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- Man of Steel: A Symbol of Hope
Man of Steel: A Symbol of Hope
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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2013
Original Running Time:
143
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
134
Time Cut:
9
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
'Man of Steel: A Symbol of Hope' does not try to radically reshape MOS because I liked most of it already. I just wanted to tweak the character of Superman to make him feel more heroic. So if you hated everything about the original MOS, then this isn't the FanFix for you. There are several 10-minute chunks of this edit that are unchanged (aside from the regrade) but when I did change something, I hope it feels significant.
Intention:
MOS-ASOH sticks closer to the positive character of Superman we know from the comics and from the older movies. Hans Zimmer created a fantastic "hero theme" for Henry Cavill's Superman (sometimes called 'What are you going to do when you are not saving the world?') but sadly it was not really used in the original cut of MOS. Here it is deployed appropriately for Superman's heroic or emotional moments, in the same way that John William's theme was used for Christopher Reeve. This is the most obvious change in MOS-ASOH, requiring a lot of soundFX replacement work.
Excessive levels of chaos and destruction during the boringly overlong action sequences are trimmed (where possible), especially if it was Superman causing it. Superman/Clark committing acts of violent retribution, or being indifferent to the plight of those around him are excised (where possible). Clark does not now make a deliberate choice to let Pa Kent die, he just hesitates when maybe he should have acted. Some of the swearing is removed to make this film more family friendly. A complete re-grade has been done shot-by-shot to remove the green/brown tint, increase saturation/contrast and to make Superman's suit more colourful. Some scenes are re-ordered to improve pacing, or refocus dramatic moments. Some onscreen titles are added.
Excessive levels of chaos and destruction during the boringly overlong action sequences are trimmed (where possible), especially if it was Superman causing it. Superman/Clark committing acts of violent retribution, or being indifferent to the plight of those around him are excised (where possible). Clark does not now make a deliberate choice to let Pa Kent die, he just hesitates when maybe he should have acted. Some of the swearing is removed to make this film more family friendly. A complete re-grade has been done shot-by-shot to remove the green/brown tint, increase saturation/contrast and to make Superman's suit more colourful. Some scenes are re-ordered to improve pacing, or refocus dramatic moments. Some onscreen titles are added.
Additional Notes:
As of 5th December 2017, a new alternate audio mix called the 'Hopeful Mix' has been added to all versions. This was to tone down the use of the main "Hero" theme, from 5 scenes, to 3. The old/original mix will now be referred to as the "Extra Heroic Mix".
Other Sources:
- Man Of Steel (Blu-Ray)
- Man Of Steel (CD Soundtrack)
- Turkish Airlines: Metropolis (Commercial)
- freesound.org
- Man Of Steel (CD Soundtrack)
- Turkish Airlines: Metropolis (Commercial)
- freesound.org
Special Thanks:
Thanks to all the people who offered vital feedback and general encouragement in the project thread: samspider3, SpectacularSMan, Canon Editor, DSM2337, addiesin, Zarius, bionicbob, TVs Frink, darthrush, Nic, Nerdman3000, octoroxx, DigModiFicaTion, Hardbackyoyo, dangermouse, hbenthow, ThrowgnCpr, L8wrtr, Nerdman3000, ssj, That One Guy, spence, musiced921, wilhelm scream, SkywalkerFan01, Kal-El, Zamros, ironman23, njvc, Problem Eliminator, Workshed, judgmentalpigeon, Last Impressions, AlexJamieson, ronin428, Dustin6595, damian1978, Vultural, theryaney, alshim72, Masirimso17, Nic, judgmentalpigeon and Motley's Fanedits.
Release Information:
- Blu-Ray
- Digital
Special Features
- MP4 (13.4 GB 1080p Stereo 448 AC3)
- MP4 (3.9 GB 720p Stereo 224 AAC)
- Blu-Ray with chapter selection menus (19.6 GB 1080p Stereo 448 AC3)
Two alternate audio mixes are included in all versions:
1. The Hopeful Mix
2. The Extra Heroic Mix
- MP4 (3.9 GB 720p Stereo 224 AAC)
- Blu-Ray with chapter selection menus (19.6 GB 1080p Stereo 448 AC3)
Two alternate audio mixes are included in all versions:
1. The Hopeful Mix
2. The Extra Heroic Mix
Editing Details:
- Added Hans Zimmer's bombastic "hero theme" to several scenes: 1. Jor-El leaping from the archive tower, 2. Superman flying for the first time, 3. Superman rescuing Lois from the escape pod, 4. Superman flying off to fight the world-engine and 5. The Kryptonians being destroyed. I've also added the low-key piano part of the theme to a few quiet moments (1. and 5. are only rescored in the "Extra Heroic Mix").
- Complete shot-by-shot regrade focusing on bringing colour, contrast and variety back to the image (Especially with Superman's suit).
- As many examples of Superman acting in an un-Superman like way have been removed as possible. So he doesn't act in spiteful, indifferent ways and his anger and aggression is toned down. The two most obvious examples of this are the removal of the two scenes where he destroys a guys truck because the man was rude and when he smashes a US satellite out of the sky to intimidate his new friends.
- Action-scenes are trimmed down quite a bit as they were often overlong CGI slog-fests, that sapped the momentum of the story.
- Complete shot-by-shot regrade focusing on bringing colour, contrast and variety back to the image (Especially with Superman's suit).
