So to my final thoughts, more of a general persual.
The cut sadly is still very disjointed. But perhaps it's because we (or I) have gotten so used to the meticulous level of planning by Marvel, that everything else pales in it's wake. I don't think splitting it into parts helped either, and at times it got a bit bogged down in meandering plot points.
I also found the script pretty woeful. Humour fell flat, exposition was lacking and very basic; with the overall plot around "mother boxes" a bit of a stinker as well in my opinion. I had to laugh out loud at some of the silliness too. The Flash scene where he fell in love looked nice, but was amateurish compared to similar brilliance by Quicksilver in Days of Future Past. I also had to laugh (which I've already commented on in the other thread) at Diana tomb raiding in a dressing gown and high heels. I mean come on, she didn't even slip the heels off I know they were trying to keep her sexiness afloat as much as possible, but did no-one in the production think that was a bit daft? A cheap criticism I guess, but things like that just grate me. That whole segment in fact was just nasty - an arrow that happens to open a chamber, that just happens to show the history ofLike I said I appreciate that they've not had the world building opportunity, but this is just too lazy. That arrow also highlighted a particularly dour moment of the script when it's presented to the Queen. "This arrow will reach the temple". Well of course it bloody will because you wouldn't be giving it to the Queen otherwise; and I'm quite certain the Queen knows what arrows will and won't reachDarkseid
However it wasn't all bad. The score was good and there were a few goosebumpy moments induced by it. Not as many fist pumping moments as I would have liked, but when Supes turns up even I couldn't grumble. Except for him being in a black suit - red and blue always for me or gtfo. The action scenes were passable but nothing stonking like they should have been. But again we've been spoiled by Marvel in this regard. No comparison between the Endgame scrap with Cap, IM and Thor, and Steppenwolf's rumble with WW, Cyborg and Aquaman. Even when Supes does turn up it still isn't as grandiose as it should be.
Gadot is still tremendous as WW though, Affleck was an accomplished Batman, Jason M is grunt enough as Aquaman, and as I said earlier Fisher got some redemption out of this as Cyborg. I'm not keen on Miller's Flash, although I'm not keen on the Flash character anyway. And obviously my thoughts on Cavill are already well known. If he doesn't don the tights again, that works for me. Irons was class but he's no Caine, and Adams didn't have to do much other than look miserable and then raise a smile.
Overall then a significant improvement over Whedon's cut, of that there is no doubt. But far from the film it should be given Bats and Supes are the pinnacle of the superhero universe. We unfortunately continue to be robbed of their delights. Fom the cutting room floor though it could have been a whole lot worse still.
So I was going to trump for a 6.5 but in light of some of the comments above I think a 7 would be fair game. I definitely can't go any higher than that.
And I definitely don't need to bother with a Black and White version.
Yup, I can see all of that mate. There was defo some lazy / contrived storytelling at play across this whole saga, mainly because - as has been said a thousand times before - they just didn't put in the groundwork.
I possibly wouldn't have elected to compare this to Endgame, as it's really more like Avengers 1 (considering he'd planned a 2 and 3, that also fits the "Phases"), and probably stands a better comparison there. This was never going to match up to Endgame, it doesn't even deserve to be in the same sentence, that puppy took a couple of dozen films to build to. For a rush-job, though, standing comparison to Marvel's Phase 1 conclusion is a hell of a lot better than where we were a few years' back.
As for black and white, aside from embracing the fact it'll lead to a number of ridiculously "funny" play-on-words limericks from Snyder (Bronzed Noir Edition, Black as Knight Edition, The Black Suit is still Black in Black and White Edition), it's just not for me.
I'll probably watch a couple of scenes on mute, with the soundtrack playing in the background and my kids making up the words and pretend it's Snyder's The Artist Edition for kicks, but otherwise, a curio at best.
If it's money that'll go to an HBO Batman/Joker/Death in the Family with Affleck, count me in, however.