Check out my review of the theatrical release for my full thoughts on everything I found good and bad in the original film. This feature is solely focused on whether the Ultimate Edition makes BvS a better film and what new material appears in this edition.
Major SPOILERS follow.
The Ultimate Edition of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice neither makes the original version of the film any better nor worse. It just makes its already convoluted story longer (it's 2 hours, 54 minutes long before the end credits roll). This version offers a lot of little moments and extensions of plot threads that, even when revealed in their Ultimate length, still don’t do much to make any more sense or to justify why those elements were even there to begin with. The BvS Ultimate Edition isn't like the multiple cuts of Watchmen or Blade Runner that offer viewers entirely new movies to experience.
For example, the entire Nairomi subplot still makes no sense even with additional footage. We see Jimmy Olsen meet Lois Lane for the first time shortly before he’s executed for actually being a CIA asset (remember, this was director Zack Snyder’s way of having “fun” with the character of Superman’s Pal). We see Anatoli Knyazev and his mercs gun down and then burn the bodies of the African general’s men, apparently so it looks like Superman torched them all with his heat vision. (I guess there were no forensics agents inspecting the remains to see all those special metal bullets they’d been shot with.) We also see US Spec Ops on horseback riding to the village and a US military drone strike on the village that’s stopped by Superman before he rescues Lois.
We get many more scenes of Kahina Ziri (Wunmi Mosaku), the African woman who testified before Senator Finch’s committee on Superman. Indeed, we follow her back to her home in Gotham City, see Clark Kent try to interview her (but to no avail), and then see her evade Anatoli and another goon waiting outside her building. After this close call, she travels to D.C. to confess to Senator Finch that she lied before her committee and is a pawn of Luthor’s. She’s then killed at a subway platform by Anatoli before she can tell anyone else. (Finch is killed in the Capitol bombing thereafter.)
These added scenes about Nairomi still can't convince you anyone actually believes Superman flew to Africa just to waste a warlord and some villagers even with Lois Lane in danger. There’s a tremendous amount of screen time spent on Lois investigating this subplot that ultimately amounts to much ado about nothing. When she finally cracks the case and tells Perry White she has the goods on Luthor being behind it all, Perry immediately kills the story because he doesn’t want the Daily Planet to get sued.
It also remains unbelievable that so many people would suspect Superman helped Wallace Keefe build and plant a bomb in the Capitol (newly added scenes show news footage of Superman being burned in effigy). We learn in additional scenes featuring Jena Malone as another Planet reporter helping Lois that the special bullets used in Nairomi are made of the same metal as Keefe’s wheelchair. Also, the chair was lined with lead so that’s why Superman didn’t see the bomb in it. Lois figures out Keefe was an unwitting bomber because his refrigerator is stock full of fresh groceries so he clearly wasn’t planning on dying.
There’s also more about Santos, that human trafficker Batman brands, and Lex’s machinations to make Batman appear more brutal so as to egg on Superman. Anatoli arranges for an inmate to kill Santos, and Clark later encounters Santos' girlfriend and baby son. “A man like that? Words don’t stop him. Know what stops him? A fist,” she says of Batman. Just a couple of scenes later we see Superman confront Batman during the latter’s car chase so this exchange was clearly the final straw for Clark.
There is an added moment at the end between Batman and Lex Luthor in prison where Batman reveals he’s managed to get Lex – who has been found mentally unfit to stand trial (and thus, presumably, can’t face the federal death penalty for blowing up the Capitol building) – transferred to Arkham Asylum where some old “friends” of Batman’s are waiting to, ahem, greet him.
The Ultimate Edition also adds the following few extra lines and moments throughout:
- Alfred chopping firewood.
- More of Bruce’s shirtless training sequence.
- Bruce popping pills and washing them down with wine when he wakes up.
- Clark, like Bruce, is specifically invited to attend Lex's library event.
- Lex speaks more about his fondness for Kentucky bourbon (seriously, there’s so much boozing in this movie!).
- Turns out Clark was in a far distant corner of the world when he climbed that mountain and had a moment with his late dad.
- Clark encounters two locals on his way up the mountain, with the older man saying, “He’s come to die."
- Clark's beefcake shot in the bathtub scene with Lois.
- Lex has more lines illuminating his daddy issues and the existential nature of his reason for wanting to destroy Superman.
- Then-Daily Show host Jon Stewart's monologue about Superman no longer wanting to be identified as American even though he wears one-third of “USA” on his chest.
- Cops take Martha Kent to safety after Batman rescues her.
- Those two GCPD cops who encounter Batman in the human trafficking house sit in their squad car watching a college football game between Gotham and Metropolis.
- The Planet's Perry and Jenny attend Clark’s funeral.
- The pastor quotes Isaiah 26:19 at Clark's graveside in a nod to Superman's eventual resurrection in Justice League.
- An “anonymous donor” (Bruce) picks up the bill for Clark's funeral.
So what exactly makes the BvS Ultimate Edition worthy of an R rating? NAKED BATMAN, that’s what. Yes, Zack Snyder does what Joel Schumacher only dreamed of and shows Bruce Wayne’s bare backside as he showers. (That's all he shows so, sorry, you'll just have to watch Gone Girl to glimpse Ben's Batpole.)
Other edgier bits (ahem) include the embittered Keefe dropping an F-bomb to Senator Finch and getting into specifics about how he can no longer go the bathroom normally. We also see headshots when Anatoli and his mercs execute the African henchmen. Speaking of headshots, I don’t recall the theatrical version showing blood splatter on the wall behind the head of that goon Batman hurls a crate at but it’s clearly visible here. Also, Batman’s grappling hooks pierce through henchmen’s body parts (not sure if those were as visible in the PG-13 theatrical version but they’re clearly visible here). These more (and, frankly, needlessly) violent moments, like the additional convoluted subplots of Lois and Clark's investigations, don't enhance the overall quality of the film.
No, there are no extra sequences of the Justice League. However, that deleted scene is integrated into this cut and clearly shows the figure of Steppenwolf educating Lex on three Mother Boxes as the cops arrive to arrest him. As I learned on my recent Justice League set visit, the Earth contains three Mother Boxes (one held by humans, one by the Atlanteans, and the last by the Amazonians) so this sequence is clearly a set-up for Justice League, which has Steppenwolf as its villain.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire