Review Detail

I saw Man of Steel in the theater and while I enjoyed it, there were a few issues that lessened my enjoyment of the film.

The first issue is the opening sequence on Krypton. While interesting, I felt it took too long to get to the main character: The Man of Steel. I saw the movie with my mom and about 5 minutes into the film she turns to me and asks "Is this the right movie?" My second problem was the narrative. It tries to deal with too many ideas and it felt somewhat disconnected. The third flaw for me is the action, it goes on for too long for my tastes. I like a good action film, but world busting action sequence are common in modern films and can only hold my attention for so long. A movie needs to get back to character and story development to keep my interest.

So on to Avid's FanEdit of Man of Steel. Technically the edit is great, I only noticed a few abrupt transitions, but otherwise the audio and video is great. I watched the MP4 and the quality was superb on our large screen TV.

The Narrative is definitely improved. Avid does a great job fixing two of my issues with the film with one major edit: Moving the opening sequence on Krypton to the later half of the film. The film begins with Clark Kent immediately and follows his childhood to adult story. This also helps makes the film's story seem less disjointed. Clarke's initial story has nothing to do with Krypton and Civil War. It is mostly about his family and using his powers responsibly.

Krypton's story is not told until Clark discovers his heritage. This is great since it sets up the second half of the film. That being said, the sequence still feels too long and I would have liked a few more cuts. At one point Zod explains his escape from the phantom zone. If not sure if this would be possible, but it might be interesting to splice in the majority of Zod's rebellion story here instead.

My last concern was the long-winded action sequences. Avid4 made a few cuts, but they still went on for too long in my opinion. This time I watched it with my dad and he also thought they dragged on too long. Some may disagree, but I would have liked to see a few more cuts. I think it might be possible to remove the first half of the world engine sequence. It seems superfluous as it tries to build tension with the trapped Daily Planet girl.

Overall the edit is great and I recommend it. However, the film is still over 2 hours and 10 minutes. I think there is room for more edits. I was still bored with the action sequences by the end of the film. I would have liked to see the action and Krypton sequences cut down a bit further.