Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice/Quotes

I haven’t been a full-time film critic since 2011, and in my free time these days I mostly watch Canadian home remodelling shows and listen to audiobooks for 12-year-old girls, so maybe I’m just out of the loop. Did we stop making movies with characters and plots? Has the movie-going public lost their taste for story arcs wherein characters who have earned our investment do interesting, new things that make sense? Has the definition of “movie” changed from “motion picture story that a human wrote on purpose” to “700 only tangentially related 12-second grey and red vignettes”? Because I’ve just come from Batman v Superman, which isn’t a film in any sense that I’m familiar with, but rather 153 minutes of a grown man whacking two dolls together, with character profiles ranging from “depressed statue” to “depressed explosion”.

—Lindy West, "Batman v Superman is 153 minutes of a grown man whacking two dolls together", The Guardian

That all said, a three-hour and two-minute cut of Batman V Superman feels long - and it's understandable why Warner Bros. attempted to hack the movie down to a more palatable runtime for casual filmgoers. Similarly, even though the movie includes a few more light-hearted moments (especially from Perry White and Alfred) as well as more background to justify the dour tone and explain why the characters are so joyless at times, the Ultimate Edition doesn't fundamentally change how the characters are portrayed or how Snyder approached this story. So, for viewers who didn't like Man of Steel or Batman V Superman for larger reasons, such as tone, approach, and the darker characterization of DC's most iconic heroes, the Ultimate Edition is only a longer, albeit more intelligible, version of a film that probably isn't for you - and, for that reason, is likely to remain divisive, even if the final product is a better film.

Ultimately, the Ultimate Edition is most likely to satisfy fans who recognized the vision and potential in Snyder's shared universe building film - and it is the definitive Batman V Superman cut. For curious moviegoers who were not sold on Dawn of Justice or have yet to see the film, the Ultimate Edition is slightly harder to recommend - at least without a few caveats. It is the version that viewers should watch, since the thirty minutes of restored footage make an enormous difference in the overall quality of Snyder's story and characters; yet, at 182 minutes, those same casual viewers might be overwhelmed (and at times underwhelmed) by the ratio of drama to superhero action. Nevertheless, viewers who are willing to invest the time will get a much better (though still imperfect) Batman V Superman movie experience - one that should, for viewers who still have an open mind about Snyder's work in the DCEU, restore a bit more confidence in the filmmaker ahead of Justice League.

—Ben Kendrick, "Is Batman V Superman Ultimate Edition Better Than the Theatrical Cut?", ScreenRant

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