When I published my Post about Watchmen and Zack Snyder, I didn't really expected the kind of responses I got. The forums and popular social media just hate Snyder. Personally I think of him as a hybrid between Stanley Kubrick and Michael Bay. The comments I received made me realize how unique Busy/Steemit and the entire STEEM eco-system is. There are lots of smart fellows doing their thing. @jimquigley even talked about Sucker Punch. Many of you guys even mentioned how Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) was unfairly criticized. So I thought of making my post about BvS.

'Why I don't watch Snyder in Theater

If you know anything about Snyder, you know he is a visionary. Even the people who hate him admits that he is a visionary. When a studio meddles with such a vision, you get a half assed product. Watchmen is a perfect example where The "Ultimate Cut" has additional 52 minutes. Sucker Punch also needed an extended director's cut to be a better movie. Sure I'm missing the big screen action and 3D (I don't have 4DX where I live) but at least I won't loose 31 minutes of footage along with Jena Malone's character and an entire investigation regarding Superman + some Man of Steel characters and get a movie where things make less sense.

Dawn of Justice Vs Marketting

After the first trailer everything seemed to go downhill. The entire movie was marketed in the MCU style with no understanding of what the movie is about. Dawn of Justice is NOT BvS! What I mean is that the movie is a little existential one which is more concerned with its philosophy than the comic book characters than inhibit the movie. I'd actually say that in Snyder's movie, The Characters play second fiddle to the philosophy of the movie.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice isn't really about Batman and Superman Punching each other. It's more about the 2 opening scenes. First we see Bruce Wayne as a kid at the face of Injustice and how his "Fears" elevated him to "Light" which he calls a beautiful lie.

Now lets look at what this lie he is narrating about. It is the adult voice of Bruce Wayne. He's narrating from the present day. We see Bruce in Metropolis and please note that the scene opens in a white "Light" and it has a pseudo documentary touch to it. This is Zack Snyder's movie in essence. It's not 2 grown men punching each other. It's Bruce Wayne's and humanity's internal struggle at the sight of a God-like entity.

This isn't something that is easy to market for a mainstream audience. Studio wanting to push a film where 2 comic book characters fight each other. The Dark Knight Return's Part 2 did this by making Superman a detestable piece of government's bitch. Basically it was a Superman who I could never even respect who deserved his ass beaten up. Man of Steel was actually the first time I ever loved a portrayal of Superman. Here is a YouTube comment from a random person called JL CR

"We project ourselves onto him. The fact is that maybe he's not some sort of Devil or Jesus character. Maybe he is just a guy trying to do the right thing".
That is the entire mythos of Superman in a nutshell. The indestructible nature of the human spirit and how our species can accomplish the impossible.

Snyder gives Both Batman and Superman a Randian touch. Neither of them are Ayn Rand protagonist. They are more like reluctant Ayn Rand protagonists. Here is what I consider the most impactful part of the entire movie for me. It also summarize the narrative from the human angle.

Now just imagine if Howard Roark didn't want to speak and he was torn about what he should do. Ask how things would be. Personally I see countless subtle Ayn Rand parallels in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and it's not suprising at all as Snyder gave us the below quote in an interview after making Dawn of Justice.

I have been working on The Fountainhead. I've always felt like The Fountainhead was such a thesis on the creative process and what it is to create something. Warner Bros. owns [Ayn Rand’s] script and I’ve just been working on that a little bit.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/batman-v-superman-married-creative-874799

At the end of the day it was a niche movie made with one of the biggest budgets and marketed to an audience who just wanted some fun with a clear cut story (out of a movie that had 31 minutes cut out of it). Instead of going on writing I'd just let this video take care of the things I didn't talk about.

I have to admit I resisted watching the Ultimate Edition for the longest time because, for me, the Theatrical Version was a painful chore to sit through. I can't even tell you how many times during the movie I thought, "GOD DAMMIT GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!!!." Even after hearing so many great things about the Ultimate Edition, I still put off watching it because what if I experience the same thing again?
I finally made myself watch the Ultimate Edition the other night and..... I had the BIGGEST smile on my face the whole movie!! Never before have I so insanely enjoyed watching an extended version of a movie I didn't enjoy in the first place! Everything just flowed like a river. It's amazing what adding 30 minutes worth of scenes can do to improve a film. Hell, even Eisenberg's performance became bearable (mostly).
I will never for as long as I live even glance in the Theatrical Version's general direction again. But the Ultimate Edition? I could watch that till my eyes bleed out. Anyone who hasn't watched the Ultimate Edition yet needs to go do so RIGHT NOW! I promise you, it is DEFINITELY worth your time.
-TheSupersaiyan2012

The Actual Problems

Although this movie which I'd rather call DC's Dawn of Justice or DCEU: Dawn of Justice or maybe Dawn of Justice: Batman/Superman was one my favorite movies of the year, it was also a very disappointing one. I called Watchmen a perfect movie. But I can't say the same about this one. I could talk about 3 very significant points.

The Flow

This was all over the place. At times it is amazingly well done and at times the flow just gets broken. Sometimes it felt like I'm seeing comic book panels or watching someone's footage from a RPG. I don't fully agree with the following analysis but it almost gets the point

The Atmosphere

Zack Snyder is a visionary. You can't film school him like your average director. What really needs is an atmosphere for the moments in the film. I feel like this is like cramming Kill Bill into a single movie. If Anybody had to make a 3 hour version of Kill Bill, a lot of the world/ atmosphere/ sense of place would be left. BvS could have seriously used another 30 mins and more shots without characters. The movie needs more establishing shots, wide shots, environment etc.

300 had a clear atmosphere. Even Watchmen did significant amount of world building. BvS only had Man of Steel to build atmosphere and it had to chew more than it could possibly swallow

The BvS Fight

It just felt like it was just 3 minutes. The fight didn't have much going and ended too soon. A fight that did go well would be the warehouse fight where Batfleck beat a bunch of bad guys or the Knightmare sequence. It had a continuous struggle, pacing and flow.

Alternatively the fight could have shown what's at stake and the scale of the consequences of the opposition through Snyder's montage sort of moments and showing what's happening in the large wide world in few shots. In he Dark Knight Returns part 2 that is exactly what happens.

Those are my thoughts and hopefully you had some good insights. Please consider an upvote and resteem :)