4kUHD Review: Justice League (Theatrical Cut)

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from the movie+++

The theatrical cut of Justice League is definitely a mixed bag. Joss Whedon is blamed for ruining the movie, and certainly, his additions range from chuckle-worthy to downright stupid, and there was, of course, his on-set behavior that was leaked out by Ray Fisher and later confirmed by Gal Gadot, which then caused an avalanche of accusations about him going as far back as when he was working on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel and pretty much ended (for now) his career. However, it is clear that Warner Brothers really was the entity that fucked up this movie, and caused a version of the movie that was totally out of place with the movies that had come before it was released.

As most know, Zach Snyder had intended for Justice League to be a three-part story, with this movie split into two parts (which he essentially got to do with the Snyder Cut of the film four years after the theatrical release) then a third movie set in the nightmare world that was teased in Batman v. Superman. However, when Snyder had to step away from the movie due to a death in his family, Whedon was brought in to cut the running time of the movie down and make it a stand-alone movie. The result is a mish-mash of Snyder's story with Whedon's additions (mainly to add humor because WB thought the DC movies were too dark and wanted to infuse some of what worked for the MCU into their movies). For the most part, the theatrical version is stuff Snyder filmed, with some changes like tweaks to the battle with Superman when he is brought back to life, Lois' role in the movie, the race between Flash and Superman at the end, and the really dumb subplot of the family living next door to the contaminated nuclear reactor (which was a fictional Chornobyl) and would not leave the second the aliens showed up. Steppenwolf's arc was dramatically altered (as well as his look), so a lot of his dialogue ended up changing.  And, the post-credits scene was quite different than the scene that came at the end of Snyder's version. But, what Whedon cut was far more substantial than what he added (which is why Snyder still got the directing credit). 

For those who get the 4k set, there are two discs. The UHD disc just has just the movie itself, and a Blu-ray disc that has the movie and the bonus material. That includes multiple behind-the-scenes features (clearly shot when Snyder was still on set, as Whedon was nowhere to be seen), deleted scenes, and a gag reel. There are also some features on how the Justice League has evolved from the comics to the various animated series to live-action. A good amount of material for those who like watching the bonus content. 

Overall, the movie is not as bad as its reputation, but it was definitely not as good as the movie that Snyder intended to make. I still think WB/DC would have been better off establishing the main characters through solo movies first like was done with the main heroes of the MCU movies, then doing the big team-up. But, diverting from what Snyder had set up made the problematic DCEU even worse because this movie just feels out of place. I would say it is worth watching if nothing else to compare and contrast with the Snyder cut of the movie, but it is not something that I would come back to a lot. 

4kUHD/Movie Review: Batman v. Superman Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition (Spoilers)

 

WARNING: This review will contain spoilers from the movie. For a spoiler-free review please read my review for the original blu-ray set.

This is the remastered 4k disc of the Ultimate Edition of Batman v. Superman which was made about the same time Zach Snyder was restoring his cut of Justice League. It should be noted that this just has the movie itself and a commentary track that Snyder made just for this restoration as the only extra. In his commentary, he does spoil his version of Justice League (identifying Martian Manhunter, for example) and generally discusses his vision for where the movies would have gone had he stayed on.

The ultimate edition of the movie adds about 30 additional minutes to the theatrical version, and aside from a couple of throwaway scenes that could have been omitted, really helped flesh out the fact that Lex Luthor, having figured out the secret identities of Batman and Superman, was really pulling the strings behind everything. And, added details like the fact that the guy who blew up the capital during the hearing had no idea the chair was a bomb. 

I think the movie gets an undeserved bad rap. While it could have been set up better with a stand-alone Batman movie first, to really establish his distrust of Superman and show a bit more of Lex pulling strings, you can get all that if you pay attention to the movie. I think Affleck did a great job as an older, more jaded Batman, and a stand-alone movie would have helped establish why he has no qualms against killing criminals as he did at times in this movie. 

Overall, the movie looks and sounds great (especially the restored IMAX scenes) in 4k UHD, and is worth the double-dip. The only thing is that it does not carry over any of the original blu-ray extras, so if you purchased that two-disc set, you will need to keep that one if you like watching the bonus material. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Batman v. Superman: The Dawn of Justice

 

Batman vs. Superman was in part a sequel to Man of Steel and in part, a setup for The Justice League movie, introducing the new DCEU versions of Batman (played by Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot), and via short cameos the new Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). It also brought back Amy Adams in her role as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, and brought in Jeremy Irons as Alfred, and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.