- As many examples of Superman acting in an un-Superman like way have been removed as possible. So he doesn't act in spiteful, indifferent ways and his anger and aggression is toned down. The two most obvious examples of this are the removal of the two scenes where he destroys a guys truck because the man was rude and when he smashes a US satellite out of the sky to intimidate his new friends.
- Action-scenes are trimmed down quite a bit as they were often overlong CGI slog-fests, that sapped the momentum of the story.
Cuts and Additions:
00.00.00 - Added FE.org and TM2YC titlecards.
00.00.33 - Replaced audio and music of opening scene with a new mix. SoundFX much lower and score much higher. I wanted the musical theme to be the first thing we take note of. Added baby heartbeat soundFX to titles.
00.01.31 - Added new title card "Krypton: A Planet in a Distant Galaxy". Okay 90% of people watching are going to know it's Krypton right-away but for me lazy assumptions are not an adequate replacement for explaining things properly to an audience.
00.01.35 - Removed first shot of Lara screaming and re-ordered shots. I wanted the first shot to be the more hopeful holding-hands one. Plus hand-holding is a visual motif that reoccurs throughout the movie.
*00.07.33 - Replaced music during Jor-El stealing the Codex. I wanted the "hero theme" to play first for the father, then we will hear it later for the son. Many layers of additional soundFX added.
00.13.44 - Removed about half of the fist-fight between Jor-El and Zod. It bored me after a while. Rescored and SoundFX added.
00.16.55 - Removed Zod saying "I will find him" one time. Now he says it 3 times, instead of 4 times. Less is more I feel.
00.17.23 - Added light FX/lens-falre to partially obscure the "Flying Dildos". They still look silly but whatcha gonna do?
00.19.23 - Added new title cards for main cast/crew, plus "Man of Steel" title during space pod sequence. I felt it makes it a more solid break between prologue and main-movie.
00.20.17 - Added new title card "Earth: The present day" mirroring the earlier Krypton title card. It just makes everything a little clearer for the audience (No more place/time title cards are used in the edit after this one).
00.24.43 - Replaced audio and music during the scene of Clark crying in the cupboard, through to him on the school bus. I always hated the Grunge track that plays over this scene (sorry Chris Cornell fans), plus it's weird when no other "pop" songs feature on the soundtrack. When you've got Hans Zimmer, use him.
00.26.48 - Removed the bully calling Clark "Dick splash". There is too much swearing in a film that kids should enjoy. Replaced with soundFX meant to suggest young Clark hears what is about to happen with his super ears.
00.29.34 - Removed Pa Kent suggesting Clark should have "Maybe" let a bus full of children drown. A 20-second chunk of Pa Kent talking about Clark's destiny went with it but he says almost the exact same things later in the movie anyway.
00.33.15 - Removed Clark violently destroying the a**hole guys truck in an act of vengeful rage. It was a very un-Superman like thing to do. Remixed music and soundFX.
00.35.11 - Removed Lois' "Measuring dicks" line, to again tone down swearing. Besides, they aren't being "macho" with her and it's clear from her other lines that she's got their number.
00.38.26 - Clark reacts much quicker to the Kryptonian probe after it lashes out at him. He's got super intelligence and super speed after all. We the audience knew it was dangerous the second we saw it, so Clark should too right?
00.40.18 - Added the piano part of the "hero theme" as Clark gives Lois a reassuring look. The hero just saved the heroine for the first time, we should hear something music wise.
00.40.50 - Removed half of Lois' scream as Superman burns her wound, so it feels a little less violent.
00.42.18 - Added in an establishing shot of the 'Daily Planet' from the BvS airline commercial. Once again, I'm sure 90% of people know this the planet but it's still nice to make things clear. SoundFX added.
00.48.20 - Totally recut Superman's first flight and rescored it with the "hero theme". Superman now doesn't crash 'n' burn on his first attempt, as I felt this was anti-climatic. Hopefully this version captures Superman's joy from realising he can fly, by removing shots of him looking uncertain, aggressive, or looking all consumed by his lust for power! Footage recut to match the rhythms and beats of the new score. SoundFX and dialogue recut, replaced and remixed throughout.
00.50.38 - Lois' search for Clark also rescored with tail end of hero theme. SoundFX replaced.
00.52.25 - Toned down Clark's argument with his dad. When we are only seeing brief moments of their relationship, Clark can't be as cruel to his Dad as he is in the original cut. The scene now has the same result but more subtle. Ma Kent reacts to Clark's hurtful outburst instantly and he backs down.
00.54.03 - Removed Clark not saving his Dad because his Dad tells him not to. Recut so we see Clark just about to rush in when his Dad is suddenly killed. He dies because Clark hesitated, so hopefully the "I let my father die..." line now reads as simple regret, rather than him rationalising his awful decision to Lois.
01.08.12 - Retimed interrogation room shot so we see Lois laugh at Superman's joke about surrendering. It adds a moment to their relationship and shortens the scene a tad.
01.08.28 - Removed Lois Amy saying "Superman". I'd rather it wasn't said, than it be drowned out. It feels like the movie being embarrassed to speak his name. Plus a soldier later calls him "Superman" at a more appropriately heroic moment.
01.09.11 - Replaced score in scene of Superman surrendering with piano part of the "hero theme", timed to when he says "Thank you... for believing in me". I wanted it to underline the nobility of his sacrifice and his emotional connection with Lois. Remade soundFX.
