Review Detail

Man of Steel Trailer #3 is my favorite movie trailer of all time, but Man of Steel the film was in many ways a disappointment. The pacing was laborious, the storytelling muddled and unevenly executed, and the action scenes exhausting. While this is not the definitive edit of Man of Steel for me (As far as I'm aware, that edit doesn't exist yet), it's a really strong alternative way of viewing the film, especially if you had no love for the original. The strongest points of this edit are pacing and economy of storytelling: The Krypton sequence is fast and furious, replacing the exhausting ordeal that was the original. The focus on Lois Lane toward the beginning of the film and the re-purposing and reordering of the flashback sequences was a revelation. The action is trimmed down to a more manageable length. Overall the film feels much more confidently told and was able to grab and hold my attention, unlike the original. Also, one of the most maligned scenes from the original film, Pa Kent's death by tornado, is thankfully nowhere to be found.

However, there were also aspects of this edit that did not work for me. The new color grading is mostly great but sometimes looks a little bright and oversaturated, like it's trying to overcompensate for the darker colors of the original. The original film had beautiful high-contrast cinematography which sometimes gets a little washed out in this color grade. kk650's recolored version of the original MOS tones down the grungy green grade while still playing to the strengths of the original photography.

The John Williams score is cool as an alternate take on the film, but in my opinion it does not really fit as well as the Zimmer score. I am probably in the minority here, but I prefer Zimmer's score to Williams, which was great in the original Superman but it's trumpeting brass and triumphant fanfares sound out of place here, whilst Zimmer's booming percussion and minimalist piano did not. The opening credits sequence also plays way too long for a modern film.

Lastly, I feel that some of Agent9's edits serve to bury some of the themes of the original Man of Steel rather than trying to salvage them. Particularly Clark's anxiety over humanity fearing and rejecting him is still here but is weakened by the removal of the Church scene, and the Williams score does more to hurt in this area, making scenes sound triumphant that should be more pensive. I also think a flaw in the original film that ought to have been addressed by the editor is that Superman dons the suit and takes flight before he's committed to revealing himself to the world. It could have been a truly earned moment but it feels like the film blows its load too early. I know it might be a bit strange to have Superman travel back to the arctic after he's returned to Smallville, but I think this could have been accomplished by splitting the the scene between Clark and Jor-El in two. The suit reveal could have been saved for later.