Batman v Superman: No Justice

Let me preface this by saying I'm a HUGE fan of BvS:DoJ the Ultimate Edition. The movie still has its problems, but this version fixes the vast majority of the criticism the professional critics threw at the theatrical cut.
While I was able to enjoy the hack job they put in theaters, once they released the Ultimate Edition, I never looked back.

That said, I HATED all the Bat-murder. So when I heard someone had edited (almost) all of Batffleck's killing out of the film, I was interested. When I heard they had ALSO cut the Death of Superman, Doomsday, ALL Justice League set up, AND Wonder Woman, well I was skeptical at best.
As such, I was very hesitant going into this movie. I honestly did not see how it would work, perticularly the third act. I honestly doubted that the titular fight, and subsequent warehouse rescue would be a substantial enough climax.

Boy was I WRONG. And happily so.
If WB wanted to cut back on Snyder's operatic film, THIS is the film they should have went with.

Is it perfect? No. Does it work? REALLY well. In fact, with a handful of pic-ups to smooth things out, and THIS cut could have been a box office AND critical smash!
THIS is the film people expected when they first announced BvS. Hell, this is the movie people were promised with the first trailer, minus WW.

Now, as I said, it's not perfect. There are a handful of edits I disagreed with, but that's largely subjective.
I really only "noticed" the cuts in a handful of places, namely:
1. The end of the party at Luthor's, when Clark goes to the Day of the Dead fire, and Bruce retrieves his hard drive. Felt a bit choppy without Bruce finding it missing and chasing Diana. I imagine the insert of him attaching the drive, reversed, could have smoothed this out a touch.

2. Bruce opening the "You let your family die" paper out of nowhere. While I agree it didn't make sense that ALL of the notes and returned cheques would have never been brought to his attention, or the police's for that matter, before that instant, but you need more than just a shot of Bruce opening the paper without context. Not sure of it would actually be possible to do something with the footage available, while still cutting the fact that no one brought the rest of the notes to anyone's attention.

3. Batman leaping off the Batwing. What the hell? Why one Earth would you cut that shot? Not only was it bad ass, but him suddenly crashing through the window when we last saw him inside the cockpit was jarring without it.

4. The third act. This is where it suffers most noticeably. Now I DID mentioned that the action scenes were more than enough for a satisfactory climax, that doesn't mean the whole third act fully works. Namely the transition from the titular fight, to the warehouse rescue.
It would have been nice to see Batman's promise 'Martha won't die tonight' fit in there, but without mentioning the scout ship and et al, this is all but impossible. I don't know if you could do some clever editing and mixing dialogue from throughout the film, to add in that Superman's too weak? This may just be one of the unfixable consequences of working from a premade film.
Similarly, while repurposing the tub scene works to help flush out the denouement, it is not quite enough to fully tie together the dramatically truncated finale. Again, considering how much was excised from the film, this is understandable. That the third act holds as well as it does is quite an accomplishment in and of itself.

That brings me to one last overall criticism: the general lack of Superman. While he definitely is in the film, and I understand why a lot of the so called "navel gazing" was cut, he just kind of disappears from the film after the bombing, only to return just in time to save Lois. I don't think the "my world" stuff needed to be cut, nor did his self reflection with Jonathan.
Similarly, after the big gladiator match, he's again left with nothing to do, while Batman saves the day. Again, I know this one's due to the removal of Doomsday, etc, but it's still noticeable when watching the film.


Final thoughts and reflections:

Looking back on this film, through the lenses of this re-edit, gets me thinking of the possibilities.
Two in perticular, having to do with two of the DCEU's biggest blunders: the Martha moment, and the entire Justice League movie.
I realized that the Martha moment could DRAMATICALLY improved with a single insert earlier in the film.
At Luthor's party, Clark overhears Bruce talking to Alfred on his earpiece. In the original film, we're meant to assume this is what tips Clark to Bruce's secret, or at the very least make shim suspicious. Between that and his own exchange with Bruce, it makes perfect sense to show Clark looking into Bruce a bit more after that.
Now, I know some criticized Clark asking "who's that?" when Bruce pulls up at Lex's party, but it's not that strange. Remember, Clark had been living a fairly nomadic lifestyle before the Black Zero event. Before that he lived in Smallville. My point is there's no reason Bruce Wayne would have been on Clark's radar BEFORE the Black Zero event, and Bruce has not exactly been in the limelight since then.
Clark doesn't necessarily know Bruce's backstory, and if he had heard, after the above encounter, it still would make sense for him to look deeper.

Long story short, a single insert after they meet at the party, showing Clark looking into Bruce, and seeing news stories from the Wayne murders. It would be easy enough to repurpose one of the shots of Clark at a computer looking into the Bat, to be this instead.
Suddenly the Martha moment has the tiniest bit more logic, and doesn't fall flat on its face. Now it makes SENSE why he's not just saying 'save my mother' or similar. In his final moments, he's not just calling outro his mother by name for no reason, he's consciously make a last desperate effort to get through, to connect, to Bruce before its too late.

