Man of Steel: A Symbol of Hope

Loved this edit. I’m a fan of the original version but this one was just as good. I didn’t even notice the cuts.
Job well done!

First off may I concur with a fellow reviewer that the colour correction is reason alone to watch this fan edit. MOS has never looked better and is much more even in its presentation.

Highlights for me include the tornado scene, re-scored first flight and the title cards were a neat addition. Small edits like in the interrogation scene bring some much needed fun and shows the overall care taken with this fan edit.

One scene I would have trimmed is Lois making out with Superman amongst the carnage. Whilst less troubling given the editing plays more as though the civilians got out, the scene still bothers me because of the dialogue that follows. 'They say it's all downhill after the first kiss.......I'm pretty sure that only counts if your kissing a human'. Just doesn't seem like a Superman thing to say.

The score: The MOS theme remains one of the few nuggets of optimism in a otherwise downbeat film and is the chief reason the theatrical trailer worked and got fans excited. Therefore I welcomed greater use of it in this edit. However there were scenes where I felt it didn't entirely work and I think this has to do with its slow build up. I also wouldn't have used it for Jor-El leaping from the archive tower as I think it's best we first hear it with Superman.

However overall a really solid fan edit that gets the most out of the original source material. Highly worth checking out!

The edits in this version were SEAMLESS. Many times, I could tell something was changed, but the edit was performed so well (and it worked so well) that I couldn't pin down exactly what was different. The work done on the first fight with the Kryptonians, Clark's Dad's death, Zod's neck snapping ... perfect!

The adjustments made to the color and brightness also worked very well - most noticeable on Superman's suit in several scenes.

No longer any need to pull the disc out of the drawer next time I'm in the mood to watch Man of Steel - this will be my preferred version.

Excellent!

The way I see it, this is exactly the treatment this movie needed: a bit of trimming here and there.
The result is fantastic. I had a blast watching this edit. The colors look more vivid. The score sounds great. I didn't notice anything wrong.

Man of Steel is an OK plus movie for me. A Symbol of Hope makes it OK plus plus (or OK sharp - for anyone who will get the programming reference).

I'll keep it brief since there's not much I can add to what has been said before: This is a great edit and the next time I'd wanna watch MoS - it will be this version.

Man of Steel has never looked so beautiful. If there's one comment I can make in this review that means more than anything else, it would be that one. TM2YC took a movie that was so poorly graded and dull looking and turned it into a vibrant and well rounded visual beauty. Everything in this movie from the shots to the costume looked absolutely wonderful only for an ugly coat of paint to ruin that, and TM2YC has basically repainted this new film into one of the prettiest superhero movies of the modern era. The new look alone makes this movie a lot less boring to watch.

As for the cut itself, it is definitely an improvement over the original. While some cuts of Man of Steel opt to cut 20+ minutes out of the film to improve the pacing and reduce the bloat, this cut tries more to take a look at the film as it is and fine tune the flaws. With only 9 minutes cut, this isn't a new vision of Man of Steel's story. Rather, it is very much the version of this story that we wanted to see put on the screen in theaters. Along with the color grading, several small touches like cutting out the overabundance of unnecessary language, removing Lois's scream of terror and pain, changing the opening shot, and removing Clark's yell at the end help to make this version of the movie a lot less mean spirited than the one we saw in theaters in 2013.

Man of Steel has always been a movie that either bored or angered me, but this cut has finally showed me a fine tuned version of Snyder's vision that I can appreciate and enjoy. It is amazing that removing several bad moments and regrading the film can help you to not only enjoy those elements being gone, but also find more joy out of the characters and story that have been there since the beginning. Much like TM2YC's Ghostbusters fanedit, this is a cut that can very easily replace the theatrical version and not just feel like a good fanedit, but a professional and superior edition of the movie. My only small complaint is that some of the score gets reused a little too much in this version, but that also can help to create a bit more of a consistency of theme across the film. This feels like a perfect start to the DCEU, closer in tone to the likes of Wonder Woman and (hopefully) Justice League.

After watching and thoroughly enjoying this cut, I'm curious to see what TM2YC would be able to pull out of the even messier sequel, BvS. I'm not keeping my fingers crossed, though, as I know this edit was already a tremendous undertaking and BvS would require even more hard work to pull out such a masterfully fine tuned and remastered version of the film. The highest praise I can give this edit is that it is now my definitive go to edit of MoS, and I hope to some day find a BvS edit that can follow it well and fit into a better DCEU.