Man of Tomorrow: A Man of Steel and Batman V Superman FanEdit

Spoilers:

This edit manages the nigh-impossible, taking two of the most disappointing moviegoing experiences of my life and integrating them into what may be the best superhero film I've ever seen, certainly in the Top 5. This is largely accomplished (along with from the removal of the utter nonsensical bloat that made up most of BVS) by the shifting of Superman's relationship with his father, changing the nature of their conversations, and tweaking Jonathan Kent's ultimate fate. What the editor accomplishes by moving Pa's death-in-flashback to the climactic battle with Doomsday adds resonance to not just Pa's death, but to Superman's death, and to their relationship through the entire movie we've seen before. In the original cuts, both men's deaths were meaningless, morose spectacles, here they are thematic mirrors that amplify the emotion of a son following the heroic example of his father, and adds considerable weight to the denouement of the film.

With the thematic/plot elements of the movie reconciled, I'm able to better appreciate the things that Snyder partisans tout about his films, the painterly cinematography and urgent, unique action sequences. Not perfect (the "Martha" sequence still seems out of place and laughably grim -- if only Batman had learned Superman's mother's name a scene earlier directly from Ma Kent we might have been spared that nonsense), but make no mistake, this is less a fan edit than alchemy, and I'm grateful to JobWillins for working his magic here. This is the version of the movie that deserves to be remembered alongside the very best of the genre.

This has to be one of my favorite fanedits of all time, because it took two movies I really wanted to like, and in which I honestly struggled to find any redeeming features, and made it something I can love. The singular genius of this edit for me, was that it seemed to take the most popular criticisms aimed at Batman Vs Superman and fix them by using MOS. What an idea!

Take this one. One of the biggest issues with BVS was that its a Superman movie, with a main character that we don't feel for or care about. We don't see him being heroic, or charming or see anything to make us invest in his romance with Lois. All that was in MOS, and while Synder's character writing is a weaker point, it was much stronger in that first outing. What JobWillins has achieved here is a film with a singular arc about the rise and fall of Superman. He is portrayed as a true Jesus style figure, and when he meets his ultimate end, while I felt nothing but fatigue in BVS, here with Jor-El narrating over the scene, I was moved to tears.

The opening of the film is excellent. Synder seems to think a film's plot should begin around the 50 minute mark, but here, Lois and Clark have met, his origin has begun to unfold in full, I'm invested in the story, and there feels like there's actual momentum by the 20 minute mark... where its supposed to be. Clark and Lois's arcs work well, and the transition between the two films is solid.

While BVS force-fed us a series of bloated subplots to justify the world questioning Superman, "Man of Tomorrow" capitalizes on the fact that the Battle of Metropolis was reason enough, and we experience that through the eyes of Bruce (brilliantly cut in), who we now see fully involved in those events the first time, rather than sitting through a rehash of the sequence. When Clark joins the Daily Planet, it feels like a beginning, rather than an end, when he takes down the Satellite monitoring him, it feels like foreshadowing, and right next to this is Bruce, brooding over it all. A perfect transition. The Flashbacks are also used very well. Some are even saved for the second half. Jon's death is particularly clever.

Now, condensing two films can lead to events feeling abrupt or truncated. I'm pleased to say that IMO, Zod does not feel so. I never liked MOS's interpretation of Zod anyway, so using him as a preliminary villain worked for me. Much of the exposition around his plan, and certainly the street-fight with Faora was grossly unnecessary, and thankfully gone in this iteration. JobWillins also managed to do something about the "Superman shouldn't kill" issue by altering the death to seem less deliberate. When we get to Lex, his once convoluted motives and plan are presented in a clear and linear fashion which makes him seem less annoying, and more like the genius he's supposed to be. The entire BVS section of the film felt right to me. JobWillins kept the good and cut the bad. No more hockey franchise building for Justice League. No more weak subplots and bad padding. No more dream sequences or Batman using guns. What is left is the core story. Freed from that baggage, and underscored by the best of MOS, these events come to carry much more weight, and the themes stand clear in what I feel is a film worthy of recognition. This is without a doubt my new opening entry to DCEU.

JobWillin's pitch about a movie condensing both worlds is a really interesting thing, I am a huge Superman fan and would consider any way of watching him unfold. The beginning of the movie really grabbed me, the whole sequence of showing all of the Krypton destruction and Clark's parents sending him off as a brief montage really got me excited of how things were gonna progress in this fanedit, I congratulate this edit on the whole beginning sequence, it is a great way of showing the development, immediately the movie jumps in a development of clark in his new persona, cutting down a lot of material and toning down the violence in its way, I must say it was shown in a good way but felt too fast, I did not get a sense of who the character and the color difference of the jump to BvS really felt different for me. It was a good way to interpret all this footage.

I liked quite a lot Man of Steel but didn't like Batman V Superman.

I'm sorry to tell but this fanedit didn't do service to Man of Steel. It made (in my opinion) a very good movie only into a decent one. It seems there wasn't enough buildup for the invasion for example. It all happened so quickly. It's just as some poor citizen in the film asked "is it over?"... I felt the same way. It also suffered a bit from "all over the place" syndrom. Quite a few times I wondered "why did this scene appear just now?". I could still keep track on the movie, but it wasn't easy.

Zod was handled mediocore at best. He was so well done in the original movie but I didn't feel anything about him in this fanedit. He just appeared, fought and lost. I didn't care about him as a character. The same goes for Lois Lane, and her relationship with Superman. I don't think it was done well in the original movies but their relationship didn't make much sense in this fanedit either. There wasn't enough buildup in that area.

Obviously when editing two long movies into one, a lot of cutting is needed. I think the editor did fine job overall but once again I felt Man of Steel suffered a lot in the process. However it's worth mentioning that Batman V Superman was handled way better. Now that movie sucked originally and I feel the editor made it better. I only wished that he could have cut less Man of Steel and more Batman V Superman.

Very well done on audio editing. It sounded seemless between different cuts. Batman V Superman scenes might have had a tad higher volume but I might be wrong about that. I didn't go back to check it. And if it did, the difference wasn't that big.

The editor seems talented and all the scenes were technically cut very well.

This edit definitely improved the storytelling, the character development and the overall enjoyment of both movies.
It seems like a movie worth seeing in the cinema, that don't get boring like BvS sometimes get.
It was really nice to watch.