Review Detail

Spoilers:

This edit manages the nigh-impossible, taking two of the most disappointing moviegoing experiences of my life and integrating them into what may be the best superhero film I've ever seen, certainly in the Top 5. This is largely accomplished (along with from the removal of the utter nonsensical bloat that made up most of BVS) by the shifting of Superman's relationship with his father, changing the nature of their conversations, and tweaking Jonathan Kent's ultimate fate. What the editor accomplishes by moving Pa's death-in-flashback to the climactic battle with Doomsday adds resonance to not just Pa's death, but to Superman's death, and to their relationship through the entire movie we've seen before. In the original cuts, both men's deaths were meaningless, morose spectacles, here they are thematic mirrors that amplify the emotion of a son following the heroic example of his father, and adds considerable weight to the denouement of the film.

With the thematic/plot elements of the movie reconciled, I'm able to better appreciate the things that Snyder partisans tout about his films, the painterly cinematography and urgent, unique action sequences. Not perfect (the "Martha" sequence still seems out of place and laughably grim -- if only Batman had learned Superman's mother's name a scene earlier directly from Ma Kent we might have been spared that nonsense), but make no mistake, this is less a fan edit than alchemy, and I'm grateful to JobWillins for working his magic here. This is the version of the movie that deserves to be remembered alongside the very best of the genre.