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

This was, by far, the BEST version of this Narrative I've seen. I put it right up there with the "No Justice" fanedit. This edit reminds me why I loved Zack Snyder's Superman. Well Done Sir.

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.

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 is a lot of fun. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the original movies, but this is a great version that gets to the heart of the action. It's a non-stop ride and the narrative is surprisingly kept tight. I was disappointed with the audio being only 2.0 stereo - an action flick like this can really shine with a full 5.1 soundtrack - and I felt the Batman v Superman footage was slightly lesser quality than the Man of Steel footage. Other than that, it's edited very well and I would recommend this to any fan of the originals.

What an improvement and accomplishment! It's now a masterpiece spanning from the birth to the death of Superman. I agree with the positive comments of other reviewers, notably the excellent incorporation of the tornado flashback to the Doomsday fight.

Detail on each of my ratings:

Audio/Video Quality: 7 stars
The HQ version was good, but did have moderate artifacts in heavy action and dark scenes.

Visual Editing: 9 Stars
At least one of the new opening credits felt rushed and not displayed on the screen long enough. There was just one brief but very noticeable video/audio glitch on the HQ version where the frame jumped. Overall, the edits were smooth and professional.

Audio Editing: 9 Stars
Audio transition to Jor-El's flashback was noticeable but not jarring. Overall the audio transitions were smooth and professional.

Narrative: 8 Stars
Narrative was overall a vast improvement. The rushed pace and some scene rearrangement/cuts did introduce somewhat of a "wait, what just happened!?" effect in some places.

Enjoyment: 10 Stars
Great job of the fanfixes, especially Zod's death. Great job of integrating the BvS material, especially the transition from Superman's anguish to Batman's anger following the battle of Metropolis. Wow!
The outstanding music integration should also be recognized, especially the music after Zod's death leading into Batman's brooding in the Batcave. Amazing!
A successful fanfix and fanmix, the best of both types of edits. Loved it!

Thank you JobWillins.