Man Of Steel: Remastered

What a difference a soundtrack makes (plus some re-colouring)! I originally saw the original in 3D which was migraine inducing and as such have never been a huge fan of the movie. There were elements I enjoyed but I felt it lacked the element of hope that Christopher Reeves movies had, and hope is such an important element of Superman for me. Hans Zimmer's soundtrack was perfectly fine for the theatrical release but by adding John Williams score and re-colouring you have helped me find hope in the Man of Steel again. The only drawbacks for me stem form the original narrative which you have done a great job working with - thanks!

This was a fun edit. :)

Agent 9 has recut Man of Steel using the original Donner's Superman The Movie as a template, and replacing the Hans Zimmer soundtrack with the classic John Williams score.

And for the most part he is very successful.

The cut work is very good, the biggest cuts being the Krypton prologue and young Clark's flashbacks, along with a restructuring of Clark's finding of the Fortress and meeting of Lois. I enjoyed all these changes. It moves the story along faster, Clarks has a more mysterious quality, we learn about him through Lois's point of view and any information lost during the Krypton sequence we learn during Jor-el's education of Clark. In fact, I actually wish more had been cut. In particular, I think the entire Smallville battle could have been cut once Zod departed without significant impact on the narrative and I do wish the Metropolis destruction could have been trimmed even more than Agent 9 had, but I applaud all the clever cuts he did make.

But the real star of this edit is the soundtrack replacement. Agent 9 did exceptional work in this department! BRAVO!!! For the most part, the audio work is seamless and adds a very uplifting, nostalgia quality to the film.

However, there were times where I felt the Superman theme was used too often. There were points where it felt repetitive or too soon or an alternate, more subdued track or cue would have been more appropriate. It was almost too much of a good thing.... it sort of highlighted how these are films of very different era's and how the interpretation of the hero has changed, and the soundtrack did not always quite fit the way one would hope it would.

But overall, this was a very positive alternate viewing experience and I highly recommend it.

THUMBS UP!

Wow. I'll start off with that word.

I hated this movie in the theaters. Overlong, Henry C really needed help to emote, etc.

This edit? Boom, I had tears at the end.

Way to pull something out of this movie.

The John Williams score choice was brilliant. Maybe that's what got me so emotional, but it hit me right in the chest.

I am recommended this highly.

Impressive work all around. The color grading and rescoring were very successful to me in lightening the tone of the film and bringing back some old feels. It was overall very well executed. I'll start with visuals and visual editing. The color work was very impressive. I think the interior when he is surrendering is a touch blue but that's a minor niggle. All the exterior shots looks significantly better and the suit looked wonderful. I like the cuts, I don't feel like we lost anything. The flashback use was great and sets up the end well. I thought the placement of the flashback when he is surrounded against the fence could have been elsewhere, though. Where it was it sort of slowed the momentum going on and we went from flashback to pseudodream. If it had been placed before he surrenders I think it would have had a nice thematic echo with him eating his pride for the good of humans. The colors were really good. All of the cuts to the finale made the focus go to the characters with Zod disregarding human life. Definitely much better than thinking about random people probably dying during a climax. The opening credits were awesome, I really think they captured the tone of the edit. For the audio, this was the centerpiece of the edit to me. For a minute, I felt a little disconnect with the very modern look of the film and the music but it quickly hooked me. I really enjoyed it throughout and the music was edited to the screen action superbly. Some musical highlights: The music swells on "beyond your reach!", when Zod is taking off for Phantom Zone, when Zod first comes to Earth and Clark is looking up at the sky, when Lois gives the 'I told you so' look while Perry gives the 'you were right' look when Zod speaks to the world, the way it matched up with the tanks loading before Superman surrenders (great time for flashback IMO), the soaring music as Clark takes Lois's hand, "I don't care what you tell him" from the Colonel, over the sweeping shot as Zod turns to first speak to Superman, Superman rejecting Zod's plan, the timing of the main theme with his takeoff to return to Earth, when Superman attacks Zod from the side, the way the music comes down as she says "you're weak, son of El," great drums when Superman stares down military troops, then the quick hit of the theme when the Colonel says they're not enemies, the somber come down after the neck break. It only really didn't work for me when it sounded too upbeat in the immediate run-up to the neck break and the main theme was maybe used once or twice too often.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, great work!

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?)