Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Part 2 - The Consequences Edit

Great edit! This is a very good alternative cut to the Ultimate Cut of BvS. It is shorter and somehwat streamlined without leaving out any essential bits. As another reviewer here commented - the editor does a very good job at reordering scenes (and exchanging some for scenes from Batman Begins) and telling a cohesive story - to a point that might actually surpass Snyder's original cut. Very well done!

So first off, I have to say that this is technically super well-executed. If I hadn't seen BvS in both it's offical forms several times, there are some things I might not have missed, they were so well excised. The two cuts which I "felt" was during Lois and Lex's conversation on top of LexCorp Tower and when Batman shot KGBeast's flamethrower.

From the beginning, I knew I wasn't going to be rating this edit 10/10. Batman v Superman is actually my favorite comic book film of all time, so clearly, I wasn't going to be 100% on board with some of these cuts. However, I am always interested to see a new perspective on a favorite film, so I was glad to get into this. I went into this looking for simple continuity of character and plot. As with every film I watch, I intentionally tried to watch it without expectations; to take it on it's own merits and not force it to live up to something I've imagined beforehand.

Overall, I would say wakeupkeo has done a fantastic job cutting out the elements of the film that distracted many people from seeing the good, solid superhero movie that was always part of BvS. In general, most of the edits are fantastically chosen to give the story a laser focus on, as the title says, "Batman v Superman." We have pretty uncomplicated and clear reasons both Bruce and Clark disapprove of each other, and a straightforward plot that brings the two of them into conflict. Lex's most egregious odd behaviors and some of his manipulations are cut, providing less distraction from that core of Bruce and Clark's disagreement. Audio and visual edits recontextualize teasers for later films and remove time-travel continuity now fated never to come to pass.

By cutting out everything not related to Clark and Bruce, their development throughout the story is more clearly seen. As in the official cuts, Clark is struggling with not only whether or not he is accepted as a citizen of Earth, but uncomfortable with how he is deified. Clark's worried whether or not the unintended consequences of his interventions are worth it, and disapproves of Batman's violent methods. Bruce is simply enraged at those unintended consequences and equally terrified that Superman might end up turning on humanity. The infamous Martha moment is replaced with multiple flashbacks to the Thomas and Martha Wayne's deaths throughout the film, really driving home Bruce's PTSD and how it's affecting the way he's reacting to Superman's existence and actions. (The footage is from Batman Begins, presumably because the footage of the Waynes' murder from BvS had this movie's title credits in it.)

All of these choices are extremely effective in making Batman v Superman into a good solid superhero movie. I really enjoyed seeing this focus on the BvS plot and loved seeing Bruce and Clark's unfiltered and direct character development. It really reminded me how much I love these actors as these characters. Unfortunately, wakeupkeo's editing robs both Lex and Lois of their character depth and arcs, also reminding me how much I love those actors as those characters, but through their absence.

By removing Lex's character moments, especially in the benefit speech scene, a whole layer of Lex's motivations and manipulations are lost. Everything which made the character interesting or gave him motivation is gone - his history as a survivor of abuse; his frustration that all his intelligence, which gave him power in human society, is meaningless next to Superman's raw physicality; his hatred for God both as a concept and represented in the person of Superman. While Clark and Bruce retain their character-driven storylines in this cut, Lex completely loses his. He just hates Superman for some unknown reason and, like the Joker, he just "does things." Not "this happens because of that" but "that happens, then this happens."

Similarly, removing the Africa sequence and Lois's investigation relegates Lois to the status of a background character, a plot device with none of her own drive or purpose, only to be put in danger multiple times in order to manipulate Superman. That's consistent with many depictions of Lois over the years, but Snyder/Goyer/Terrio/Adams' version of Lois Lane is the best version of her we've ever had on the big screen - compotent, fierce, and a true journalist. This Lois Lane as seen both in MoS and the BvS: UC is unwilling to abandon the pursuit of truth even when it puts her in danger. This is different than other depictions of Lois where she blithely disregards her own safety, apparently because she's a moron. Losing that depth is a true loss to the film. Losing the vision of Jonathan Kent and the "hero cake" story is also a loss, as is the Knightmare fight sequence. Just as a pet peeve, it felt like the Batman Begins footage for the Wayne murder flashback was overused.

By making Batman v Superman into a good solid superhero movie, I feel wakeupkeo has cut away what made Batman v Superman transcend superhero movies and catapult it into true mythmaking, the things that made it into a great film. As originally produced (and in Ultimate form), BvS is a Shakespearean superhero revenge tragedy crossed with the best of DC's Elseworlds. Watching it in the theater was the closest I've ever felt to reading through classic Bronze and Steel Age DC stories like The Dark Knight Returns, the various Crises on various Earths, Red Son, Grant Morrison's runs on JLA and Batman, Knightfall, Cataclysm/No Man's Land, Death and Rebirth of Superman, etc. Like no other comic book movie, BvS in it's theatrical cut felt like finding a treasure trove of comics, discovering exciting characters anew. There were all these cool hooks into and out of other stories. Zack Snyder was promising all of these things would fit together eventually, and his filmmaking was so masterful and confident that I believed him 100%. It felt like a massive crossover collection missing some of the tie-in books, and having to fill in some of those blanks for myself, but wow was it going to be just about the greatest thing ever when all the books came out, or I found them all in the back issues of the comic book shop! And in addition to all of this, it seemed to reach for something greater and deeper than just being another superhero punch-em-up, going beyond even the deepest Marvel or prior DC movies to resonate themes and tones I had never seen in a superhero film before or since besides ZSJL.

wakeupkeo's cut is a very good, nearly great, superhero movie, and if I had seen this version in the theater, I would have given it a 7/10. 8.5/10 if it didn't cut Lois and Lex's most important moments. It probably would have done somewhat better financially than the theatrical version, as it fits many of the things people seemed to be expecting when they originally went to see BvS. Shooting this script would have been substantially less expensive for WB, too. It seems to be getting fellow comic geeks to re-evaluate my favorite comic book movie of all time, and see the good that was always there. For that, despite the fact that this will probably not be the cut I watch ever again, unless I'm showing it to a friend, I give it my absolute highest recommendation.

