Review Detail

9.3 30 10
(Updated: October 10, 2017)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This has to be one of my favorite fanedits of all time, because it took two movies I really wanted to like, and in which I honestly struggled to find any redeeming features, and made it something I can love. The singular genius of this edit for me, was that it seemed to take the most popular criticisms aimed at Batman Vs Superman and fix them by using MOS. What an idea!

Take this one. One of the biggest issues with BVS was that its a Superman movie, with a main character that we don't feel for or care about. We don't see him being heroic, or charming or see anything to make us invest in his romance with Lois. All that was in MOS, and while Synder's character writing is a weaker point, it was much stronger in that first outing. What JobWillins has achieved here is a film with a singular arc about the rise and fall of Superman. He is portrayed as a true Jesus style figure, and when he meets his ultimate end, while I felt nothing but fatigue in BVS, here with Jor-El narrating over the scene, I was moved to tears.

The opening of the film is excellent. Synder seems to think a film's plot should begin around the 50 minute mark, but here, Lois and Clark have met, his origin has begun to unfold in full, I'm invested in the story, and there feels like there's actual momentum by the 20 minute mark... where its supposed to be. Clark and Lois's arcs work well, and the transition between the two films is solid.

While BVS force-fed us a series of bloated subplots to justify the world questioning Superman, "Man of Tomorrow" capitalizes on the fact that the Battle of Metropolis was reason enough, and we experience that through the eyes of Bruce (brilliantly cut in), who we now see fully involved in those events the first time, rather than sitting through a rehash of the sequence. When Clark joins the Daily Planet, it feels like a beginning, rather than an end, when he takes down the Satellite monitoring him, it feels like foreshadowing, and right next to this is Bruce, brooding over it all. A perfect transition. The Flashbacks are also used very well. Some are even saved for the second half. Jon's death is particularly clever.

Now, condensing two films can lead to events feeling abrupt or truncated. I'm pleased to say that IMO, Zod does not feel so. I never liked MOS's interpretation of Zod anyway, so using him as a preliminary villain worked for me. Much of the exposition around his plan, and certainly the street-fight with Faora was grossly unnecessary, and thankfully gone in this iteration. JobWillins also managed to do something about the "Superman shouldn't kill" issue by altering the death to seem less deliberate. When we get to Lex, his once convoluted motives and plan are presented in a clear and linear fashion which makes him seem less annoying, and more like the genius he's supposed to be. The entire BVS section of the film felt right to me. JobWillins kept the good and cut the bad. No more hockey franchise building for Justice League. No more weak subplots and bad padding. No more dream sequences or Batman using guns. What is left is the core story. Freed from that baggage, and underscored by the best of MOS, these events come to carry much more weight, and the themes stand clear in what I feel is a film worthy of recognition. This is without a doubt my new opening entry to DCEU.

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