I won't go into too much of the storyline so as not to spoil it for the few who may not have seen the movie, but it essentially dovetails off the end of Man of Steel in which Metropolis was destroyed in the climactic fight between Superman and Zod. We see that battle from the perspective of Bruce Wayne who is trying to get to Wayne Financial to get his employees out of the building. This sets up his distrust of Superman, and then there is an 18-month time jump and Batman is becoming more violent which gets him on Superman's radar, and with Lex orchestrating things in the background, the two end up in battle, until they have to team up. 

The movie gets shit on a lot, undeservedly so, in my opinion. It is clearly setting up a larger story and has to be seen as a piece in a multi-movie arc. While I do think it would have been better for DC to follow the Marvel format of setting up the characters in individual movies before bringing them together, so there would not have been so many logic jumps as this movie took, the plot does make sense (especially after you see it a couple of times), and the darker tone that Snyder used for the movie (really all the movies in his "Snyderverse" worked well. And, of course, when Joss Whedon attempted to shoehorn his brand of humor that worked in the MCU into the DCEU, it totally fell flat and was universally rejected. 

For those who get this set, there are two blu-ray discs. One with the theatrical cut of the movie and the bonus features, and one with the Ultimate Edition of the movie that adds about 30 additional minutes to the run time. Some of the scenes are kind of useless, but others really flesh out how much Lex had put the events of the movie into motion. The extras included several behind-the-scenes and making-of features, character profiles for Wonder Woman and Batman, and shorter ones on the characters of Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. All, in all, there is about two hours' worth of extras, so those who like watching the bonus material will be satisfied. Also of note, there is a 4k version of the Ultimate Edition of the movie that does not include the theatrical version or any of the blu-ray extras (that I will review separately), so even if you double-dip for that one, you probably want to hold on to this version unless you are only interested in the movie and just want the Ultimate Edition of the movie.

Overall, the movie is very good. Dark, but good, and it makes a lot of sense. I do think it could have used a better setup through a stand-alone Batman movie first to establish that character more and possibly releasing the stand-alone Wonder Woman movie first. But, despite the reputation it has as a bad movie, it is not. Affleck did a great job as an older, more jaded Batman, and I liked the idea of Batman trying to figure out how to stop an unstoppable alien. 

Product Review: Batman 4K Collection

 

This is, of course, the set of original Batman movies, (i.e. prior to the Nolan trilogy reboot) consisting of the two movies directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, and the two Joel Schumacher movies which nearly killed off the franchise as a whole. The a/v quality of the 4k release is much improved for all the movies, especially over the DVD box set put out years ago. There are a ton of bonus features, the best of which, in my opinion, is the "Shadows of The Bat" feature which is a multi-part telling of the history of Batman, which spans across all the discs. There are also commentary tracks on each movie and a ton of behind-the-scenes and making-of features. I believe they are carried over

from the prior releases, both the prior DVD box set release, and the prior blu-ray releases, so the upgrade to 4k is really the only reason to get this set. For the people who despise Batman Forever, and/or Batman and Robin, you do have the option of purchasing the discs individually, so you do not have to pay for whatever movie(s) you do not want.

Batman (1989):

This is really the movie that reinvigorated the superhero genre since the Superman movies had puttered out with the release of Superman IV (which was pretty much the Batman & Robin of that series). Michael Keaton was a very controversial choice to play Batman, having a mostly comedy background, a lot of people did not think he could pull it off. Thankfully, the casting and lead-up were pre-internet trolling so the whining was kept to a minimum. Nevertheless, he did a great job in the role, especially playing Bruce with the right level of emotional turmoil. It was harder to buy him as Batman given 

that he really did not get into the kind of shape that actors in the superhero movies of today (at least some of them, e.g. Chris Evans) have to get into, but the suit did a pretty good job of disguising that.

The scene-stealer of the movie was, of course, Jack Nicholson, who played The Joker. He did, up until Heath Ledger, the best live-action Joker playing him with the right mix of sadistic and goofball. The remaining supporting cast included Kim Bassinger as Viki Vale, Rober Whul as reporter Alexander Knox, Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent (which would later be recast in Batman Forever), and Jack Palance as crime boss Carl Grisson. Michael Gough and Pat Hingle are the two constants throughout the pre-Nolan Trilogy movies, playing Alfred and Commissioner Gordon. It was in part an origin story for Bruce Wayne/Batman and in part an origin story for Joker, and a Batman vs. Joker for control of, vs. saving Gotham City. It did deviate from the story of the comics somewhat, which some people did not like, but I think the twists were fine. While it was somewhat of a formulaic plot,I think it was well written and acted, and overall a very enjoyable movie. Probably the best of the original run of Batman movies, although Batman Returns is a very close second. The extras for this set are all on the blu ray disc, and are as described above. Some that are specific to just this movie are the Robin sequence storyboard (which was considered, but ultimately dumped for this movie) voiced by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who were voicing Batman and Joker in the animated series at that point, three Prince music videos who contributed to the soundtrack, and the trailer for the movie.

