Man Of Steel: Remastered

OK, this is a long one...

As I've said in another review, Man of Steel is not a good movie. By this I mean, it's a great example of poor filmmaking. It suffers from poor directing, poor editing, poor blocking, occasional cartoony effects, odd costume and set design choices (e.g., the giant black condoms that send the baddies to the Phantom Zone; the Nike sneakers swish in the middle of the "S" symbol) and a meandering plot (for which I blame the editing -- the script may've been far more clear). (OK, fanboys, relax, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the original, but that doesn't in any way change the facts of the problem tech aspects of the original.)

So, let's talk about the edit:
The editor's cut a great deal of fat from the start of the movie, where we meet Jor-El and the world of Krypton. The editor gives the opening far better pacing than the original MoS. He removed the most, er condomy, shots from the capture-of-the-bad-guys scene and deleted Jor-El's silly action-hero moments. However, the big error here is that everything from the death of Jor-El to the explosion of Krypton can be cut -- that's about 10 more minutes fat. Everything in that 10 mins -- about how Zod and his minions survived -- is explained by Zod himself later in the film. As such, it's repetitive and makes the opening, treated as a teaser, a bit weaker than it could've been.

Back to the original MoS: Filmmaking 101: Flashbacks should directly reflect what is happening on screen in the NOW. In MoS, none of the flashbacks connect to present day, and while I've not seen the MoS script, I would bet this problem came out of editing. The Fan Editor has resolved this issue with great skill and aplomb by peppering flashbacks throughout the film and *always* making certain they clearly connect to what's happening "today."

In the original MoS, numerous scenes simply made no sense, this includes the death of Jon Kent (which, again, likely made sense on paper, but due to Snyder's blocking, makes it clear that Clark could've saved dad and the dog before those final moments when Clark would've revealed himself to a town that ended up knowing about his powers anyway). Here, the death of Pa Kent, it is implied, just happened w/the passage of time. A brilliant solution.

That natural death of Pa Kent actually makes more sense since his choosing to die by tornado added nothing to the growth of Clark or to the plot in the original.

However, cutting has its downside. In the original, Lois is attacked when she boards a Kryptonian ship stuck deep in some ice. This same defense mechanism is seen later by the terraforming machine fighting Superman. With the former defense scene cut, the latter one comes out of nowhere during the climax.

Similarly, the original movie has several scenes highlighting Clark's lack of a moral compass, all of those scenes -- save for Pa Kent's advice to "maybe" let some kids die in order for young Clark to keep his secret -- set up Clark's decision to kill Zod. With all of those scenes gone, it no longer makes sense to have Superman kill Zod. This was a sore point for classic Superman fans (of which I am one), yet I felt the original MoS set this up clearly (albeit clumsily). This edit does not set it up at all, and Clark's regret for having committed murder just doesn't sell it.

Fact is, the editor changed the coloring, making it less somber, changed the score, making it more upbeat and exhilarating, and changed the film's entire tone. To then keep the grisly murder of Zod just didn't make sense.

On this same point, while the fan editor removed a great deal of the wanton destruction (e.g., it's one thing for Zod to throw Superman into a building, but when the hero is doing it, it's clearly just a gratuitous choice by the filmmakers), he could -- and should -- have removed far more of it to fit the new tone and style he created in the first hour.

The editor's removal of the destruction of Metropolis thus mitigated the movie's ultra-violent tone. As such, much of the climax no longer works -- yet he kept it in tact. I would recommend the fan editor do 1 of 2 things here: 1. Either end the film with the evil Kryptonians being sent back to the Phantom Zone, thus implying that Zod went with them. Or 2. Re-edit it so that the fight with Zod occurs WHILE the payload that opens the PZ is being distributed. That way, with some clever editing -- and perhaps 1 or 2 new effects -- one of Superman's punches can depict Zod being punched into the PZ entrance when said payload does its job.

Re: the Score: Zimmer's score was virtually the only good thing about MoS, although his score most assuredly lacked a crescendo -- an absolute necessity in a superhero film (Elfman's Spider-Man theme had the same issue). The new opening credits sequence, with the John Williams score, is quite wonderful, and the big Superman scenes throughout the film pack a much bigger punch with Williams' score. The problem in using the old Superman score is that on Krypton and throughout the film, we get the same cues over and over again. The editor did his best to switch it up, but there just wasn't enough to draw from. It does get frustrating, but one cannot deny that it most definitely gives the film a more exciting tone and feel (along with the color correcting and improved pacing). I'd suggest he dig through the John Williams library and see if he can find some cues from his other film scores which have a similar tone and style to his Superman work (much like the villain marches is S:TM and Star Wars are similar, I'm sure there are other lesser-known Williams scores that also bear a resemblance to his Superman style). It would be much better than re-using a cue for the 5th or 6th time.

