Review Detail

SPOILERS...etc

Batman vs Superman: No Justice

Much much better. The film is now a cohesive narrative. Where it doesn't always make sense is where it is supposed to have misdirection in the narrative. The characters now have the capacity to pull some empathy and curiosity from the viewer. Even Lex Luther is passable - That cannot be overstated as I was convinced his miscasting and theatrical direction was unrecoverable. Don't get me wrong, Luther is never going to be the Luther this film needed, but he is now not the problem. Taking out the staggeringly unimaginative “end of level baddie” trope also took out a lot of Lex's worst offences too.

The omission of Wonder Woman was simply necessary to do anything with this film and although she was a reasonable casting, this film needed to focus on BVS. Simple as. I barely remembered she was missing until well beyond Lex's party. Kudos. Alongside the other much smaller character cameos, WW was a DC world building factor and with the lead weight story line her original inclusion contributed to taking the viewer out of the titular premise and it's previously overstocked palette of patchwork fan service that in turn many fans ultimately didn't digest anyway - the email attachment bullshit, flash backs and dreamscapes. As cool as some of those were in isolation, a good film needs to engage positively without chewing off sprocket teeth with ill fitting elements that are better suited as teasers or even whole other films.

The gushing of men-children aside, this film was originally a beautiful shipwreck at best under the simplest scrutiny. My only reservation (and it is a very minor nitpick considering the narrative and footage available to the editor) is the time frame between the Martha moment and the batwing, as Affleck changed wardrobe quicker than Axl Rose for the rescue at the end ;)

So here's the thing I was unsure would work as it didn't originally... Martha. For the first time I gave a genuine damn about this. It carried weight without the corn , thanks to the streamlined edits and cheeky inserts – and although I personally don't mind how dark or violently malicious Batman gets in principle, it is also thanks to the empathy now possible for an audience to grant Bruce Wayne when he isn't murderous or gaining immense immoral inertia – again thanks to further tightening edits. I'm ok with his sadism though ;) - righteous and kick ass is righteous and kick ass however it is sliced. The narrative arc isn't now overshadowed by the bulking low brow set pieces that are blissfully now lifted from the shoulders of the film.

The grading is still dark but not so muted. Superman doesn't appear as if he will start flicking peanuts into bar mirrors. Neither does it go for a sickly overly saturated kodacolour moment. Fairly dealt with. Grading is pretty subjective though, and we all have different screen settings and capabilities.

So yes ok, some tasty and dynamic shots are not present, but a good film appears from the pyroclastic cloud amongst the lone horses and confetti of discarded cinema tickets :) An outstanding film fix. Thank goodness they made it so long in the first place to let a heavy edit come in at a feature length still.