which makes me absolutely confused was when Batman was aftering the kryptonite moved by Luthor's thugs. Suddenly, Superman came unto Batman to tell him to back off. I was so confused, why? Don't you know that Batman is hunting the kryptonite? Well, again, it was explained by the apparent sadism of Batman towards the criminals in Gotham, which message didn't delivered that well in the original version, but understandable from the Ultimate Edition.
There is also the scene about the suicide bomber. It wasn't suicide after all! It totally changed the mood of the movie. Lois's investigation which made her realize that the bomber wasn't doing it as a suicide attempt, and also the added scene where the woman from Nairomi was explained to be giving false testimony, well that gives a lot of weight not just to Lois's role in the movie, but also explained the on going motive and conspiracy behind the accusations of Superman being the vigilante. Oh and the scene where Superman helped people after the 'suicide' bombing? Was it there, or was it added? Because that gives that 'missing' humanistic side of Superman.
Oh and one other thing is... JENA MALONE'S SCENES!! HOW DARE ONE CUT OUT HER SCENES, COMPLETELY OUT OF THE MOVIE! Really, it's not that long, but her character was important, adds to Lois's investigation, and it's JENA MALONE! (i love her because of the Hunger Games :p).
As some people said, this version is the original vision of Zack Snyder, which makes sense because it's really wrapped up much better. Connectivity between the scenes, background story to explain the motivation of the characters, all makes it a better story. As mentioned by that movie goer friend, this also has something to do with the need to get a PG-13 rating for the movie rather than the R rating for the Ultimate Edition. The film is already pretty long with 151 minutes of running time. This edition made it extended up to 181 minutes, so this might be one of the other reasons why the movie got cut (I'm leaning more towards the rating thing. Big studios would get more money if it's PG-13 rating rather than an R one).
But yeah, so glad that this version was out. Can't wait for Wonder Woman's full movie. Some people complained about the abundance of super heroes movies these days, but I'm a happy fan to have all these sci-fi stories flying around, so just give it to us, please please please!!
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