Ryan Garner

Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition is one of the most underrated motion pictures I've ever seen. While this movie has a handful of minor flaws that prevent it from being the best superhero movie ever made, it is definitely a contender for top 5 for certain. We'll start with the writing. Hot off the heels of Man of Steel, Chris Terrio and David Goyer had the difficult task of rebooting Batman, doing a sequel to Superman, and also creating a compelling villain. Were they successful? I think the film speaks for itself. The film weaves an intricate web of mystery while giving us a unique perspective from each of the titular superheroes. Huge respect to the writers for having the guts to go a new direction with the characters instead of being locked into the simplistic, and dare I say, overdone at this point, versions we've seen in comics or previous movies. This Batman and this Superman aren't like any we've seen before, and that's a good thing. Next the directing. Zack Snyder just takes everything he's learned from previous films and puts it all on the screen. It even visually calls back to Man of Steel with a few very deliberately placed crash zooms, while still retaining the distinct style of Batman V Superman over the more documentary like Man of Steel style. To say Ben Affleck is the best incarnation of Batman we've seen on screen seems at first like a bit of a stretch, but if you really pay attention, you may find that he brings a lot of depth to the character that a casual viewer may miss. Additionally, he plays a much older version of Batman than we've ever seen before which brings a whole new dynamic to him. Then of course, Wonder Woman is also there. As is Superman. Lastly, the score far surpasses anything else that came out that year, or dare I say any year. Perfect collaboration between Zimmer and Holkenberg. As I write this review, I find the movie's flaws fading from my memory. If there were any, I can't now seem to recall why I once cared.