OK, so finally saw Batman v Superman's Ultimate Edition last night, and unsurprisingly, it vastly improved the film. There were things I couldn't even believe they cut, like a whole bevvy of scenes and clips which fleshed out and explained Lex's plan and motivations so much better (the one that really shocked me was about 30 seconds of dialogue he speaks right before letting loose Doomsday which made it ABUNDANTLY clear that killing Superman first and foremost was always his goal), or little scenes which helped flesh out Superman and Metropolis much more and make it far more of a Tale of Two Cities so to speak between Batman/Gotham and Superman/Metropolis. The Clark Kent persona of Superman was quite a bit improved in that at least we got to see him as a reporter, even though I think to a certain extent Zack Snyder still doesn't get that aspect of Superman's personality.

But the thing which I think improved the most from the extensions, however, was that the film as a trial analogy in multiple respects (there's a reason it's titled Batman v Superman in the legal sense which I was aware of already) felt far more fulfilled in that regard. You have the idea of two types of superheroes on trial for most of the movie, trying to figure out if they can tolerate the other or coexist, or which one of them the world needs; these individual superheroes dealing with their own inner trials (i.e. Superman not knowing if the world can or will accept him now that it knows he exists, Batman becoming much more intense and violent in response to Superman's presence and preparing for what he thinks will be the most important fight of his life for the fate of the world); the world via media putting these heroes on trial in the public space. I knew that this analogy and these themes were there in the theatrical cut, but they were MUCH better realized in the 3 hour edition. As a result of the trial themes, the heroes themselves are in a state of limbo for most of the film; the heroing takes a backseat and they aren't sure what their place in the world going forward is meant to be, and that's very much intentional and an intriguing idea to see executed. I think overall that in the future this film will be reassessed as being far better than it was initially received upon release, and I definitely recommend anyone who hasn't that you check out the Ultimate Edition as soon as you can (though it is admittedly long, if you have to watch it in two sittings, I'd say stop it after the big moment in Washington about halfway through, you know the one). It may not change your overall opinion of whether you liked it or not, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's definitely the film as it was supposed to be released, so there's that at least. Me, I already dug what Snyder was going for in the theatrical version but knew fully well that it was a roughly edited film; this still had some rough editing bits but was overall much more polished and smoother, and I appreciate that we have the option of seeing this version instead.