Review Detail

Agent 9's fan edit of Man of Steel represents an enormous feet and excels as an alternate viewing experience of Zack Snyder's film.

Some reviewers have mentioned Clark comes together as Superman too quickly. Whilst I understand where they are coming from it personally didn't bother me and I found how the story took shape through Lois inspired.

Once we have that awesome transition from baby Kal-EL's ship passing over the barn to the helicopters in the Arctic I knew I was watching a different movie and welcomed it.

There were moments in the editing which didn't quite work for me and for some reason I found the Krypton scenes a little out of step with the pacing and structuring of the remainder of the fan edit.

I'd like to see the vulgarities like 'measuring dicks' and 'dick-splash' removed which if anything felt more out of place in this version of the film.

The restored colour pallet works in tandem with the replaced score in brightening up the movie. Some scenes looked a little washed out and lacking in contrast however overall the film was much more pleasing to look at.

Now the score......

Let me start by saying that whilst Zimmer's score is mostly noise when compared to what may arguably be Williams finest, I did however enjoy Zimmer's Superman theme. For a film supposedly about hope it contained just that little nugget of optimism. Problem was it only played during the end credits.

Replacing an entire score and orchestrating it in a way that sounds like it was always there is a herculean task and for most of the part Agent 9 has done an extraordinary job.

I must confess for the first fifteen minutes I felt the music was out of touch with this material with Williams's compositions only serving to remind me of the film I'd rather be watching. However as the edit evolved I found myself more and more charmed by it.

In particular I think the action scenes benefited and felt more comic book, uplifting and exciting rather than loud and dreary. It also helped with the pacing and energy of the battle scenes which in honesty left me bored and drained in the theatrical version.

Where I think the music needs more work is with the subtleties. Of greatest offence and an example which others have mentioned is after Superman kills Zod and the love theme from Superman Returns kicks in. However as part of the same scene the cue chosen up until this point is spot on. Likewise when young Clark rescues the school bus, here John Ottman's Superman Returns cue plays all over the scene and could've benefited from being more underscored. It's perhaps a classic case of less is more and some times the score simply felt too prominent.

The wrap-up and ending work tremendously well. With the scene of Superman lecturing the General much more palatable. Plus there's a lovely touch of emulating the Superman fly over scene from the original films.

I truly hope Agent 9 revisits his edit at some point in the future. It's not far off and as it stands is still an awesome experience. Highly Recommended !!!!!!