01.21.15 - Replaced the much of the score during the escape of Lois to allow the sequence to be heavily restructured so other shots/scenes could be moved elsewhere.
01.22.28 - Swapped two shots of Lois' pod escaping, so have a long establishing shot break into a cut back to Superman waking up.
01.22.31 - Combined both parts of Superman getting his powers back, so it plays as one scene. Rescored and SoundFX added.
01.22.43 - Rescored Superman rescuing Lois with the "hero theme". Reordered shots to time with music. FX tweak of fireball. Removed Superman saying "You'll be safe here" so the landing music is not interrupted.
01.24.48 - Moved Zod arriving at the Kent farm and inserted it where Superman is sensing something is wrong. Replaced dog barking soundFX and brought it in earlier as if Superman is tuning in.
01.26.20 - Removed Superman slamming Zod through a cooling Tower. It's unfixable that he draws the baddies into a populated area but at least we can now put it down to a brief moment of anger because they attacked his mother.
01.28.10 - Recut the walk down the street so we hear Superman tell the civilians to get inside, before we see them get inside. This makes him look a little more caring.
01.29.45 - Removed a minute long fist fight with Faora with a simple match cut. Superman isn't saving anybody, there is too much bad CGI and it's just a lot of needless destruction. Plus I feel the first time we are seeing our hero in a fight, should not be him being wildly outclassed.
01.31.36 - Removed 20 seconds of Faora beating up some random soldiers. The CGI is really awful and videogame-like, plus it doesn't feature Superman, or advance the plot.
01.31.54 - Removed 10 more seconds of bad-CGI Faora where she is jumping around and performing a "Superhero landing". Now Col. Hardy just goes straight for his pistol.
01.39.35 - Brought forward the scene of Zod saying he off to get the Kryptonian ship. This way it doesn't interupt the new Superman hero sequence and probably makes more sense time/place wise.
01.40.18 - Removed the mention of the word "Terraforming" as it was over-explaining for dummies. Plus it's not actually "Terraforming", it's "Kryptonforming", or "anti-terraforming" to be scientifically accurate.
01.40.36 - Rescored the scene of Superman explaining the "black hole" plan with the "hero theme".
01.42.08 - Intercut Superman taking off, with Lois and Hardy taking off. Creating a short montage of the heroes finally united towards one goal. Rescored and soundFX added.
01.43.23 - Removed Zod's line about Jor-El lecturing him. I wanted to play down Zod's antagonism with Jor-El because they are supposed to be former allies.
01.43.37 - Removed a few seconds of Superman choking. With the energy-beam, the robot-claw and the poisonous-cloud, I felt it was one too many things for him to defeat in a bloated CGI sequence. It made it feel like a videogame boss battle. Superman now just swoops in and observes the situation.
01.44.17 - Removed a closeup shot of hundreds of people beng massacred in a giant fireball, caused by our heroes' own missiles. It's too much violence for a fun superhero movie IMO.
01.44.40 - Removed a few shots of Superman fighting back against the robot-claw, as I wanted the last thing we see before cutting to the Daily Planet being evacuated was Superman losing the battle.
01.45.37 - Removed more shots of Superman fighting back against the robot-claw. He is still in it's vice-like grip from the last shot we saw.
01.45.41 - Removed footage of Superman choking on the cloud again.
01.46.40 - Rescored and rearranged scenes so Superman appears to have been defeated by the world-engine and all is lost before we cut back to Zod and Jor-El.
01.47.20 - Rescored Jor-El saying "My son was twice the man you were Zod" with the piano part of the "hero theme". Showing the father's faith in his sons power, just as we the audience have seen him appear to be defeated.
01.47.27 - Recut the footage of Zod so he just listens in silence, sad that he cannot talk his former friend round. Before he gave Jor-El one last vindictive retort.
01.47.39 - Rescored the ship taking off and replaced the soundFX. Now this segues immediately into Superman resisting the energy beam, just after Jor-El's final line.
01.47.47 - Remixed audio during the montage of Superman destroying the world-engine. I wanted Zimmer's powerful music to be way higher in the mix and the soundFX much lower. The power of the images and the music are what make this scene, the soundFX are almost unnecessary.
01.51.02 - Removed a few seconds of Superman considering not destroying the ship. Why would Superman pause to consider letting Zod destroy Earth?
01.52.01 - Recut and rescored footage to remove the crew man telling Lois to not stand in a dangerous spot. It makes it look he died because of her stupidity. Also replaced a loud "wilhelm scream" because they irritate me now.
*01.52.51 - Rescored the Kryptonians being destroyed with the "hero theme". Many soundFX layers added.
01.55.42 - Recut Zod's speech to Superman to shorten it and re-order some shots. The brief "My soul" line is cut.
01.56.55 - Recut and rescored Superman/Zod battle emerging from the collapsing building. Removed over a minute of them battling in the street, destroying buildings and blowing things up while terrified people look on. Now we do not cut to any people in the sequence. Since no footage of Superman defending the people from the mayhem exists, I'd rather they weren't there at all. It's believable they could have already fled the area around "ground zero" already.
01.59.20 - Brought forward a shot of the father reacting to protect his family, so he seems less dumb.
01.59.39 - Moved shot of Lois arriving in the station to later so she appears after Zod has died.
02.00.03 - Removed Superman's howl of rage. He just collapses in stunned silence. It underlines the sadness of what he has done, rather than his anger. Footage of Lois reacting has been reordered and soundFX replaced.
