The World's Finest - Ultimate Edition

Rating: 9/10 (4 August 2016)

If you're looking for The Batman Superman Movie of the late 1990s, then this is not the film for you. I personally love The Batman Superman Movie, I grew up on it and it's how I began loving Batman & Superman, but Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is something for the more serious moviegoer and fan who wants something new.
What people don't seem to understand about DC Films versus Marvel Studios is that Marvel Comics characters are made to be relatable, they're made to me more like the every-day person. DC Comics characters are not. They're written as legends. This is why when DC took the Marvel approach with their characters in the Green Lantern film that it failed. DC characters are not meant to be in Marvel Studios-like films. They're meant to be legendary.
Batman V Superman takes the Batman/Superman story to a whole new level by starting off with our heroes as enemies. Bruce Wayne is after Superman because he believes Superman to be a threat. He has an argument. Meanwhile, Clark Kent is after Batman because he believes Batman is unjustly beating, torturing, and killing criminals. He has an argument. We come to find out that Lex Luthor has been pitting both heroes against each other this whole time out of hatred for Superman and everything he stands for.
Many complaints I read about this film included: Batman kills people, Superman is not Superman, Lex sucks, and "Martha!"
Batman killing: Every single Batman film features Batman killing someone, directly or indirectly. In the original Batman comics, Batman actually used bullets on his Batplane to kill when necessary. Even in modern day comics, Superman has willingly given Batman a piece of Kryptonite to use on him in case it becomes necessary, and Batman agrees to kill him if he has to. But even besides that, in the DCEU Batman has lost Robin to the Joker, has been fighting crime for 20 years, and is largely based off of Frank Miller's Batman who will kill. This is not a surprise.
Superman: Superman is most certainly Superman. He's having doubts about what he's doing, Superman has had these same feelings in the Silver Age, Bronze Age, and even in current Superman books. It doesn't define his character, but if you've watched Man of Steel or BVS you see that it doesn't define Clark here either.
Lex: Honestly, this Lex is just personal taste. I can see why some like him and why some don't. It's okay to have a differing opinion. What sold me on this version was his final scene with Batman.
Martha: I personally had no problem with this either. It was set up the entire movie and works just fine.
I thought the theatrical cut of this film was excellent, I really did, but I have to say that the Ultimate Edition is definitely worth the time and money and is by far the superior vision of the film. It expands on Lex's mastermind plan, dives deeper into Superman's life as Clark Kent, extends the battle scenes a little more, and really fills in some of the plot hole issues I was having initially.
The one thing that I'm not completely convinced works for the film is the future sequence that teases Justice League when the Flash shows up to warn Bruce about the future. To the average moviegoer this is very confusing and will not be paid off until the Justice League feature film.
Speaking of, the Justice League cameos were great (see Suicide Squad for more) and really hyped me up for the film. The final fight between the Trinity (Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman) versus Doomsday was incredible and was definitely the way the Death of Superman should be handled on film. As someone who's favorite Superman story is the Death (and Return) of Superman, I was very pleased.
Overall, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice does cram a lot in (a Man of Steel sequel, a Batman reboot, a JLA prequel, and a versus movie) and at times this hurts the film, but in the end it is honestly an underrated masterpiece bringing together the World's Finest superheroes.