Review Detail

A tremendous bit of alchemy, this is exactly what fan-editing is all about. Somehow smashing together the best parts of the worst Reeve Superman movies has yielded this excellent new climax to the series (get outta here, Superman Returns!). Others have covered the seamless melding of the Nuclear Man plot with the hallucinatory meltdown of Clark/Superman in the junkyard, but needless to say, it enhances everything all around, and provides a welcome insight into the character through pure action -- which should be the goal of every superhero movie!

And, blasphemous as it may sound, I've always been a Clark/Lana guy, so to have Clark end up with his childhood sweetheart (played to perfection by Annette O'Toole) at the close of this series (after his disastrous brief relationship with Lois in the second film) feels organic, earned, touching and like a full circle to this entire franchise. And the arc that Superman goes through in this movie, both in his personal and global struggles, feels completely fitting and like he has acheived the wisdom that his hologram father unsuccessfully tried to impart in the first iflm.

As an edit that's nearly a decade and a half old, there are some technical glitches to be sure: scene transitions flicker and glitch a bit, there's inconsistency between the quality of scenes from time to time, and the battle on the moon still looks painfully fake, all of which seem like problems that could be alleviated by a fresh pass by ADM or another gifted editor. But regardless of technical quibbles, "Redeemed" now has a permanent place in my collection behind Superman The Movie "Up, Up and Away Edition" and Superman II "The Expanded Richard Donner Cut" as the tight, consistent trilogy that Christopher Reeve's flawless Superman portrayal undoubtedly deserves.