02.00.25 - FX tweak to the tear on Superman's cheek to make it slightly more visually obvious. Superman embracing Lois has been rescored and new soundFX added.
02.03.29 - Added Superman red logo and "A Symbol of Hope" to the ending title card.
02.13.36 - Added title card thanking all the people who have helped with the edit.
(* Only in the "Extra Heroic Mix" but a small section of the Piano Hero theme has been mixed into the kiss scene at 01.52.51 in the "Hopeful Mix")
00.00.33 - Replaced audio and music of opening scene with a new mix. SoundFX much lower and score much higher. I wanted the musical theme to be the first thing we take note of. Added baby heartbeat soundFX to titles.
00.01.31 - Added new title card "Krypton: A Planet in a Distant Galaxy". Okay 90% of people watching are going to know it's Krypton right-away but for me lazy assumptions are not an adequate replacement for explaining things properly to an audience.
00.01.35 - Removed first shot of Lara screaming and re-ordered shots. I wanted the first shot to be the more hopeful holding-hands one. Plus hand-holding is a visual motif that reoccurs throughout the movie.
*00.07.33 - Replaced music during Jor-El stealing the Codex. I wanted the "hero theme" to play first for the father, then we will hear it later for the son. Many layers of additional soundFX added.
00.13.44 - Removed about half of the fist-fight between Jor-El and Zod. It bored me after a while. Rescored and SoundFX added.
00.16.55 - Removed Zod saying "I will find him" one time. Now he says it 3 times, instead of 4 times. Less is more I feel.
00.17.23 - Added light FX/lens-falre to partially obscure the "Flying Dildos". They still look silly but whatcha gonna do?
00.19.23 - Added new title cards for main cast/crew, plus "Man of Steel" title during space pod sequence. I felt it makes it a more solid break between prologue and main-movie.
00.20.17 - Added new title card "Earth: The present day" mirroring the earlier Krypton title card. It just makes everything a little clearer for the audience (No more place/time title cards are used in the edit after this one).
00.24.43 - Replaced audio and music during the scene of Clark crying in the cupboard, through to him on the school bus. I always hated the Grunge track that plays over this scene (sorry Chris Cornell fans), plus it's weird when no other "pop" songs feature on the soundtrack. When you've got Hans Zimmer, use him.
00.26.48 - Removed the bully calling Clark "Dick splash". There is too much swearing in a film that kids should enjoy. Replaced with soundFX meant to suggest young Clark hears what is about to happen with his super ears.
00.29.34 - Removed Pa Kent suggesting Clark should have "Maybe" let a bus full of children drown. A 20-second chunk of Pa Kent talking about Clark's destiny went with it but he says almost the exact same things later in the movie anyway.
00.33.15 - Removed Clark violently destroying the a**hole guys truck in an act of vengeful rage. It was a very un-Superman like thing to do. Remixed music and soundFX.
00.35.11 - Removed Lois' "Measuring dicks" line, to again tone down swearing. Besides, they aren't being "macho" with her and it's clear from her other lines that she's got their number.
00.38.26 - Clark reacts much quicker to the Kryptonian probe after it lashes out at him. He's got super intelligence and super speed after all. We the audience knew it was dangerous the second we saw it, so Clark should too right?
00.40.18 - Added the piano part of the "hero theme" as Clark gives Lois a reassuring look. The hero just saved the heroine for the first time, we should hear something music wise.
00.40.50 - Removed half of Lois' scream as Superman burns her wound, so it feels a little less violent.
00.42.18 - Added in an establishing shot of the 'Daily Planet' from the BvS airline commercial. Once again, I'm sure 90% of people know this the planet but it's still nice to make things clear. SoundFX added.
00.48.20 - Totally recut Superman's first flight and rescored it with the "hero theme". Superman now doesn't crash 'n' burn on his first attempt, as I felt this was anti-climatic. Hopefully this version captures Superman's joy from realising he can fly, by removing shots of him looking uncertain, aggressive, or looking all consumed by his lust for power! Footage recut to match the rhythms and beats of the new score. SoundFX and dialogue recut, replaced and remixed throughout.
00.50.38 - Lois' search for Clark also rescored with tail end of hero theme. SoundFX replaced.
00.52.25 - Toned down Clark's argument with his dad. When we are only seeing brief moments of their relationship, Clark can't be as cruel to his Dad as he is in the original cut. The scene now has the same result but more subtle. Ma Kent reacts to Clark's hurtful outburst instantly and he backs down.
00.54.03 - Removed Clark not saving his Dad because his Dad tells him not to. Recut so we see Clark just about to rush in when his Dad is suddenly killed. He dies because Clark hesitated, so hopefully the "I let my father die..." line now reads as simple regret, rather than him rationalising his awful decision to Lois.
01.08.12 - Retimed interrogation room shot so we see Lois laugh at Superman's joke about surrendering. It adds a moment to their relationship and shortens the scene a tad.
01.08.28 - Removed Lois Amy saying "Superman". I'd rather it wasn't said, than it be drowned out. It feels like the movie being embarrassed to speak his name. Plus a soldier later calls him "Superman" at a more appropriately heroic moment.
01.09.11 - Replaced score in scene of Superman surrendering with piano part of the "hero theme", timed to when he says "Thank you... for believing in me". I wanted it to underline the nobility of his sacrifice and his emotional connection with Lois. Remade soundFX.
