Batman v Superman Blu-ray review: Ultimate in some ways

The infamous Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is available to own on Blu-ray. Now that the dust has settled and a more honest look at the film can be made, it’s sad to report that BvS is still as unenjoyable as it was back in March.

Whether you are watching the theatrical cut or the “Ultimate Edition” doesn’t matter. The characters are unlikable, so none of the emotion hits, and, for a movie trying to say something about the death and destruction caused by superheroes, it’s pretty great that superheroes causing death and destruction is what brings everybody together in the end. On top of those minor things, the movie is two hours of buildup to a lousy as hell superhero fight to the death that doesn’t live up to the hype one can expect from such a showdown, and the first meeting of these two iconic characters. In the end, you walk away disappointed in every possible way.

Batfleck gets a great action scene taking out a room of guys towards the end of the movie. Other than that, just don’t.

The R-rated “Ultimate Edition” adds 30 minutes to bring the run-time to just over three hours long. The new scenes explain some of the confusing story bits from the theatrical cut such as the ordeal in the beginning (which still doesn’t make much sense to me you’re saying Lois Lane is the only one who found any trace of a shooting?), and reporter Clark Kent gets to show his nice side in some added scenes that helped me in caring about this portrayal of the character after the lackluster 2013 film and this movie gave Henry Cavill nothing to work with. So, it’s the better version of a mess of a movie. I’m still sad.

And whatever “sequences of violence” constituted the R-rating aren’t very noticeable aside from some added blood. Superman doesn’t rip Jesse Eisenberg’s head off or anything like that, god forbid.

On the plus side, wow this Blu-ray is absolutely spectacular.

It’s not surprising that a studio blockbuster looks great on Blu-ray. Nowadays, it’s pretty rare to have the picture quality be anything short of excellent from big movies like these. That being said, Batman v Superman is about as close to perfection as the best of the bunch.

Every scene in BvS benefits from this presentation. Whether it’s a big action setpiece or a one-on-one with Mama Kent, the clarity in the picture brings out every detail in the shot and makes every color shine. I’m more excited to just admire the vomit of visual effects that is the finale to the film than to actually take in the fight or even care who wins.

As an added bonus, the sound is even terrific. There’s no surround sound system helping the garbage speakers on my TV, so sound rarely impresses. On this Blu-ray, there were moments when sounds truly felt like they were coming from a different field than everything else. In a non-action scene, the beeps of a truck backing up sounded like they were coming out right in front of my face while the voices of the characters in the scene appropriately sounded farther off. The effect is actually immersive if it’s an action scene or not.

Overall, this presentation from Warner Bros. is a top-of-the-line release. Every Blu-ray fanatic needs to witness this immediately.

In terms of bonus features we get lengthy ones on the history and cultural impact of Wonder Woman and designing the new Batmobile plus Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman get their own features about their appearances in Batman v Superman. There’s also features on crafting the new Batcave and this film’s Lex Luthor.

These features are filled with some pretty solid interviews from the cast and crew who love these characters and have some interesting things to see or a fun fact to drop. Mixed in with that are plenty of behind-the-scenes green screen shots showing the filming of many critical scenes.

There’s a 15-minute feature that looks at the DC comics movie universe currently being set up with some cool footage of the Wonder Woman movie as well as a great look at Jason Momoa in his Aquaman suit. (SPOILERS FOR BVS FOLLOW) There’s not much to see from The Flash and Cyborg except from behind-the-scenes looks from their very brief appearances in the movie. (END OF SPOILERS). Also, unfortunately, no Green Lantern anything was mentioned. It’s an exciting feature nonetheless. Especially the awesome “blink and you’ll miss it” snippet of that Wonder Woman fight scene.

Another feature focuses on the comic book origins of Superman and Batman together on the page where someone even quips about how unbelievable it is that it took this long to get them together on film considering they’ve been with each other in the comics probably thousands of times over decades.

There’s another feature on the disc called “The Might and the Power of a Punch” which takes a play-by-play look at the titular fight. It’s pretty humorous to hear an announcer exclaim that Superman tapped Batman across the roof complete with measurements of how far Batman flew and a blue line on the screen to show the Caped Crusader’s travel through the air. It’s pretty ridiculous, but worth watching for that reason.

The final piece on the disc is one on a bat charity event that had the cast playing with bats and building bat houses.

Batman v Superman is not good. Watching it again with the Ultimate Edition didn’t do much to ease the pain. It’s still a disappointing movie that learned nothing from its disappointing predecessor. This Blu-ray, on the other hand, is incredible. The picture and sound are demo-worthy, and there’s a healthy assortment of bonus content including that improvement of a 30-minute extended cut. Anybody wanting for a gorgeous presentation should look no further, and comic book fans may or may not like the movie but they’ll find plenty of content here to enjoy.

Warner Bros. knocked it out of the park with this Blu-ray. No doubt about that.

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