so with the release of zack snyder's justice  league just around the corner and having done  

a video essay on man of steel i thought it was the  perfect time to do an extended video on batman v  

superman and in particular an analysis for the  ultimate edition of the film this is a three  

hour version of the movie that can be found  on the blu-ray releases and it's one which  

really maximizes the potential of the plot and  gives us a better understanding of what snyder  

really tried to do with the project i'm going  to be discussing why this edition of batman v  

superman was so much better and why i personally  think the film deserves more love than it gets i  

am covering zack snyder's justice league when  it releases later this week so don't forget  

to subscribe to the channel and turn on your  notifications so that you don't miss out on any  

of this content also if you enjoy this video  remember to give it a like rating but without  

further ado let's dive into why the ultimate  edition makes batman v superman a great film  

so after watching batman v superman dawn of  justice at a special midnight screening in 2016  

which included a double bill with man of  steel i left feeling weird i liked the film  

but i thought that something was wrong and my main  critique was the pacing of the movie there were  

plot points such as the important one of superman  being questioned after the incident in africa that  

felt like it could be a really good one to explore  but there was something missing fast forward six  

months later and the ultimate edition of batman  v superman was released on blu-ray this version  

of the film included 30 minutes more of footage  and really allowed the film to have more time to  

set up all of the elements it was juggling more  importantly it included a few early scenes which  

focused on this superman conflict and brought more  tension to the film come the second and third act  

now the film still presents a weird feeling but  one that involves seeing these iconic characters  

being placed in a deep situation and  questioned over their very purposes  

i think it's unusual for the audience to see  superman so down and batman so unhinged but  

in regards to the story and the mythology of  these characters this is the right approach for  

what snyder was going for and i must say after  many re-watches i really appreciate what he did  

to the point where i think the ultimate edition  of batman v superman is actually a great film  

coming to the plot of bvs we know that superman  has arrived recently while others like batman  

have been in this world for a while so we get to  know this universe from superman's point of view  

but we also learn batman's one now many criticize  the reasons behind the fight between superman and  

batman but i think those criticisms were too  influenced by the mixed up feeling left by the  

movie mostly due to pace and cuts if we analyze  the plot itself on paper it's a good one the main  

one is the possibility of superman being a threat  and whether we are willing to let that happen  

we get this feeling through bruce's perspective  and we understand it right from the beginning  

when he sees his whole building and the city  of metropolis being destroyed right in front  

of his eyes we can actually feel his rage when  he looks up to the sky watching superman fight  

zod the consequences of the existence of a  being like superman are disproportional and  

unlike anything we could ever imagine and since  we can blame him for bringing those threats just  

like bruce said to alfred that he brought the war  to us there's every reason to take down superman  

along with the main plot we have all the political  religious and society aspects mixed in and that  

makes batman v superman an interesting film to  begin with with the theatrical cuts my and many  

others main critique was the pacing and this was  understandable when you watch the ultimate edition  

everything feels so much smoother has time to  breathe and manifests better in the mind of  

the audience you notice easily every cut which  has been removed from the theatrical version  

and watching the movie in its whole as it was  supposed to be and as zack snyder had in his  

mind from the beginning it can really make you  change your mind about how everything works  

this is clear from the beginning when superman  comes to save lois in the african desert  

there were actually many cut scenes in this part  and when you get to see this scene complete the  

rest of the movie makes more sense and the plot  events hit that much harder for example we see  

a more detailed version of how superman is the  victim of a conspiracy making him seem like a  

bigger threat to the opposite side with the whole  movie and pace being smoother than the original  

we now film more of the tension that zack snyder  had tried to set up compared to man of steel where  

it's based only on superman batman v superman dawn  of justice also doesn't have quite the same amount  

of action but we have much more at stake and  the tension which increases from the beginning  

lasts through till the very end the action  scenes get more intense and close to each other  

when we approach the end of the film which makes  sense as we finally get to know the outcome of  

the story with doomsday now i do think that there  was a lot that snyder tried to put in this film  

and it might have been better to focus more on  the elements in the first two acts of the movie  

such as the dilemma with superman and keeping the  rage from batman there but regardless of this the  

third act does form the outcome of the conspiracy  with lex luthor and having a clearer picture  

of what he was up to makes the third apps also  hit that much better with the ultimate edition  

this is where we come to the action of the film  and the faithfulness that snyder does also keep to  

as mentioned above there are not many action  scenes compared to man of steel they are  

calculated and escalate progressively in batman v  superman but from the car chase with the batmobile  

the battle with doomsday batman's warehouse fight  and against superman it's just the right amount  

with the right timing during the movie we already  know how superman fights but to see this new  

batman is delightful he fights the way we would  have expected from the comics and in a way that we  

never had the chance to see before and we have all  the batman toys so smoothly incorporated into the  

movie too he's been around for a long time and he  uses his weaponry as we would have expected from  

the caped crusader just like wonder woman uses her  bracelets but also suddenly uses her shiny lasso  

without the need of telling us anything they all  are iconic characters with iconic abilities and we  