01.21.15 - Replaced the much of the score during the escape of Lois to allow the sequence to be heavily restructured so other shots/scenes could be moved elsewhere.
01.22.28 - Swapped two shots of Lois' pod escaping, so have a long establishing shot break into a cut back to Superman waking up.
01.22.31 - Combined both parts of Superman getting his powers back, so it plays as one scene. Rescored and SoundFX added.
01.22.43 - Rescored Superman rescuing Lois with the "hero theme". Reordered shots to time with music. FX tweak of fireball. Removed Superman saying "You'll be safe here" so the landing music is not interrupted.
01.24.48 - Moved Zod arriving at the Kent farm and inserted it where Superman is sensing something is wrong. Replaced dog barking soundFX and brought it in earlier as if Superman is tuning in.
01.26.20 - Removed Superman slamming Zod through a cooling Tower. It's unfixable that he draws the baddies into a populated area but at least we can now put it down to a brief moment of anger because they attacked his mother.
01.28.10 - Recut the walk down the street so we hear Superman tell the civilians to get inside, before we see them get inside. This makes him look a little more caring.
01.29.45 - Removed a minute long fist fight with Faora with a simple match cut. Superman isn't saving anybody, there is too much bad CGI and it's just a lot of needless destruction. Plus I feel the first time we are seeing our hero in a fight, should not be him being wildly outclassed.
01.31.36 - Removed 20 seconds of Faora beating up some random soldiers. The CGI is really awful and videogame-like, plus it doesn't feature Superman, or advance the plot.
01.31.54 - Removed 10 more seconds of bad-CGI Faora where she is jumping around and performing a "Superhero landing". Now Col. Hardy just goes straight for his pistol.
01.39.35 - Brought forward the scene of Zod saying he off to get the Kryptonian ship. This way it doesn't interupt the new Superman hero sequence and probably makes more sense time/place wise.
01.40.18 - Removed the mention of the word "Terraforming" as it was over-explaining for dummies. Plus it's not actually "Terraforming", it's "Kryptonforming", or "anti-terraforming" to be scientifically accurate.
01.40.36 - Rescored the scene of Superman explaining the "black hole" plan with the "hero theme".
01.42.08 - Intercut Superman taking off, with Lois and Hardy taking off. Creating a short montage of the heroes finally united towards one goal. Rescored and soundFX added.
01.43.23 - Removed Zod's line about Jor-El lecturing him. I wanted to play down Zod's antagonism with Jor-El because they are supposed to be former allies.
01.43.37 - Removed a few seconds of Superman choking. With the energy-beam, the robot-claw and the poisonous-cloud, I felt it was one too many things for him to defeat in a bloated CGI sequence. It made it feel like a videogame boss battle. Superman now just swoops in and observes the situation.
01.44.17 - Removed a closeup shot of hundreds of people beng massacred in a giant fireball, caused by our heroes' own missiles. It's too much violence for a fun superhero movie IMO.
01.44.40 - Removed a few shots of Superman fighting back against the robot-claw, as I wanted the last thing we see before cutting to the Daily Planet being evacuated was Superman losing the battle.
01.45.37 - Removed more shots of Superman fighting back against the robot-claw. He is still in it's vice-like grip from the last shot we saw.
01.45.41 - Removed footage of Superman choking on the cloud again.
01.46.40 - Rescored and rearranged scenes so Superman appears to have been defeated by the world-engine and all is lost before we cut back to Zod and Jor-El.
01.47.20 - Rescored Jor-El saying "My son was twice the man you were Zod" with the piano part of the "hero theme". Showing the father's faith in his sons power, just as we the audience have seen him appear to be defeated.
01.47.27 - Recut the footage of Zod so he just listens in silence, sad that he cannot talk his former friend round. Before he gave Jor-El one last vindictive retort.
01.47.39 - Rescored the ship taking off and replaced the soundFX. Now this segues immediately into Superman resisting the energy beam, just after Jor-El's final line.
01.47.47 - Remixed audio during the montage of Superman destroying the world-engine. I wanted Zimmer's powerful music to be way higher in the mix and the soundFX much lower. The power of the images and the music are what make this scene, the soundFX are almost unnecessary.
01.51.02 - Removed a few seconds of Superman considering not destroying the ship. Why would Superman pause to consider letting Zod destroy Earth?
01.52.01 - Recut and rescored footage to remove the crew man telling Lois to not stand in a dangerous spot. It makes it look he died because of her stupidity. Also replaced a loud "wilhelm scream" because they irritate me now.
*01.52.51 - Rescored the Kryptonians being destroyed with the "hero theme". Many soundFX layers added.
01.55.42 - Recut Zod's speech to Superman to shorten it and re-order some shots. The brief "My soul" line is cut.
01.56.55 - Recut and rescored Superman/Zod battle emerging from the collapsing building. Removed over a minute of them battling in the street, destroying buildings and blowing things up while terrified people look on. Now we do not cut to any people in the sequence. Since no footage of Superman defending the people from the mayhem exists, I'd rather they weren't there at all. It's believable they could have already fled the area around "ground zero" already.
01.59.20 - Brought forward a shot of the father reacting to protect his family, so he seems less dumb.
01.59.39 - Moved shot of Lois arriving in the station to later so she appears after Zod has died.
02.00.03 - Removed Superman's howl of rage. He just collapses in stunned silence. It underlines the sadness of what he has done, rather than his anger. Footage of Lois reacting has been reordered and soundFX replaced.