Batman Returns (1992)

This is, of course, the sequel to the 1989 movie, and a heavily anticipated follow-up. It was the second, and sadly last, movie directed by Tim Burton, and with Michael Keaton in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. There were three villains this time, in the form of Penguin (played by Danny DeVito), Catwoman (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), and Max Schreck (played by Christopher Walken). The last of which was not a part of the comic books but solely made up for the movie. All three actors did a great job in their roles. Pfeiffer was all the more impressive as she was a last-minute addition to the cast since the role was supposed to go to Annette Benning, who got pregnant just before production started. It is a much more "adult" movie, with more violence and a ton of sexual innuendo. It was moving away from a "family-friendly" or "kid movie" genre, and ultimately led to Warner Brothers and Tim Burton splitting, seemingly amicably, and would ultimately lead to Keaton leaving the role (as he was only going to keep going if Burton was directing), and throwing the franchise into chaos.

The extras are much as for the first disc. All carryovers (including the original behind-the-scenes feature that aired on TV to promote the movie) from the prior DVD and blu-ray releases. The UHD disc just has the movie itself (and the commentary track on the movie). All the other extras are on the blu-ray. A lot of material, but nothing new for the UHD release, so the upgrade to 4k (which looks and sounds great) is the only reason to pick this up. 

Batman Forever (1995)

This is the movie that saw the turning point for the franchise, away from the darker version and tone that Tim Burton had set for the franchise with the first two movies, toward the more kid-friendly, almost campy return to the tone of the 1960s TV show, that would be completed in the horrible Batman and Robin a few years later. While Batman Forever was not a horrible movie, it just lacked any sense of continuity from the earlier films (aside from Alfred and Commissioner Gordon returning with the same actors). The look, the feel, and the tone of the franchise abruptly shifted, and ultimately started turning off the fanbase. That, of course, is said in a lot of hindsight knowing what was to come. When the movie opened, it was a huge hit (in large part because of Jim Carey's fame at the time, and the fact that the title song, Kiss From A Rose, became a major hit. I do think Val Kilmer did a fine job playing the duality of Bruce Wayne and Batman, and with Bruce being almost a neurotic loner who cannot stop being Batman.

The movie was really about the villains this time. Jim Carey was really at the height of his fame after leading in The Mask and Ace Ventura, playing The Riddler. He brought his hammy overacting that was really his hallmark at that point to the role, and for what Joel Schumacher was going for, it worked. Tommy Lee Jones did a good job with what he was given with Two-Face, but for some reason, the role was written more like The Joker than the Two-Face as written in The Animated Series or Nolan's trilogy, which worked much better (in my opinion). 

Like the other movies, the extras (aside from the commentary track) are all on the regular blu-ray disc and are all carryovers from prior releases. The movie does look and sound good on the UHD format, although I would not say the restoration was as great as it could have been (like the Matrix Trilogy was). The extras include behind-the-scenes and making-of features, as well as the trailer, and the music video for Kiss From a Rose. 

Batman & Robin (1997)

The best way to describe this movie is hot garbage. It took all the bad parts of Batman Forever, the bad writing, hokey overacting, stupid sound effects and jokes, the campiness, the glowing paint, etc., and dialed them up even farther. Honestly, nipples on the Batsuit, which got people all riled up about the movie back then were the least of the problems. It pretty much seemed like everyone involved in the movie was just going through the motions. Of course, it pretty well killed off the live-action Batman franchise until Christopher Nolan rebooted everything. Part of the movie's issue was that it was rushed into production to capitalize on the unexpected success of Batman Forever, but one of the biggest things that hurt the movie was yet another recasting of Batman/Bruce Wayne (in the behind-the-scenes material Val Kilmer and Joel Schumacher pretty much point the finger at each other for why he did not come back) and Clooney was just not the right fit for the role. I do, however, think the actors did the best they could with what they had (which was not much), but with the same story and script, no group of actors could have made the movie better.

The disc setup is the same as the other. The movie and a commentary track on the UHD disc, and all the extras (carried over from prior releases) on the regular blu-ray. The movie mostly looks great on the format although some of the special effects were really bad (this is pre-Matrix, Star Wars Prequels, and Harry Potter where special effects really took off) and the inadequacies are almost amplified on the in the higher-definition format. The extras are along the same lines as for the other movies, with a good amount of material.

Overall, whether you want to get this will really depend on how interested you are in upgrading to the 4k format. If you owned the DVD box set before, this is a big upgrade. Probably not as big of a jump from the blu-ray releases. Also, the movies are being released individually, so those who only want Batman and Batman Returns, without having to pay for the other two, can do so.