Shantae
Banned
I think I saw the theatrical cut maybe twice, once in the theater, and maybe once more on blu-ray at some point. I didn't actively hate it like a lot of people, but I was always a bit luke warm on it. It had potential to be better than it was, and as someone who didn't read a whole lot of comics as a kid, BUT did read the Death and Return of Superman when they were new, I didn't like that this was how Doomsday was handled, or the poor way Superman dying was handled in the movie.
I felt like checking out the extended cut of this just to see if it added anything worthwhile. Most of the time extended versions of movies don't, but I must admit, it did improve this movie a little. It's still not perfect, but it was an improvement. I felt like it gave the movie room to breath, and that scenes actually had better pacing to them. While Luthor's motivations are still questionable in this cut, his schemes are much more developed, and you can actually understand what his plan was better. In the theatrical cut, people blaming Superman for the desert incident, and for the Capitol blowing up didn't make a ton of sense, but this version has more dialogue explaining those incidents better also. It wasn't that they though Superman shot the people in the desert, but that his involvement lead to the deaths of innocents. And the Capitol blowing up felt pointless in the theatrical version, because people knew right away that he didn't cause the explosion, but in this version, they explain better how it just helped divide people on Superman again. It just felt like I was finally watching a movie that had some plot, instead of one where scenes are just thrown together.
Luthor's motivations though are still very muddy, because this version still emphasized that Luthor doesn't trust Superman, and he uses his methods to take away public trust. Wants Batman to kill him once he steals the kryptonite, but then I'm confused why he made Doomsday...if he wanted Superman dead so that there wasn't a kryptonian there to destroy the world, why does he make Doomsday...that part still doesn't make much sense to me. He acts like he's trying to save the world from Superman, but then he makes Doomsday, AND in this version he contacts Darkseid. His plans to turn the public against Superman make it seem like he's trying to save Earth, but then he does things where it seems like he's trying to destroy it.
The conflict of Batman V Superman is still a bit of weak sauce as well, mostly because the movie still has a problem with how easily Batman is convinced not to kill Superman when he says "Martha!". However, I will admit, I felt like this cut also made the whole Martha scene slightly okay, because prior to Superman going to fight Batman, Luthor kept saying "Bring me the head of the bat, and Martha lives"...it just felt like Superman saying the name was a little more justified, because that's how Luthor referred to her. I think Batman's motivation for wanting to get rid of Superman make some sense, but he is just too quick to going around to trusting him. There needed to be a better turn for him, something that convinced him that Superman was a good guy.
I appreciate that this version had some kind of funeral scenes for Superman at the end also. Since Death of Superman was a super big deal in the comics, the theatrical cut did nothing to make it feel like it had any weight to it. Even though you know he's back in the sequel, the Death of Superman needed to be handled where you thought he might not come back like the comics did. At least they try to show a world in mourning in this cut though. The original version just felt like it kinda ends after the battle.
What was the consensus on this extended version? All criticism for the movie when it came out are obviously based on the theatrical cut, but I feel like this version addresses some of that criticism. It actually made me wish that the DCEU turned out better. If anything, it makes me interested to see Synder Cut for Justice League now. The theater version of that was a forgettable mess.
I felt like checking out the extended cut of this just to see if it added anything worthwhile. Most of the time extended versions of movies don't, but I must admit, it did improve this movie a little. It's still not perfect, but it was an improvement. I felt like it gave the movie room to breath, and that scenes actually had better pacing to them. While Luthor's motivations are still questionable in this cut, his schemes are much more developed, and you can actually understand what his plan was better. In the theatrical cut, people blaming Superman for the desert incident, and for the Capitol blowing up didn't make a ton of sense, but this version has more dialogue explaining those incidents better also. It wasn't that they though Superman shot the people in the desert, but that his involvement lead to the deaths of innocents. And the Capitol blowing up felt pointless in the theatrical version, because people knew right away that he didn't cause the explosion, but in this version, they explain better how it just helped divide people on Superman again. It just felt like I was finally watching a movie that had some plot, instead of one where scenes are just thrown together.
Luthor's motivations though are still very muddy, because this version still emphasized that Luthor doesn't trust Superman, and he uses his methods to take away public trust. Wants Batman to kill him once he steals the kryptonite, but then I'm confused why he made Doomsday...if he wanted Superman dead so that there wasn't a kryptonian there to destroy the world, why does he make Doomsday...that part still doesn't make much sense to me. He acts like he's trying to save the world from Superman, but then he makes Doomsday, AND in this version he contacts Darkseid. His plans to turn the public against Superman make it seem like he's trying to save Earth, but then he does things where it seems like he's trying to destroy it.
The conflict of Batman V Superman is still a bit of weak sauce as well, mostly because the movie still has a problem with how easily Batman is convinced not to kill Superman when he says "Martha!". However, I will admit, I felt like this cut also made the whole Martha scene slightly okay, because prior to Superman going to fight Batman, Luthor kept saying "Bring me the head of the bat, and Martha lives"...it just felt like Superman saying the name was a little more justified, because that's how Luthor referred to her. I think Batman's motivation for wanting to get rid of Superman make some sense, but he is just too quick to going around to trusting him. There needed to be a better turn for him, something that convinced him that Superman was a good guy.
I appreciate that this version had some kind of funeral scenes for Superman at the end also. Since Death of Superman was a super big deal in the comics, the theatrical cut did nothing to make it feel like it had any weight to it. Even though you know he's back in the sequel, the Death of Superman needed to be handled where you thought he might not come back like the comics did. At least they try to show a world in mourning in this cut though. The original version just felt like it kinda ends after the battle.
What was the consensus on this extended version? All criticism for the movie when it came out are obviously based on the theatrical cut, but I feel like this version addresses some of that criticism. It actually made me wish that the DCEU turned out better. If anything, it makes me interested to see Synder Cut for Justice League now. The theater version of that was a forgettable mess.