Well, this was fantastic. I never watched the Theatrical Cut but I did watch the Ultimate Edition. While it certainly has it's good aspects, it suffers from just being way too much. The pacing is all over the place and often drags (Lois Lane, duh) and although the plot is quite simple, the narrative is overly complicated. But I always knew there was good movie hidden beneath.

At first reeseevans' 'No Justice' edit brought that to light for me. As the title suggests, it gets rid of setting up the Justice League, Doomsday and consequently the Death of Superman. While I like this approach a lot, it brought all new problems to the table, mainly not being canon anymore because the lack of dead Supermans. It also doesn't get rid of the complicated narrative because it keeps the Africa incident and plot. So it presents a nice alternative but can't be the replacement I was looking for.

This is where Wakeupkeo comes into play: his edit is perfect. He reduced the JL setup to the core essentials (especially his handling of the terrible Metahuman-watch party scene is so well done that I even like it now), removed the Africa plot entirely (it now revolves around the events of Man of Steel like it should've in the first place) and made the character motivations a lot more believable. What am I telling you, if you finally want to be able to love BvS, stop reading now and watch it! You won't regret it.

I found the video editing to be flawless and I'm usually kinda nitpicky. So great job there. If I'd never seen the original (and 'Batman Begins') I wouldn't have guessed that this is a fanedit. The audio was good (hence the 9/10) but due to "only" being 2.0 it was a bit hard to understand at times (especially without subtitles).

I only have one suggestion for the editor: Please consider re-adding the scene in which Lex Luthor first presents the painting in his father's office. I think it's extremely chilling and it sheds a completely different light on the ending shot where we see it turned upside down. Otherwise, thank you for this amazing edit! It'll be my Go-To-Version for the future. Really looking forward to watching your MoS and WW edits!

So, I love the original opening credits of BvS with the funeral and a the Waynes being murdered. Thus, when this edit opened skipping the opening I kinda missed it. Only later, when I saw how the editor used footage from another Batman movie and stitched it together - I thought it worked perfectly and enhanced the narrative.

The video/audio quality is top notch. I didn't notice any quality degradation.
There was only one transition where the audio edit was bad, IMHO - the transition between Lois and Superman on the balcony to Bruce's training montage. It was very abrupt. Also, I believe - the scene is wrongly placed. I think it should have been in the following sequence:
1) Alfred chopping wood, seeing the news.
2) The balcony scene
3) Lex arriving at his facility and from the batarang close-up transition to..
4) Training montage

Another thing I believe could benefit the narrative is not to show Martha being kidnapped - let it be a surprise. Instead, there was an opportunity to show Lois investigating Keefe's apartment, and later getting informed that his chair was made of lead (skipping the part where she suspects Luthor). And from here go right to the part where she is kidnapped.

The little scene trims is what makes this edit so remarkable. We see enough of each scene without it going too far and being too awkward. All the important pieces are there. The flow is nice and tight. This is definitely among the best edits of BvS out there. Be sure to check this out.

Batman v. Superman is one of the most gratuitously violent movies that I have seen. The botched up pacing, plot, and narrative paired with out of character moments cannot be briefly summarized in order to describe how bad it is. However, I would even argue it is one of the most beautifully filmed movies I have seen. I do also enjoy all of the excellent visual artistic and biblical references are in the movie (I would love to see more movies do that). I can appreciate The Ultimate Cut trying to compensate for many things, but it still wasn't enough.

All I can begin to say about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Part 2 is, "Wow!". It makes me so angry and frustrated... that this isn't the final cut we got. This fan created edit of a big budget superhero movie is the pinnacle of fan editing as a whole. This is, without a doubt, my go-to version of Batman v. Superman. To start with the small things, I love the cutting of Zack Snyder's over-the-top edginess. The film now is more in tone with the Christopher Nolan films of yore (feeling a little more tight, grounded, and subdued with spectacle in between). The choice to create a proper suit reveal was amazing, and the approach to a mystery angle (in the cave) will always be appreciated by me. The added Joker laugh when showing Robin's suit was also a neat addition (even if it's a grim reminder of Jared Leto's god awful Joker).

We are now going to the real meat and potatoes of the edit as a whole. Superman's character is considerably improved, this edit makes me interoperate him as a hero suffering depression due to some of the people rejecting him. All of the Lex Luthor scenes are also successfully trimmed in the sense now they do not drag on to hell and back. The restructuring of every scene was done masterfully (example being the Lois x Superman conversation and Bruce's training happening in between) doing well at fixing the pacing. The core focus is now on Batman, Superman, and Wonder-Woman keeping the grand Justice League setup at a minimum. On the subject of Superman, this felt like a proper sequel to Man of Steel thanks to a lot of bloat being cut and now can remember the good scenes that do happen (my brain would zone out during a lot of aforementioned bloat *looking at you Africa scenes*). There are a ton of things done right in this edit that I could go for hours on, but I want to skip to the best edit that I believe we can all agree on. The deletion of the Martha motivation. Removing it in favor of creating a guilty "What am I doing?" kind of moment makes Batman's attempted murder much more impactful (even if there is a scene ripped from Batman Begins).

Nothing wrong with this edit what so ever, this replaces the original and Ultimate Cut without question. I highly recommend this triumph of fan editing. Well done Wakeupkeo, this is a well deserved winner of Fanedit of the Month.