Superman Resurrection

Another fan tackles another Christopher Reeve Superman film. I'll never get sick of them. Here, the editor comes up with some cool new ideas. I specifically liked the new ending scene w/ Lois. You can tell a lot of time and effort was put into some of these edits. I took a few points off in audio editing because I found a few jarring transitions that need to be polished. Overall it's worth checking out for any die hard fan of Superman.

Finally got around to watching this. So this is basically a remake of ADigitalMan’s classic Superman Redeemed fanedit with some great creative ideas.

First, the opening credits of the edit (which are overly long but seems to use the theme from Superman II I want to say, and maybe that was also just as long?) establishes itself clearly as a direct sequel to Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, complete with the “blank bullets” test-shoot scene, the “freedom of the press” line reading (no vocal in the credits of course), and turning back time. Would personally have preferred it if all of it were out and the recap was as general as it could be to allow for anyone to headcanon a different set of fanedits for SI and II, but ultimately it’s the editor’s choice to make this a straightforward sequel to an official release. No biggie.

Also, while the edits were mostly good, there were a couple of moments in the film where I thought the edit was abrupt, but nothing that took me completely out of the movie. Most of these won’t bother anyone; especially someone who isn’t looking for them.

The rest of my thoughts on the edit is that the execution is almost there, but something is missing. As others have stated it still feels like a Frankenstein’s monster of a movie (lol), but that’s no fault of the editor. And I think it’s definitely an improvement over ADM’s story—not that it was bad, but it only went insofar as being a fun Superman adventure. This edit allows for some more introspection. With the limited footage available it’s extremely hard to form a story with it—the Lana Lang stuff especially feels out of place this time. But with scenes like Lois visiting a sick Clark and emphasizing his feeling lost, and with more connective tissue with the plotlines, I feel like we’re super close to cracking this! The fight with Superman and Clark in the junkyard, unlike in the original film and Redeemed, is SCREAMING to say something thematic, but we’re not there yet it seems. But this got close, and that deserves commendation for such a hard task of making this kind of edit!

Some other notes I had…

A) Why is it 7 years later again?

B) Don’t know why you kept the Kryptonian sage repeatedly saying “betrayed” cornily, after the other gave a sick ass thematic line that almost ties everything together.

C) The early set up Deus Ex Machina of the redundant green crystal from SIV, while it allows for the very nice Smallville scene to play, bothered me for being here in this movie. It retcons the first movie and it’s function is annoying.

D) Connected to that, I don’t think I agree with the new flow of how evil Superman is born. So Superman gets scratched, gets sick, heals himself with the crystal, goes to Ricky’s birthday, but the radiation still has an effect so he turns into a douchebag? I guess it still works but I think it needlessly overcomplicates things, and I personally prefer ADM’s simpler way of Superman being directly affected by the scratch. I feel like my version would still have Lois bring back Superman’s cape as it’s a great, subtle scene, but I’d then transition to Superman starting to turning evil from the radiation. I think the worst this would do is confuse why he was sick before turning evil but it can easily be inferred that it was a rough night slash transformation process.

E) I would personally have made an effort to bring the events of these in line with Returns and (since it referred to events in these movies as well) Crisis (which I think Superman revealing he’s Superman to Lois again here helps with Returns, except for the fact that she forgot again? But that’s a Returns problem in the first place) but that’s totally a me thing that doesn’t matter at all lol.

F) The AI upscaling… I’m not a fan of it in general, as I’m a proponent of genuine grain and detail and its preservation, but I also couldn’t tell exactly where it’s been used (sparingly to fix some stuff vs. Widely) and how much, so I guess it really doesn’t matter since I didn’t notice, lol.

That’s all, great job on this! You got me thinking what I want to do with the 1978-2006 Superman films now! Maybe I’ll have my own take on III + IV at some point.

Adigitalman created a great foundation with his amalgamation of Superman III and IV, but TheSpiedSniper has developed that take into a soulful experience, establishing more resonant characterization for all involved. Clark's journey to Kansas is made all the more personal with the inclusion of the farm scene from Part IV. His interactions with Lana are salvaged and now serve to confirm Clark's devotion to Lois by the end of the film. Lex's nuclear plot serves as a strong enough plot motivation, and TheSniedSniper has retained Adigitalman's brilliant choice to incorporate the Paris sequence from Part II that is otherwise missing from The Donner Cut. To conclude, this edit serves as a stellar follow up to Wraith's EPIC Superman edit and offers a fitting coda for Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, that's only minorly minorly minorly marred by some cheap effects work from Part IV. Also, this has no bearing on my rating, but it's a shame that there's no way to incorporate the computer/transformation scenes from III without breaking the plot.

A Digital Man's SUPERMAN REDEEMED is considered a fan edit classic by many. It was one of my first introductions to the concept of fan editing and made me fall in love with creative process.

This is a very nice HD update/expansion of ADM's Superman Redeemed.

While it uses the best elements of Superman III & IV, much like the original fan edit, it can not escape being a Super-Frankenstein narrative and requires a certain amount of goodwill by the viewer. For example, Lois is going to Jamaica for vacation at the beginning at the movie, but is present throughout the entire film but then talks about Jamaica in the closing scene.

But on the whole, a very entering and impressive watch. I thought the whole transition to Evil Superman was exceptionally well done and much improved over the ADM version. The Superman bathing in the Sun and Superman Lives newspaper headline was very clever.

The ending does feel a bit abrupt/awkward to me. I think I would have kept the Lex and Lenny scene and cut before Lois looks at Lana's ring. Also, I think the final Superman voice over about us all being one world would have played much stronger over the imagery of Kal-el flying above the Earth rather than restoring the Tower of Pisa. But I did greatly appreciated the mid-credit scene and going to black on the kiss.

A good remake of a classic fan edit.

I can say for sure that this edit manages to elevate both movies, especially Superman IV, to more than the sum of their parts. I've heard it said that Superman III is a bad idea done well, and Superman IV is a good idea done poorly. Largely following the plot of IV while integrating the good parts from III is what this edit does, and it's a wise approach, I'm a believer, at least, in the concept.

I can't help but think, however, that the execution was a little too clunky and awkward in places. I think lifting the Eiffel Tower scene from Superman II, for example, is a mistake. Reusing the scene ultimately breaks continuity with the the theatrical cut, meaning you are can only watch this with the Donner Cut of II. And while I think cutting back and forth between III and IV works, the scenes from Superman Returns did not integrate well. I also believe the same establishing shot of The Daily Planet was used at least three times, which seemed a little clunky. The Lana Lang/Smallville scenes are nice, but they seem more a diversion than anything that actually contributes to the plot of the movie. I'd like to say they should be integrated better, but I don't exactly know how I'd go about doing it.

More tweaking and perhaps this fun experiment might just work. I love Superman III too much for this to ever replace it, but I can't say I wasn't thoroughly entertained by this edit.