02.00.25 - FX tweak to the tear on Superman's cheek to make it slightly more visually obvious. Superman embracing Lois has been rescored and new soundFX added.
02.03.29 - Added Superman red logo and "A Symbol of Hope" to the ending title card.
02.13.36 - Added title card thanking all the people who have helped with the edit.
(* Only in the "Extra Heroic Mix" but a small section of the Piano Hero theme has been mixed into the kiss scene at 01.52.51 in the "Hopeful Mix")
Superman's First Flight: Rescored, Recut and Regraded
User reviews
32 reviews
Overall rating
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
9.9(32)
Visual Editing
9.9(32)
Audio Editing
9.7(32)
Narrative
9.5(32)
Enjoyment
9.5(32)
(Updated: August 28, 2023)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I won't write too much but the changes made here, both big and small, really improve the flow of the film. Some of the more gratuitously adult material has been removed (like taunting the hologram about pain, Mr. Kent saying to leave a bunch of children to die, some of the cursing, etc.) and I'd argue the film is better for it. It's a Superman movie, I don't need too much gritiness.
The color changes are the part that really worked for me. Seeing his suit pop with red and blue like that made it feel way more like a Superman movie, and reducing the eggregious action/destruction to the bare necessities really kept the pace moving. Also removing Lois from a few key moments, ever so slightly, really kept the focus on Superman where it belonged.
Highly recommended. It won't change your opinion about the movie if you hate it, but if like me you thought it was a 7.5, it'll make you think it's an 8.5.
"A good edit is its own reward."
The color changes are the part that really worked for me. Seeing his suit pop with red and blue like that made it feel way more like a Superman movie, and reducing the eggregious action/destruction to the bare necessities really kept the pace moving. Also removing Lois from a few key moments, ever so slightly, really kept the focus on Superman where it belonged.
Highly recommended. It won't change your opinion about the movie if you hate it, but if like me you thought it was a 7.5, it'll make you think it's an 8.5.
"A good edit is its own reward."
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
J
(Updated: June 08, 2023)
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
8.0
First of all, I'm a huge Man of Steel and Zack Snyder fan in general. I follow the director since his first film and I have watched everything he's ever done ever since and most of those projects multiple times. They are not flawless by any means and certainly not all equal, but I love his style and his vision. Man of Steel is my favorite Superman movie. Henry is awesome, the direction the same, the story is pretty great and the music and new superman theme was simply phenomenal. Be that as it may, the action on the third act was a bit too much, there are a couple of scenes that don't make sense, like Lois asking Clark to tell her the truth while he had revealed himself in the kryptonian ship like a moment ago, and the use of the excellent new theme was very very scarce.
TM2YC addressed the excessive action and the music part, while also making a few more changes, like the way Superman's father dies or cutting out the entire sequence of the nuclear attack on both Superman and Zod.
I watched the first version of the fanedit, which uses the theme in more scenes and I've got to say, with the exception of a couple, I really loved this! This should have been done from the beginning! The only two scenes that I found it was unnecessary was when they were talking about the world engine and the second is when Zod deletes the Jor El AI. Other than that, excellent use of the theme!!
When it comes to the trimming down action stuff, I think that I did not like most of the changes. The part with the nuclear attack, it shows to the audience that even from what seems certain death, because Superman is like a floating mummy in space, he can come back, something that makes more believable and digestible the fact that he returns from "actual" death in Justice League. From my point of view, it was a built up to that, to show people what he can do.
From the very first moment, I loved the whole action sequence in Smallville, so trimming down even a second of that is a minus for me. I understand the reasoning behind that, the fact that most people take issue with the level of destruction that happens during this movie, but for me, it is justified under the "reasoning umbrella" that Superman is still young and founding out what he can and can't do, and while he was doing that, he had to fight three "Supermen" that threatened earth. So, I think we can cut him a little slack. Plus, this was addressed in BvS, with a very angry Batman that wanted to kill him because of that, among other reasons.
Another thing I did not understand why it was cut out, was Superman screaming in pain and sorrow after killing Zod. I mean, Superman does not kill. Snyder wanted to make that abundantly clear, that Superman was 100% forced to do that and then, after the fact, show how much it affected him. This whole sequence was very very carefully planed and executed. So, Superman screaming, along with everything else in this scene, from my point of view at least, is a must include.
Finally, the change with the death of Jonathan Kent. Unfortunately, even though it was done really well, it did not work for me. It makes far more sense for his father to stop him and also, having Jonathan die in that blunt, abrupt way with the car, is not a fitting end.
Other than these issues, the edit was excellent, all the cuts were seamless and if someone hadn't watch this before, he would not know if anything was missing or that something feels off.
If you don't mind the specific missing action stuff and the way Jonathan now dies, and also you wanted more of this awesome new Supe's theme, then this edit is for you and will replace the original, I guarantee you that! For me though, I haven't decided yet, probably I will stick with the original but I'm not sure, I want to let this edit sink in a little more.
Thank you TM2YC for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!
TM2YC addressed the excessive action and the music part, while also making a few more changes, like the way Superman's father dies or cutting out the entire sequence of the nuclear attack on both Superman and Zod.
I watched the first version of the fanedit, which uses the theme in more scenes and I've got to say, with the exception of a couple, I really loved this! This should have been done from the beginning! The only two scenes that I found it was unnecessary was when they were talking about the world engine and the second is when Zod deletes the Jor El AI. Other than that, excellent use of the theme!!
