Superman Redeemed

Review by aarkus — June 4, 2009 @ 1:54 pm

Just watched Superman Redeemed. First, this was my first ever viewing of a fanedit, and I have got to say, that in terms of quality, this was bar none, fabulous. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was a whole new cut of Superman IV (with elements of Superman II and III).

That aside, I felt like a good deal of the movie lacked a central narrative. It seemed very disjointed. I don’t think this is due to my memory of where the different pieces came from (It’s been years since I sat down and watched Superman II, III and IV). I understand the over-arching story that superman goes home and reacquaints himself with Lana (and all the Smallville stuff). I further understand the over-arching story of the atomic bombs and Superman’s quest for piece, and the idea for Nuclear Man’s corruption of Superman. I get these. However, I rather felt that in a movie–which needs to deal with fewer ideas than a novel or season of a tv show–that the collision of these two themes did not work well.

I also felt that the movie Superman Redeemed was more of Superman IV than III (and the beginning of II), and so if you were going to make this film tighter, I would advise cutting the majority of the Smallville scenes. The scene with the factory, for example, adds nothing to the story of superman’s quest for peace. Ditto for the cornfield and the key to the city. Furthermore, while my favorite part of Superman III was always superman being evil and then fighting himself, it just doesn’t seem to work in terms of NuclearMan’s corruption of Superman. Not only do Superman’s bad antics seem rushed, but the touch is not so noticeable. Perhaps if you had rotoscoped superman so that the viewers discovered that all of him glowed for several seconds… maybe that would have made the transition smoother.

In terms of disjointedness, it did occur to me, however, that these two films may have worked better had they been cut as episodes of a tv season of Superman. With expert cutting, you may be able to get away with half a decent tv series that successfully integrates both story arcs.

Review by heavyg — July 12, 2008 @ 9:09 am

WOW!! I love what this edit does for III and IV. ALL the great bits and none of the crap!!! Superman III was my favourite as a kid (OK, not so much anymore, but heaps of Superman moments for a young boy to look forward to!!) and Superman IV was a little ho hum at any age! Editing the two together into (most importantly) a coherent story is a stroke of genius! This is a great edit to introduce my kids into the world of Superman as it is jam packed with lots of Superman moments (they like Clark Kent, but are busting for him to change in to Superman whenever he is on screen). ADM… to call you a skilled editor is not high enough praise for even thinking of the possibility and then executing a seamless merge of these movies is astounding! Many thanks!!

Review by Jack Tourette — October 6, 2008 @ 4:19 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Review by boon23 — November 4, 2008 @ 4:31 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Review by buddythegoon — April 20, 2009 @ 5:54 pm

So where was Gus supposed to be again?? Seriously, this was just plain amazing.

I do not wish to discourage other fan editors, but ADM rules Superman movies. To take that crown away seems an insurmountable task. I don’t usually like to give 10 out of 10 because there’s always something that still bothers me, but every 10 I’ve given has been to an ADM production.
There are a few minor aggravations like the sudden pan in/out during the UN speech and the semi-awkward bizarro transformation, but nothing that takes away from the overall accomplishment of the editor’s vision. The improvement to the two films is so overwhelming that I can’t in good conscience dock points for minor tech glitches.

This is now a true Superman movie, no longer a miserable set of sequels that fans repress in their minds. Thank you ADM. And thank you to boon all who keep fanedit.org alive so that we, the little people, can stay informed about inspired projects such as this.