As for Justice League, while that came from thinking about BvS: No Justice in continuity.
That is, I like how it works narratively, focusing the film, and not rushing the universe.
But what to do with all that left over footage???

What I'm wondering is if you could use the Death of Superman, Knightmare, Wonder Woman, JL setup, etc, to create a new version of Justice League.
There are some obvious challenges such as Luthor being out of jail and with hair again, etc, but it does present a fascinating creative challenge.
Perhaps some of it happens as filling in the blanks. That is we're learning that Lex was setting these things in motion during BvS, we just didn't see it at the time? So flash backs showing him getting access to the ship, and Zod, etc. Not sure how you'd then get to Doomsday, etc, in away that works with the continuity of BvS No Justice, but I'm sure it could be done.
After seeing how successfully this fan edit worked, I truly believe it would be possible.

Now, that's not to say that cramming the Death of Superman onto the front end of Justice League is best way to handle DoS, or JL, but working with what we've got, who knows.

Hindsight being 20/20 and all, WB should have made THIS version of BvS, THEN done the Death of Superman story in a Trinity film (seriously, they could have split BvS in 2 and done exactly that with a No Justice style cut, and then making a full 1st and 2nd act to go with the rest) THEN Justice League.

Oh well, I enjoyed BVS UE, I enjoyed BvS NJ, I'm going to dream of a DoS Trinity and or JL film now.

Like many when Batman V Superman came out a few years ago I eagerly awaited the release of the first big screen outing of two of DC's biggest heroes that would be seen together for the first time on the big screen and sadly like many I was disappointed. I wasn't disappointed by a lot of the things that others were however, no Batman killing didn't bother me much because it is clear enough (at least for me anyway) that Bruce is a man at the end of his rope when we meet him here, someone who's old, tired and grizzled from dealing with the horrors of Gotham City for 20 years and feeling like his heroics made no difference in the end. As for Superman being mopey and non-Supermanish, I also understood what Clark was going through and why he was acting the way he did, He's tried to be helpful and do good all his life but is constantly criticized by the very people he tries to protect so when allthese incidents and news reports happen and show him in a negative way can you really blame him for questioning himself or feeling sorry for himself, he like Bruce feels like no matter how much good he does he will still be seen to many as nothing more than an alien or someone who's actions and opinions shouldn't matter on Earth (Which for all intents and purposes is his home planed) just imagine the stress of the only world you've known attacking you and hating you for trying to protect it. Those were my thoughts on some of the things in the movie originally but now onto No Justice

First let me just say that this may be one of the best if not the best restructuring of a movie I have ever seen (And I've watched A LOT of Star Wars Prequel edits that try to trim and alter the plot) Its incredible to me that without all the extra sub plots and characters how much clearer the move becomes. I was shocked at how much I actually was able to follow every character's plot point and understand their motivations more clearly than in either the Theatrical or Ultimate cuts of the movie. I personally was someone who kind of got lost in the movie while watching it originally and kind of wasn't able to follow everything with totally understanding it because of the sheer length and content contained. No Justice streamlines the movie incredibly and efficiently, yes one of my biggest problems for every cut of the movie is still present, which is that its boring (just my opinion) BUT with how much is cut and changed around here the experience is considerably better and I honestly quite enjoyed it despite not being a fan of the movie. If you want to just get the main elements of the movie without all the extra fat and set up for the DCEU then this edit is worth your time I could honestly see this in a store next to the official releases as another alternate cut, technically its superb with audio and sound effects used perfectly to transition and the editing was basically flawless as well except in a few scenes where I knew what was cut or changed, that being said you could probably show this to someone who's never seen the movie and they wouldn't notice at all. All in all No Justice is BvS experience that takes you on a familiar and significantly shorter ride that focuses on every character perfectly and their motivations very clearly. Honestly if the WW, Doomsday and Justice League cameos weren't cut this could easily be watched in a DC marathon leading to Justice League (reeseevens should do an edit of that too btw) for those who want all the necessary information without all the rest

As for Doomsday and WW along with Luthor's elaborate plan to get Batman and Superman to fight is hardly missed though I personally liked the whole doomsday fight and WW at the end and would have included it (actually its the one thing I really liked originally lol) but here its not missed at all

Really impressed with this fan edit. The final product is still not a good film, but certainly a better one. There are still plotholes and extraneous details here and there. I agree that completely removing Wonder Woman is a bit jarring. I would have prefered if the editor at least left the scene in the server room. That way Bruce has a reason to be staring at her when he meets Clark at the party. A cute little easter egg for the fans.

Lex has been toned down and that's a good thing. You can kinda see what Jesse Eisenberg was going for. I actually don't mind the rather abrupt cut from Batman saving Martha to Lex in jaill. I personally don't care about keeping continuity with other movies.

Honestly, this might be the best someone can do with BvS with the available footage.

Great work, reeseevans!