When it comes to the trimming down action stuff, I think that I did not like most of the changes. The part with the nuclear attack, it shows to the audience that even from what seems certain death, because Superman is like a floating mummy in space, he can come back, something that makes more believable and digestible the fact that he returns from "actual" death in Justice League. From my point of view, it was a built up to that, to show people what he can do.
From the very first moment, I loved the whole action sequence in Smallville, so trimming down even a second of that is a minus for me. I understand the reasoning behind that, the fact that most people take issue with the level of destruction that happens during this movie, but for me, it is justified under the "reasoning umbrella" that Superman is still young and founding out what he can and can't do, and while he was doing that, he had to fight three "Supermen" that threatened earth. So, I think we can cut him a little slack. Plus, this was addressed in BvS, with a very angry Batman that wanted to kill him because of that, among other reasons.
Another thing I did not understand why it was cut out, was Superman screaming in pain and sorrow after killing Zod. I mean, Superman does not kill. Snyder wanted to make that abundantly clear, that Superman was 100% forced to do that and then, after the fact, show how much it affected him. This whole sequence was very very carefully planed and executed. So, Superman screaming, along with everything else in this scene, from my point of view at least, is a must include.
Finally, the change with the death of Jonathan Kent. Unfortunately, even though it was done really well, it did not work for me. It makes far more sense for his father to stop him and also, having Jonathan die in that blunt, abrupt way with the car, is not a fitting end.
Other than these issues, the edit was excellent, all the cuts were seamless and if someone hadn't watch this before, he would not know if anything was missing or that something feels off.
If you don't mind the specific missing action stuff and the way Jonathan now dies, and also you wanted more of this awesome new Supe's theme, then this edit is for you and will replace the original, I guarantee you that! For me though, I haven't decided yet, probably I will stick with the original but I'm not sure, I want to let this edit sink in a little more.
Thank you TM2YC for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Marvelous! Stupendous! Super...human effort! Loved the extra music themes, loved the color correction, loved the trims to the story. Beautiful movie, wonderful work. Thank you.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
T
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I can say i completely forgot the original cut after this one. Some things can't be fixed only by editing but this is truly shows with aome effort you can make things better. Highly recommended!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
D
(Updated: June 07, 2021)
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
9.0
So my friend is a Comic book film fan, like everything comic books (i.e. he's spent a lot of time invested in understanding the nuances and easter eggs of all comic book films through youtube shows and podcasts and the like), and has somehow convinced me to rewatch the Snyderverse before four hours of Justice League.
We start with Man of Steel, but instead I've convinced him to watch the fanedit.
So let's talk about the fanedit A Symbol of Hope.
It's essentially the same film, minor edits (~10 minutes in total) in particular to the overlong action sequences to speed them along and show less wanton destruction caused by Supes himself. The two other big changes that are most appreciated are that it recolors most of the movie so that it pops brightly and colorfully and rescores it so that the awesome Han Zimmer Man of Steel hero theme (from the trailer) plays more frequently during key moments. (There are two audio tracks, we went with the Hopeful Mix instead of the Extra Heroic Mix, due to reviews here.). We both universally loved the recoloring and rescoring. With The Hopeful mix we found it the right mix without over-usage complaints that were rallied at the Extra Heroic Mix. This is truly a Superman theme.
Narrative:
The most noticeable cuts regarding plot are three fold, first regarding Papa Kent's answer "Maybe," to the question, "should I have let them die (the kids in the bus)," second the Superman scream after he kills the last of his kind, and finally, the biggest one, the Papa Kent death scene is truncated to make it seem like Clark hesitated in saving him rather than being explicitly told by his father to let him die. All three of these stood as controversial with the death scene standing out as the most controversial for my buddy.
The first one, the "maybe" scene, my friend argued that it takes away from Papa Kent's philosophy about protecting his son from revealing himself, I still think the line makes Papa Kent an asshole and I appreciated it's removal and found that enough of the uncertainty and concern still came out in the scene.
Nothing much to say on the Superman scream after Zod's death really.
I think given my buddy's investment in understanding Zack Snyder's intent he's more attached to the original scenes than I am, particularly the Papa Kent death scene, claiming that it completes Papa Kent's arc and is integral to the one son, two fathers (with two ideals) theming of the film. I just shrug but I see his point. Papa Kent believed in his philosophy so strongly that Clark should hide who he is, that he was willing to sacrifice himself for it. The dog is still a stupid freaking plot device to get there though.
The film as a whole wasn't changed much, it wasn't a world beater then, and this edit still isn't a world beater. As a film it's important to remember that this film wasn't so much a Superman film but an alien invasion film starring Kal-El. As a result Zack Snyder spends most of the film with hefty philosophical questions about what it means to be a a super powerful alien on Earth, what it means for society to find out that they're not alone in the universe, and how people will react to that. These portions are slow, yet meditative in a way and mostly really work. Even though I enjoyed them for what they were, they're not quite as hard hitting as similar toned and paced understated character study of Signs. Nonetheless, years later, I continue to find Zod's global message on the tv quite unsettling and a fantastic piece of suspense, scale, and scope.
