Man of Steel: A Symbol of Hope

I'm one of the five people on the planet that really like Snyder's DCEU movies, so any fanedits/fixes for me have to focus on the details. It's also unrealistic to expect that every aspect of an edit is going to work for you, unless you do the edit yourself.

"Man of Steel" has always been a movie I've defended more than it deserves. I'm a Superman fan and I have a special relationship with the character, but it's impossible for me to ignore this film's terrible screenplay or its overlong, loud action sequences. Any fanedit would find it hard to fix the former (for obvious reasons), but it can do a lot with the latter.

"A Symbol of Hope" is not a very invasive edit and, for my purposes, this is a good thing. With a few seemingly minor changes, it makes a world of difference. "Man of Steel" 's problem for audiences was that it wasn't "fun"; one can interpret this in a variety of ways, but knowing the target audience for this type of film, the answer comes down to it not being a superhero movie. "Man of Steel" is an alien invasion movie, about an orphan alien living among us, until his biological family comes to claim him for their own. The set up is clever (and would've been amazing with a better writer), but this means the action is framed through the eyes of the humans, the audience; that's why there is so much unnecessary destruction. It's a disaster movie, but there's Superman in it.

This edit manages to fix this by employing two basic tricks: for one thing, it adds the "heroic" theme in key scenes. It's so minor you'd think it doesn't matter, but it actually does a lot to change this to a legit superhero movie.

The other, far more important trick, is the editing down of action sequences. TM2YC's idea to trim down the action to only the sequences that involve Superman actively trying to save people was brilliant in its simplicity. Not only does this make the film less tedious and less loud, not only does it change the tone of the movie without ever needing to actively change the tone of the movie, but most importantly it creates a bond between the audience and Superman, the hero. It's that lack of a connection, this alienation, in the theatrical cut that led so many to blame Superman for the destruction of Metropolis. By keeping the action focused on Superman, no matter how loud and violent it gets, you invest in the character and his struggle to stop it all. It doesn't matter if he often fails, what matters is that all you see is him trying.

There are other small cuts and fixes here and there, some minor moments I'd have preferred to keep in (why does everybody cut out the truck, or Superman crashing in his first flight attempt?), but this isn't really criticism. As I said, no fanedit will be perfect for you; where it counts, in its stated purpose, "A Symbol of Hope" succeeds and then some. I *enjoy* watching this edit. It has pretty much replaced the theatrical cut for me, whenever I feel like watching Man of Steel. This is near damned perfect, assuming you don't outright hate the movie as it is. If you already like Man of Steel, but you wish it was a little less exhausting and a little more Superman-y, I highly recommend this one.

PS: I would recommend not using the Extra Heroic Mix. It does wear the theme out a bit and I'm not entirely comfortable with the music being used for Jor-El. I understand the father-son connection, but a lot of this film is Clark not being a product of Krypton. I think it loses of a bit its punch. The regular Heroic Mix is plenty effective as is.

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!

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.

TM2YC once again establishes his firm place among the great faneditors. The color correction alone makes this version of the film an improvement over the original. What was a hampered by Snyder's seeming obsession with washed out and muted colors has been replaced with vibrance and life.

The number one edit that made me rewind and watch again was how TM2YC reworked Johnathan Kent's death. The way he edits this scene brought an instant emotional response that I did not get from the theatrical version. Masterfully edited here.

I'll admit that I didn't care for the extra Hero themes throughout the film, but the their integration was wonderfully executed. I enjoyed this edit and will be rewatching it in the future.

I highly recommend TM2YC's work. This again is a textbook example of how to do things right. The attention to detail, collaborative approach, and patience throughout the editing process has resulted in another phenomenal edit from the man whose cinema we all want to be taken to.

Right off the bat, this isn't my exposure to a "Man of Steel" fan edit, in fact there were three different edits before hand with very different goals and results. Thankfully though, I myself haven't come across a single bad one, and TM2YC's experience is no different. Similar to most takes on the film, color grading is a lot more pleasing thanks to saturation/brightness adjustments, the pacing is a lot quicker via carefully timed cuts to plotting and action, and I can easily call this a superman film that rings true to the character. Only this time, a huge emphasis is put on "the character of Superman", with cuts to a lot of swearing, more restraint on the cgi infested battle sequences, a much less angsty atmosphere due to simple changes to the soundtrack and more subtle edits, heck even the addition of nicely placed title cards in the opening gives a proper feel to the whole thing. Are there still issues that keep it from reaching "Wonder Woman" level of quality? Sure but to be honest most of them come right down to the script being to focused on exposition/self important speeches and the hand held cinematography (would've been nice to have a tripod there, Zach). All in all, the edit is very well executed top to bottom, and frankly I would love to see TM2YC take on Batman V Superman in the future. Grab an American flag and put on your red capes, here comes Superman to save the day.