don't need to waste more time on certain details  that we already know about them but what the plot  

and action focuses on is the tension that is built  up throughout the film and this is the integral  

element that keeps everything streamlined and  interesting and the actual confrontation between  

batman and superman is perfect it doesn't change  a lot with the ultimate edition except for a few  

cuts but if we pay attention superman does try to  talk to batman but doesn't have time to negotiate  

and has more important things to do like saving  his mother batman is stubborn and superman is only  

left with the option to take him down quickly  despite this we do see the pure goodness that  

we expect from superman the fact that he doesn't  want to kill batman otherwise he would have done  

it already now for the one saying the fight  was too short it's important to note that  

in this grounded world we have essentially a human  fighting superman one laser through the skull  

one sharp move one snap of the neck or pound to  the ground and it's done batman is not zod and  

can't take superman's hits for too long  even though he doesn't want to kill him  

and if superman wanted to the fight would have  been shorter to make a fight between them lasts  

longer would only be illogical but we do see  the technical advantage that batman can bring  

and with it all the rage he has been put through  this is where we come to the martha dilemma  

this is the most discussed scene in the whole  movie which has resulted in many parodies being  

created from it but this resolution didn't shock  me batman is a tortured soul due to his parents  

death and his nightmares stem from it the last  word coming out of his father's mouth before he  

died was martha as a rich and spoiled child bruce  was close to his mother and she was everything to  

him now i'm sure a lot of viewers didn't realize  that both batman and superman's mothers had the  

same name but like the movie shows us saying  martha's name triggers batman's trauma and seeing  

superman down on the ground struggling to say his  mother's name reminds bruce of his father saying  

the exact same words and while standing there  ready to kill him it places bruce as the murderer  

and he realizes in this moment how far he'd taken  things even in a general way he realizes how much  

of a fanatic he has become what sense would it  have made for superman to say this in a direct way  

instead of giving her name he's superman and  he doesn't have a family anymore to the eyes  

of anyone so he has to be more specific on top of  that we would also be wondering whether they both  

know each other's alter egos already batman is the  greatest detective and superman is well superman  

as clark kent and bruce wayne there was already  a tension between those two characters earlier  

in the movie and lex luthor increased it as he  obviously already knew who they were but in this  

moment the alter egos are removed in the moment  of potential death it's become personal and we  

get into the soul of what drives these two men if  man of steel was about fathers batman v superman  

is about mothers and the very first scene of  the movie ingrains this into the audience's mind  

in conclusion batman v superman critiqued two of  the greatest icons in pop culture and with this  

it brought a heavy response unfortunately  today's society is all about criticizing and  

proving who's best and if anything the film was  self-aware in highlighting this with the turn of  

ben affleck's batman in the story with many comic  book movies on the big screen applying the same  

methods and appealing to the masses a film like  bvs was always going to get the response it did  

in this landscape at the end of the day film  is subjective and regardless of what i think  

or what you think there's always going to be  a range of reactions to a given piece of art  

the thing i love about bvs is that there  are so many different reactions to the film  

which shows it's done its job in making us think  about these titans a little deeper and it makes  

us want to revisit them in this adaptation  as time passes that's what great art does  

and the ultimate edition is one which fully allows  all of these discussed elements in the film to  

breathe and makes plot beats such as the court  explosion scene appear even more powerful once  

we've seen more context a lot of films work better  in not showing you certain things and keeping  

the mystery but the ultimate edition of bvs is  different seeing the bodies being burned and how  

it's framed on superman constructs an exaggerated  form of manipulation in the mind of the viewer and  

this is much more powerful to see once we're  introduced to the character of lex luthor  

and how the world currently looks at superman  we see manipulation in the real world on a daily  

basis whether it's through the media politics or  certain conflicts and zack snyder tried to craft  

a film that we could all react to whether it be  positively or negatively he certainly got that  

reaction but if you haven't watched the ultimate  edition of batman v superman dawn of justice  

i would definitely recommend watching it as in  my opinion it is much better than the theatrical  

cut that released in theaters i don't think the  movie is perfect but it's one that i really like  

because it forces us to see these characters  in a different light and context while striving  

to make us ask questions of them the more i  see the ultimate edition the better it gets  

and hopefully as time passes many more audiences  will form their discussions on the film too

but that was my video essay for the ultimate  edition of zack snyder's batman v superman  

again it's all subjective and i'm sure many  will disagree with my points but it's great  

that a film like this can create so much  discourse and re-watchability over the years  

that we are still talking about it today  we'll have to see how justice league turns  

out on march the 18th but after revisiting man  of steel and the batman v superman ultimate  

edition more recently it definitely gives  me the added excitement in the build up  

let me know down below what your thoughts are  towards this edition of batman v superman and do  

you agree with the points i have raised in this  breakdown for more videos on zack snyder's work  

including the director's cut of justice league  when it releases later this week then subscribe  

to the channel and turn on your notifications  also if you enjoy this video remember to leave  

a like rating but anyway i hope you guys enjoyed  it i've been cortex and as always make some noise

you