Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle! We’re continuing Snyder Cut week with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition. I loved the theater cut back in 2016 but there’s no denying it was flawed, especially in its editing. The Ultimate Edition is by far the definitive version of the film. So after Man of Steel improving on rewatch, how did this incredibly divisive film hold up.
If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know I think this movie is a masterpiece. This isn’t just one of my favorite comic book films, it’s one of my favorite movies. Ben Affleck is the best Batman/Bruce Wayne ever put to screen. Batman is a symbol of fear in the criminals of Gotham, and this is the only iteration to fully capture that. Affleck isn’t the Batman you’re used to, this is an older war grizzled angry Batman. Affleck nails the action scenes with a terrifying physical presence while also nailing the emotional sequences. Henry Cavill’s Superman is even better here than it was in Man of Steel. His acting in the emotional moments makes me cry every single time. Jeremy Irons is also a phenomenal Alfred. Like Affleck, this is a different interpretation that I fell in love with instantly. Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman became instantly iconic and made everyone super excited for her solo film. When she joins the fight at the end, I want to applaud every time. Okay, so let’s talk about the controversial performance of Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. I adore this take on Luthor. His motivations are pretty complex and extremely compelling to watch. If the goal of this movie is to bring these heroes into the modern-day, Luthor being an eccentric tech billionaire fits perfectly.
Zack Snyder does an even better job directing here than Man of Steel. There are sequences of this movie that are cinematic art to me. Every single action sequence is riveting. The opening of Metropolis from Bruce’s perspective is one of my favorite openings ever. The Batman v Superman fight and then the eventual Doomsday battle doesn’t disappoint either. I adore the script for this movie. Every single character is brilliantly and complexly written. None of these characters have ever been as interesting in any film as they are here. All the visual effects are incredible, especially thanks to such beautiful cinematography. The musical score is also fantastic, especially the now-iconic Wonder Woman theme.
So like Man of Steel, I’d like to address some of the biggest criticisms I’ve heard about this movie. The first is that Batman kills people. So every single on-screen Batman has killed, even if it’s not as obvious as it is here. However, I feel many people missed the point of it’s wrong that Batman kills in this movie and they acknowledge that. No character treats it like a good thing, in fact, they call him out on it many times, this is a lost Batman who needs Superman to restore his hope in man. The second is the infamous Martha moment that has gotten mocked for years. This is the emotional crux of the film and it blows my mind how many people missed it. Batman is committing premeditated murder. Yes, he kills other criminals while fighting them, but he doesn’t actively plan their murder. Bruce is about to get fully consumed by Batman by crossing the last line and killing someone innocent just because there is a 1% chance they might go bad one day. They do not stop fighting because their moms have the same name. The mere mention of Martha just makes Batman angrier as he thinks it’s a trick. It’s not until Lois throws herself down on Clark’s body shouting that it is his mother’s name that Batman snaps out of his kill rage. At this moment the alien that Bruce sees Superman as becomes humanized. Bruce never considered that this alien had a human mother, nevertheless would use his dying words to ask his murder to save them. Bruce didn’t get to save his Martha, this is his chance to save someone else’s parents. He was just a helpless kid, just like Clark is at this moment.
Overall, I adore Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition. I’m glad over the years that this movie is getting reevaluated by some people. If you want my even deeper thoughts on this movie, I wrote an essay earlier this year about why I believed this movie to be a masterpiece. So, guys, that’s it for this one if you enjoyed it give it a share and I’ll see you next time.
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