Man Of Steel: Remastered

I enjoyed this edit more than I should and that is because of the massive replacement of the soundtrack with parts from John William's soundtrack* from older Superman-movies and because of the new colourgrading which is just nicer on the eye. Great work, Agent9, kudos for those!

But the narrative in the first half could use some work:

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spence already mentioned it, it's quite a problem that we don't see Clark grow up and learn about his abilities, instead we see him grown up and nearly immediately getting his superman-suite. This actually reminds me of the way it was in the "Supergirl"-movie, where she comes out from her dimension onto earth and immediately has her supergirl-outfit and flies around (I have to admit though that Helen Slater looked just beautiful flying around as Supergirl :)).

The other problem is that it is unclear that Zod and co were organizing a coup d'etat until they were captured, I thought that they were acting on the orders of the council, maybe some scenes cut made this more confusing.

*The use of the Williams score really helps improve the feeling, but during the scene of Superman killing Zod and his crying out, it was better with the silence of the original to underline the shock.

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Editing by the way was very smooth and well done, and nice work on the credits in the beginning, similar to the credits of the original Superman-movies.

All in all, it's better than the theatrical version, because of the new score and colours, and because the destruction is reduced, but imho it could be and should be improved regarding the narrative of the first half. I hope you will consider a version 2.0 because you are on the right track, Agent 9.

Personally i don't think any amount of editing is going to save this movie. But ill give Agent 9 props for trying. But i don't think the John Williams music quiet fits. But there are moments during this edit that i feel like im watching a Superman movie and not one of Zack Snyder Cinematic Abortions. Because of the music and its a upgrade to Han Zimmer totally Generic Soundtrack for MOS.. I think my only complaint is i would have cut the whole Pa Kent saying "maybe" or that whole scene. I still think the ending is a mess. But i don't think there anything anyone can do about that..

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.

I thoroughly enjoyed this edit as a way to revisit Man of Steel through a new lens. While I don't feel the John Williams score is my personal choice to score this movie, it's always fun to hear the Superman theme when Superman is getting about, and the tracks were well chosen and very well integrated. Visually, the regrade works, although I did notice some minor artifacts in places, but overall it feels fresh and easy to watch. Not every edit was wholly invisible, but it was never too distracting from the ongoing film. Sources other than MoS were extremely well utilised, and I'm not certain I spotted every single one, and certainly if I hadn't known going in that they were there I don't think I would have noticed at all.

Overall I don't think this replaces the original for me, but that speaks more to my personal preferences than to a question of quality. A really great fan edit that is undeniably an improvement to source material, and definitely worth a watch even if you don't think you need another Man of Steel edit.

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?)