Overall, this was a very well-done edit. It absolutely improved upon the original, clearing up story, plot, and character problems. The new look works nicely, and it now looks like a film made by pros, rather than a big-budget film made by film students. The editing is definitely leaps and bounds above the jerky original.

I hope to see a version 2.0 of this cut to fix the problems mentioned above. But I highly recommend checking this out if you did not enjoy the original.

Well, an AMAZING achievement with some stand-out points - but ends up a little flat and dare I say a bit... boring.
This is mainly to do with Williams' score. Apart from the iconic theme, the rest of the music is rather bland. It doesn't match the frenetic action on screen - this is the problem of taking a 30-year-old action theme and matching to today's action. It's just way too slow.
It also felt like a lot of music was just on repeat throughout a scene, particularly the action sequences.
Also, because replacing the score necessitated rebuilding the soundscape, in many places the soundscape is just a tad too empty.
The edit ended up being very action lite as a result of the shuffling of the scenes. Now I kinda liked it (and it was very reminiscent of Superman 1), but it made me understand why they didn't go this route in MOS.

Regards editing: I thought the church scene (or something else showing his internal conflict) was necessary before he just appears in front of the tanks. The jump from Lois arrested to "Where is Lois" is way too abrupt. The church scene isn't brilliant, but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be either.

Now the positive:
The editing is first class here! Edits are technically brilliant. Flawless. Story-wise they work too.
The cut-down Krypton opening is brilliant.
New credits are great, if a little long. (By the way, Kevin Spacey was listed in your credits, but wasn't in the film)
The colour grading is flawless.
The THEME - oh hearing the Superman theme was PERFECT!
Audio-work is AMAZING. What a huge undertaking!

Summary:
Because of the 70's action muzak and 70's style framing (Act 1 seems to drag on forever) I found myself a bit bored on occasion .
The rescoring, in total, detracted more than it added. I feel annoyed at not scoring it 100% because of the huge undertaking - I think it deserves 18/10 for audio editing because of it. But it wasn't perfect and led to some scenes feeling a bit empty, which was weird.
Perhaps a hybrid of Superman theme with Zimmer's score?
Be that as it may, I recommend this edit to everyone: for some it replace their copy of MOS, for others, like me, it is simply a master-class in fanediting. Applause A9.

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.

It's an interesting experiment, but I can't help but feel like it's a bit of a mismatch.

The color correction job is phenomenal, the brighter hue being easier on the eyes overall compared to the original's teal green. Thea ctual audio editing is commendable, there are spots where you can hear the original Zimmer score but I was shocked at how thorough the dialogue separation was. The music added is reasonably integrated, Williams' Superman score and parts of Ottman's Returns score used in mostly appropriate contexts (though some parts like Superman and Lois holding hands in the desert could have used silence. and the score would randomly appear). The restructured narrative works just fine and removes some dumb parts from the original, and I'll admit it was awesome to see the new opening credits delivered like that.

All that being said, the biggest issue with the edit is that the Williams score doesn't really fit the movie all too well. Zimmer's score fit with what Snyder was trying to accomplish, this more somber and darker take on the Superman mythos (I don't think it was good but that's beside the point), but the Williams music is too classical and plain heroic to fit seamlessly into this particular movie The direction style, the aesthetic, the writing, it wasn't made with the WIlliams music in mind and it shows clear as day during the entire Superman vs Zod battle. The music is just nowhere near as fist bumpingly intense as it needed to be in order to match, and it feels especially strange to hear the romantic Superman/Lois song blare the scene right after Superman snaps Zod's neck. It's not a bad edit by any means, I recommend this as an experiment to see how different it feels in comparison to the original, but I can't say it's "better" in my opinion.

This was a real treat. The use of Williams' score worked wonders in making this a more thrilling, less dark and brooding adventure. I thought interspersing the childhood moments throughout the narrative worked wonders for the pace of the film and making their importance reverberate all the more clearly. The scenes extracted were only missed on retrospection, and cutting them had a positivie impact, I felt. This looked and sounded fantastic on my television at home, as well. Bravo, Agent 9.