Man of Steel: A Symbol of Hope

TM2YC has managed to remove everything I disliked about MOS theatrical and still keep everything in there that I DID like. The new color grade is a tad oversaturated in a few instances, but still looks pretty nice. I really like the music changes as well. Great job!

This is a great example of a subtle fan edit done right.

Man of Steel is a movie that I think has always begged for a great fan edit, and there are some good ones. However, in all the others I've seen, the faneditor gets a little too ambitious and ends up falling a bit short in execution. The seams start to show.

This fanedit aims to 'recalibrate' the movie we got rather than restructure it. Microedits, subtle rescoring, a fresh color grade, and a few more significant but deliberately placed cuts bring out the hope and optimism that were crushed under Snyder's excess in the theatrical cut.

Pretty much everything about this edit is seamless, although the new score in the scene of Jor-El on the flying creature stuck out a bit to me. I understand that TM2YC was trying to create a father/son parallel but I think that sweeping theme is best saved for Superman himself. I also think the narrative structure still has some weaknesses that can't be fixed with a simple edit like this one.

Overall though, I highly recommend this edit. It's now the definitive way to watch 'Man of Steel' for me.

I had a lot of issues with the original - it felt slow and ponderous to me and the visually was way too dark. This is a much tighter edit, and the cuts that have been made to 'spiteful' Supes make a positive difference. Great use of the bombastic soundtrack! The reviews below really say everything that I feel - you've really increased my enjoyment of Man of Steel!

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!

I'm not a big fan of superhero movies, and I dislike how they factory like produce them nowadays without much effort or heart put into the movies. I however do like the DC comics animated movies and I think Man of Steel is my favorite superhero movie. It's just so epic. So yeah, I did like the original quite a lot and felt it didn't need much changing. Now this fanedit should suit me and I must say that it does indeed.

The biggest thing to notice is the colors. The movie looks stunning! The original colors never bothered me that much but after seeing this one the movie came alive in more ways than ever. Everything looks so nice and... well, heroic? :)

The music editing was really good as well, I liked it. I never felt the movie really needed it as the sountrack is amazing but it does work. It just got a bit repeatitive towards the end. The audio is in stereo by the way and it may bother people who have 5.1 setup but I like stereo so it didn't bother me.

Lois Lane was quite annoying in the original version. In this one she's better. She's still quite boring and shouldn't have that much screen time. But this fanedit made her character better nevertheless.

Many of the little changes like Jonathan Kent dying were handled well.

This fanedit was very enjoyable indeed and I don't feel need to watch the original version any longer. Good job!


Edit: After watching this fanedit couple of times I think the narrative points being 10 was a bit too much. The problem is deep rooted in Man of Steel. The pacing just isn't that good. The action should be spread throughout the movie. Nevertheless, great fanedit and it improved narration quite a bit still.