Batman v Superman: No Justice

This film is terrible. But this edit actually makes it watchable. This fanedit is of extremely high quality and demonstrates a thorough understanding of storytelling, pacing and character, much moreso than the original director. Whilst the narrative itself is not entirely 'fixed', the narrative changes are perfect, hence leading to my perfect 10 score. Great job!

As the ratings to the right of this review spell out, I really can't simply comment on the work as a whole, rather I need to break it down into the key categories that go into making a truly great fan edit. In terms of technical quality, this edit is inarguably tremendous. 1080 quality is every bit as good as my official digital copy. The edits - both visual and audio - are spot on, with no real jerkiness or quick cuts. This could easily be a professionally edited work, and that's tremendous.

Ultimately I found myself having two issues with the film. Firstly, I'm not a fan of changing the endpoints of a film, conceptually. That this version of the film will never be able to naturally flow into Justice League or any other future film is a bit disappointing, and while I understand the intention thematically (of reducing the film to purely the battle between Batman and Superman), there are other considerations that I feel were ignored (Superman's character arc that ultimately leads to his death, for instance).

However, I understand most of those reservations are personal preferences and arguably a bit finicky on my part, so I went into the film trying to be open minded and, for the sake of the review, being more positive towards the intent and concept behind this edit. Despite that, I did find I didn't enjoy the movie quite as much as I expected I would. The pacing and structure of the film is actually quite strong - better than the original certainly - however by leaving out many of the additional storylines of BVS, the movie feels very...heavy. I wouldn't say it's confusing, but having the vast majority of the movie dedicated to Luthor's machinations ultimately left me feeling kind of overwhelmed and exhausted by the movie. In my opinion, BVS needed less of the complex and multifaceted intrigue, not more.

Overall, it's still a VERY good edit. I would definitely recommend it, and I wouldn't be shocked at all if you come away loving it far more than I did. I just wouldn't go as far as saying this is my preferred version of the movie, or head and shoulders above the original cut.

I just finished watching this. Wow, did reeseevans cut the crap out of this. And by that I mean all of the garbage that kept making you facepalm and let out a big Charlie Brown "UGH!" is nowhere to be found here!

If you're a big Bat-fan like me, or Super-fan, you'll have seen the original a few times and know there are some big pieces missing. But do not let that sway you into not watching this. If you're going to watch this, DO NOT look at the cut list beforehand. You DON'T want to know what is missing, because even though a lot is gone, this works so well that you will not be disappointed by the cuts. There will be a moment or two where you'll think, "Aww, I wanted to see that", but believe me, after you watch this to completion you will be happy for the cuts.

So as you can see from that paragraph, I enjoyed this fanedit A LOT.

There were a few issues that I had with the cut, though. First, when Supes saves Lois after Lex pushes her off the top of the building, Lois says to Supes, "You came back. You came back." With the way this fanedit was done, I didn't feel like he was even really gone. He left the courthouse, visited Martha, and then saved Lois in a fairly short span of time. Second, I felt like Lex's plan to pit BvS against each other was not as strong as it could have been. But to be honest, I don't know what even could have been done to add to this cut to make Lex look like more of a mastermind, so I'll let that go for now.

Superman's ending: a big chance, and I think it worked. I don't want to spoil that, but it is not what you're expecting at all. It's one of those endings you need sit and think about for a minute right after the scene ends, and if you reflect on what you saw and not what your brain is telling you that you saw, you can appreciate it.

The editing: SMOOTH. I don't think I noticed one single flaw in the video OR audio. Everything blended incredibly well.

Even with the little issues that I had, there weren't enough to take even one star away in any category.

The original BvS is a FALSE GOD. Kneel before this version. reeseevans, you should be proud. Thank you for this.

simply amazing. if this was the official version it would have reshaped the dceu

This is my first review for a fan edit so I'm going to try and dwell only on the editing itself, rather than any inherent problems with the source film.

Batman v Superman: No Justice addresses many of the complaints I had with the two official cuts; too much clutter and several odd takes on well-known characters. First of all, this film whips along at a decent pace. I originally only intended to watch the first twenty minutes or so (it was getting pretty late) but, before I knew it, I had sat through the whole thing. Reese keeps things moving and, even though it's nudging over the 100 minute mark, it never gets bogged down with jarring B-plots or distracting setups for future films in the franchise.

I was pleased to see that Amy Adams gets a lot more screen time as Lois and doesn't feel like the 'damsel in distress' she did in the theatrical cut. The Batman scenes and the titular fight are still present and correct and the edit does an excellent job of setting up the climax to the film. Also, Lex Luthor has been toned down significantly. It's still not entirely apparent why he was doing what he's doing but there's definitely less quirky, over-the-top hamming from him.

From a technical standpoint, I can't really fault the edit. I've seen other fan edits where it's apparent that a scene has been truncated or that dialogue has been clipped, or scenes have been repurposed as transitions instead; not so here. Everything fits together well and I'd be very interested to watch this film again with someone who has never seen BvS, just to see what they made of it. One *minor* thing that didn't sit 100% right with me was the transition from Lex Luthor's fundraiser to the Superman rescue montage. It's clear that Reese was aware of this as well; they used a scene from Man of Steel to try and bridge the gap as well they could but it's only a very minor detail and it certainly doesn't ruin the overall experience.

Because the entire Doomsday fight is omitted the film does wrap up a little abruptly at the end but, again, this might be something I'm only noticing because I have seen the official cuts. The ending is certainly a lot more upbeat, too, which goes some way toward lifting the rather dour tone of the source material.

One last thing; Wonder Woman is (almost) completely removed from the cut but there is one brief little scene where she appears in the background and I thought this was a very smart move by the editor. It feels like an 'easter egg', a subtle appearance by Diana Prince that you might not notice if you didn't know what you were looking for and it plays out much more organically than the, "Hey look, it's Wonder Woman!" approach of the official releases. Considering that the standalone Wonder Woman film has been received so well, I would even go so far as to say I much prefer this subtle nod to future films, rather than the cheesy, hero montage we got in studio cuts. Less is more, as they say.

Anyways, two thumbs up and I will almost certainly be watching this again and keeping an eye out for other edits by Reese. Good job.