Let me start by saying that I am a huge comic book movie fan, and an even bigger Batman and Superman fan. However, after seeing BvS in theaters I was left with a slightly hollow feeling. I felt like I'd just watched a potentially amazing movie, but it never shone through due to muddled pacing and sub-plots, important plot points never being made clear, and just general wtf moments.
When the Ultimate Edition came out I felt it tidied up some of these problems by making the overarching plot clearer, but my it was a long 3 hour slog.

THIS is the alternate cut everyone's been waiting for.

This cuts out any JL fluff, murky sub-plots and silly moments. Leaving a crisp, cohesive, narrative driven DC movie. The video and audio editing was impeccable. I literally could not find one fault throughout the whole movie, everything moved along seamlessly.
I also think everything Reese took out, and also put in, led to what this film was meant to be.
Cutting out the cgi Doomsday bash fest, cameos, needless dialogue and adding things like the jokers laugh, the cut of martha and young clark during the martha scene and linking it all together seamlessly with the soundtrack is a feat beyond words.

I saw another reviewer say Lois saying Clark 'came back' didn't make sense due to the editing, but he had just flown away from the Capitol so she could have easily meant that. The Martha scene was also fantastically done so there was no eye rolling. Thomas Wayne's final word was Martha's name and this obviously still resonates with Bruce to this day, the reaction was exactly what I would expect from this. The cut then makes it obvious they talk and Bruce decides to save Martha, to stop the same thing happening to Clark's mother that did his. The shot of young Martha here really brings this home.

The cut out footage was always at the back of my mind, but I never noticed anything missing from this cut. DCEU plot aside, this is the cut I will always turn to if I ever want to watch this film again. My hope is that like with his prologue, Reese will make an epilogue showing the cameos and supermans death that will link this film to Justice League. Then we can truly enjoy it as part of the canon narritive.

This only loses stars due to the quality of the film itself, everything Reese did gets 10/10.

Bravo reeseevans, Bravo!

If you watch this cut, I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find this was probably how the original script was intended to be and is truly enjoyable. In this edit, there is no Doomsday (sadly), very brief glimpse of Diana (even more sadly), no Justice League lead-in, no Darkseid suggestions, just straight Batman Versus Superman story line. Once you focus on the real story, the story is compelling. Lex is less annoying and you can tell how well he has planned this without constant distractions of other minor plots. I should note though the more I watch any cut or edition of this movie, the more I wish we had a powerful, tall, bald serious business type Lex as one remember from the animated series or the dc animated universe. The more I think of such a Lex though, the more difficult it becomes to think of such an actor. I don't think Vin Diesel or The Rock would do the role justice, Lawrence Fishbourne on the other hand would have been a compelling choice for Lex rather than Perry White. At any rate, I highly recommend this cut, this is really making a great sale to be the definitive telling of this story. This is the movie that makes you think about it after it ends. Watch it!

The editing is well done. If I had any objections it has to do primarily with three points.
1) Doomsday and Diana are gone. As much as they really aren't relevant to the true story, the action scene is great and Diana is the true hero of the movie (especially more so now that her movie has done so well). When you watch the movie, it makes sense to cut them out, but I still missed them. It is a really tough call and I applaud reeseevans courage to cut such a scene. With the original ending removed from this version now, this edit's end is a bit short. Due to the greater focus on the BvS direct story line, the "Martha" issue does not come across as bothersome or even corny anymore. There could have been a bit more dialogue between Bruce and Clark at this point to hit home the point that until that moment in time Bruce only saw Clark as a monster and not as a hero or even a human. I only wish for Reeseevan's edit, there was more source material he could have used to draw out his ending more.

2) The aforementioned Lex casting.

3) Lastly, there exists another fan edit I am very fond of and it began with the Superman Metropolis scene rather than the Batman Origin story again. In that edit, the Metropolis scene is followed by the TV - Neil Degrasse Tyson - Kentucky Senator - the question of the existence of a Superman and what that means for the human race. In that edit, it felt more of a direct tie-in to Man of Steel and moving the middle of the original BvS scene to the beginning really brought home this question left open at the end of Man of Steel. That is: "Whoa, beings or aliens exist that defy all logic and physics, they can destroy the world, how do we react?" I liked that beginning and sequence more than the Batman Origin Story. I felt the Batman Origin Story was out of place, but only because we have seen it so many times now. It seemed ALMOST pointless, but is successfully brought back in as Batman recognizing himself as Joe Chill in the moment he can end Superman. If anything, I just liked that beginning more than the original movie beginning.

Reeseevans did a fantastic job and had to make some very difficult choices. The cuts are compelling, tell a very fluid story, and I really enjoyed this. I HIGHLY recommend this and can say this is the version I will always watch from now on. The editing was smooth and just making Lex be less "Joker" and more focused on his planning than his mannerism helped quite a bit. Removing Batman death scenes and adding elements from other sources truly helped in this great story! Thank you reeseevans, look forward to your work in the future! If you ever want to do Man of Steel (if you haven't already, I have some suggestions!)