Man Of Steel: Remastered

I cannot review it as a professional editor, but as a fan I enjoyed this edit a lot. A lot!

The pacing of the movie is so much better, the new color and score sets other mood for it. It makes the film much more enjoyable, as a real superman movie. It gave me chills, it made me smile every time. The dark endeavor gives place to a light hearted and way better storytelling. I loved this so much.

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.

First time I saw Man of Steel, I loved it, as was the case when I first bought it on blu ray. But, the more I watched it the more its flaws started to wear and tear at my enjoyment, especially with it's ugly color grading. While I still don't hate the film or call it god awful, this edit here is spectacular. First off, addressing the coloring, I can now say "Man of Steel, in color." Easy on the eyes and very bright like it should be. The pace, my gosh the pacing is much closer to a traditional Superman film and never bored me. The cuts all made sense, were creative and the added shots from other sources fitted in nicely. Same with audio, although once or twice you could make out transitions from the original cut, it never bothered me. This is a must add to your Blu ray collection.

Man of Steel is a complicated beast...there are parts of it I absolutely love, but at an overdrawn length, a confounding ending, and way too much decompression at the start, it can be a chore to try and sit through if you're not a first-time viewer. I tried watching it again with my parents and I switched it off half-way through Jor-El's adventure on Krypton. Nobody cares what antics Jor-El gets up to (and If you did, it's probably because you watched the superior animated pilot of the DCAU Superman), just get to Kal's launch as quickly as possible. This is ultimately what happens in this edit.

The visuals are brighter and more appealing, the narrative is more cohesive and still gives you a broad sense of scope while minimising greatly the time taken to "overdo" everything. Scenes that grossed me out or infuriated me were cut or greatly reduced, the mix of other films into the edit is seemless, and the ending shot is one that should have been in the filmmaker's minds the entire time. There can be no other way to end a Superman film.

I'd have preferred it if there was a way of editing around Clark dealing with Zod at the climax, in fact I'm still keen to find an edit that does this and challenge anyone with an ambitious streak to find a way, but here it remains. Ah well.

The score, by which I'm now all too familiar with, stands out supremely, although I did find certain spots here and there where it clumsily fades out or jumps into another piece of the score during the mix. This is not a deal-breaker by any means, it just causes the flow of scenes to suffer an audible abruptness. Could be smoothed over with a few more efforts.

Overall, this edit is a treat. Gives us the best bits of the movie while giving it the spirit and satisfactory sounds of a vintage era in the Superman medium. Hopefully Agent9 turns his attention to Dawn of Justice later (the Elfman soundtrack for Batfleck maybe?)

Good job, very creative, congratulations.