Much of the third act is quite tone deaf to the rest of the film and this edit goes a long way to fix this. Both my buddy and really loved the tightening up of the overlong action scene. In the original, the rest of the film gives way to bombastic action and destruction which is thankfully reined in for this edit, in an attempt to give more oomph to Superman as savior, a hero attempting to save the people of his new home. After it devolves into clear good/evil delineations and fist fights, it's really sad that any of the promise of the film as a first contact film is lost. The third act echoes the tragedy of 9/11 and yet it's heroic as Clark and Lois share a kiss among the destruction.
Sure this Superman is conflicted as a hero because he doesn't have all his ideals in place, he makes it clear he doesn't want to fight any of the Kryptonians but he will to save his home. Which makes sense, as Zack Snyder's DCEU is a multi-film saga of the origin of Superman, and how he became to be the Superman we know and idealize. It's littered with stutter steps, but that's what the whole vision is.
I think there's still some enjoyment in this film, rescored and recoloring helps, and some neat trims to action. The plot changes, particularly the Papa Kent death scene changes the theme drastically beyond that all of the edits I see are positive.
I think there's some clear influence from Nolan here, particularly in the theming of superheros in the real world ala the Dark Knight trilogy, and the whole DCEU may have done better if Nolan had retained this influence.
Nonetheless, with Man of Steel, the inherently darker, washed out color palette is all gone and it's better for the brighter colors even if it doesn't fit the more somber tone of the film. I enjoyed my time revisiting Man of Steel in this fanedit.
We start with Man of Steel, but instead I've convinced him to watch the fanedit.
So let's talk about the fanedit A Symbol of Hope.
It's essentially the same film, minor edits (~10 minutes in total) in particular to the overlong action sequences to speed them along and show less wanton destruction caused by Supes himself. The two other big changes that are most appreciated are that it recolors most of the movie so that it pops brightly and colorfully and rescores it so that the awesome Han Zimmer Man of Steel hero theme (from the trailer) plays more frequently during key moments. (There are two audio tracks, we went with the Hopeful Mix instead of the Extra Heroic Mix, due to reviews here.). We both universally loved the recoloring and rescoring. With The Hopeful mix we found it the right mix without over-usage complaints that were rallied at the Extra Heroic Mix. This is truly a Superman theme.
Narrative:
The most noticeable cuts regarding plot are three fold, first regarding Papa Kent's answer "Maybe," to the question, "should I have let them die (the kids in the bus)," second the Superman scream after he kills the last of his kind, and finally, the biggest one, the Papa Kent death scene is truncated to make it seem like Clark hesitated in saving him rather than being explicitly told by his father to let him die. All three of these stood as controversial with the death scene standing out as the most controversial for my buddy.
The first one, the "maybe" scene, my friend argued that it takes away from Papa Kent's philosophy about protecting his son from revealing himself, I still think the line makes Papa Kent an asshole and I appreciated it's removal and found that enough of the uncertainty and concern still came out in the scene.
Nothing much to say on the Superman scream after Zod's death really.
I think given my buddy's investment in understanding Zack Snyder's intent he's more attached to the original scenes than I am, particularly the Papa Kent death scene, claiming that it completes Papa Kent's arc and is integral to the one son, two fathers (with two ideals) theming of the film. I just shrug but I see his point. Papa Kent believed in his philosophy so strongly that Clark should hide who he is, that he was willing to sacrifice himself for it. The dog is still a stupid freaking plot device to get there though.
The film as a whole wasn't changed much, it wasn't a world beater then, and this edit still isn't a world beater. As a film it's important to remember that this film wasn't so much a Superman film but an alien invasion film starring Kal-El. As a result Zack Snyder spends most of the film with hefty philosophical questions about what it means to be a a super powerful alien on Earth, what it means for society to find out that they're not alone in the universe, and how people will react to that. These portions are slow, yet meditative in a way and mostly really work. Even though I enjoyed them for what they were, they're not quite as hard hitting as similar toned and paced understated character study of Signs. Nonetheless, years later, I continue to find Zod's global message on the tv quite unsettling and a fantastic piece of suspense, scale, and scope.
Much of the third act is quite tone deaf to the rest of the film and this edit goes a long way to fix this. Both my buddy and really loved the tightening up of the overlong action scene. In the original, the rest of the film gives way to bombastic action and destruction which is thankfully reined in for this edit, in an attempt to give more oomph to Superman as savior, a hero attempting to save the people of his new home. After it devolves into clear good/evil delineations and fist fights, it's really sad that any of the promise of the film as a first contact film is lost. The third act echoes the tragedy of 9/11 and yet it's heroic as Clark and Lois share a kiss among the destruction.
Sure this Superman is conflicted as a hero because he doesn't have all his ideals in place, he makes it clear he doesn't want to fight any of the Kryptonians but he will to save his home. Which makes sense, as Zack Snyder's DCEU is a multi-film saga of the origin of Superman, and how he became to be the Superman we know and idealize. It's littered with stutter steps, but that's what the whole vision is.
I think there's still some enjoyment in this film, rescored and recoloring helps, and some neat trims to action. The plot changes, particularly the Papa Kent death scene changes the theme drastically beyond that all of the edits I see are positive.
I think there's some clear influence from Nolan here, particularly in the theming of superheros in the real world ala the Dark Knight trilogy, and the whole DCEU may have done better if Nolan had retained this influence.
Nonetheless, with Man of Steel, the inherently darker, washed out color palette is all gone and it's better for the brighter colors even if it doesn't fit the more somber tone of the film. I enjoyed my time revisiting Man of Steel in this fanedit.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
E