BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE - ULTIMATE EDITION

That's how it starts, the fever, the rage. The feeling of powerlessness, that turns good men...Cruel.

Funny, isn’t it, how twenty to thirty minutes can change a film in such drastic ways? Twenty minutes, that’s what? A few scenes, maybe a little bit more. Three scenes. Apparently, that’s all it takes to get Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice back on track.

We all know that, while it may have been surprisingly successful money-wise, Batman V Superman wasn’t the film most people wanted to see. Fairly stagnant characters, mediocre save-for-one performances and the lack of action until the final act meant that, honestly, it was a really boring film. Lots of people argue it’s bad because of its darker tone, but that’s not my issue. DC has always used darker tones, because it had darker characters. But that’s enough of that…

The announcement of an extended edition came long before the film was even released in cinemas. Honestly, I’m glad it’s getting a second chance. It was a film that I wanted to see do really great things, but the original version didn’t live up to those hopes. Question is…Does the extended edition?

In short terms, yes, the Ultimate Edition is a hellishly better movie than the original. This time round Henry Cavill gets more to do than mope around everywhere looking grumpy, and actually does some journalist-y stuff. While Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor still is very annoyingly to watch on screen, the extended desert sequence at the start and new plot points thrown into the film at least help make sense of the reasoning behind his master plan.

Well, everything apart from this.

And, thanks to the longer sequence at the start of the film, I now know what the hell Lois Lane was doing the entire time, and why exactly Superman is on trial in the first place.

Ben Affleck’s Batman doesn’t get many more added scenes, mainly because his story was the only one that made sense the first time round, and his performance was the best thing about the film. The ‘Martha’ moment at the end is still ridiculous, but once you start thinking about it, you can kinda see why he’s shocked.

What else…What else? Nope, I think that’s about it. As far as extended editions go, Batman V Superman’s does exactly what it’s meant to: Dive further into the story and help make sense of loose plot points that were left unfinished in the theatrical version. Plus, this time round Superman actually says words, actual real words instead of just standing there. Does it make the movie great? No, but it’s better than it was, and that’s what counts.

At least Justice League is looking good…