Superman: Son of Jor-El

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(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Review by Kal-El — August 18, 2011 @ 1:10 am

Being a huge fan of everything Superman related, I already downloaded this upon release, but failed to watch it ever since. Now the time has finally come, and I hereby present my review.
_____________________________________
TECHNICAL ASPECTS

VIDEO:
No rough cuts or anything of that kind, whatsoever. Flawlessly executed.
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

AUDIO:
Didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
Overall:
5 out of 5 stars

PRESENTATION:
Clean and simple. Effective too. Quite funny to see the \CapedWonder\ logo on the Special Features menu. I instinctively knew where that came from :-)
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

THE EDIT ITSELF:
A few mishaps caught my eye, so I’ll detail them all below:

During the rogue rocket scene, Superman’s fly by scene starts at night,
and immediately shifts to daytime when he’s on to the rocket.

The front page of the newspaper Lois is holding first shows the \How I Spent the Night With Superman\ article, but in the next shot (from Superman II), the front page shows \Lex Luthor’s Scheme Bombs, Superman Saves Nation\.

The first encounter on the moon was also over 20 minutes before the second encounter, where they destroyed the lunar lander. It’s not that big a thing, but it was kind of odd to jump back to the moon all of a sudden, after all that time on Earth.

I’m glad Lois’ second try to plunge herself into revealing Clark has been removed, in favour of her plot to reveal Superman’s identity through use of blank bullets. The obvious fault of Richard Donner footage remains (Reeve’s hairline), but that doesn’t make any difference. It’s material of epic proportions. Nevertheless, as mentioned by Stankpac, it all happens too fast. She \knew all along\, when only a single day had passed. I was pleased to see Lois figuring it out so fast, but this was a tad too much. It still beats Superman Returns though. Stupid broad.

The baffled fisherman has been removed from the Kryptonian’s entrance onto Earth. Perfect.

To my horror, the one scene I had hoped removed, was not only intact, but the wrong version as well… Superman slept with Lois BEFORE losing his powers. That leads straight into Superman Return’s events, and we all know how I feel about that one. Oh well…

The guy who was standing in the corner of the diner, near the flower pot above a beaten Clark, disappeared from the following angle when Lois helped Clark up. L8 and Jelio couldn’t have possibly fixed this, but I just noticed it. That’s all. No biggie.

Seeing Luthor appear out of nowhere is both funny and awkward. He sort of introduces himself anyway, so that clears the air a bit, but it remains faintly odd nonetheless. Nothing I can’t live with.

Although that unfortunately all changed in the minutes to come. Having trimmed Luthor down to an extended cameo does bring up other issues. Luthor not only reveals Superman’s origins to Zod, but also knows the location of the Fortress of Solitude. He also knows Superman and Lois are an item. If you thought Lois was quick in revealing Superman, check out Luthor! What did he do? Read the newspaper article of Lois’ night with Supes, and read between the lines? These are some big plotholes. If it weren’t for his presence in the Fortress however, Luthor could have easily been left out altogether. During those Fortress scenes, Superman and Luthor’s conversations also indicated a shared history, which in this edit, they haven’t.

Also, in both instances Superman steps into the chamber, the person inside looks nothing like Christopher Reeve, especially the first time. Can anyone confirm this? What’s up with that?

Ahh, no memory-wiping kiss, or no turning back time. Lois knows… Just like in the comics. Sweet justice.
_____________________________________
FINAL SCORE: 4 out of 5 stars
_____________________________________
For this edit: 8 out of 10 stars. It’s a far better Superman movie than Lex Luthor’s obsession with soil could have ever been, but there are some holes in that cheese that just don’t cut it. It could have been 9, or even 10, but that ball has left the park. Too bad.
DEFINITELY RECOMMENDABLE THOUGH!
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Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
*This rating was given before reviews were required*

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This is old, but I recently watched this and wanted to drop my thoughts. For years, I've felt like Superman (1978) was so close to being the perfect comic book movie. The first half and Reeve's performance are incredibly mythic. The camp really brings it down though. I always thought combining the beautiful Smallville sections with the more dramatic Superman II would be interesting. This edit does that and it's close to becoming my definitive Superman movie. By stripping most of the camp and focusing on the core character of Clark Kent, the editor really is able to create this character driven piece. The recurrent theme of Clark's humanity and destiny (presented to us in the form of Jor-El), coupled with the strong focus on the Lois relationship, makes this feel like one coherent movie. Importantly, it's never disrespectful to the source material. It's fun, but it's also mythic and powerful. That new ending scene is fantastic. I also liked the looming threat of Zod that was present throughout the movie. It's a really creative device that ties both movies together and adds momentum.

As some have mentioned, the big problem that really signals that this is actually made up of 2 longer movies is the sudden appearance of Lex. It does feel out of place. The structure is also a bit weird. As I said, adding these recurring scenes of Zod and Co. was a good way to break up the plain structure of the first two-thirds. Some scenes feel like they should be closer together though. I think the part on the moon feels pretty awkward as is. We see Zod on the moon. We go back to the A-plot for 30 minutes or so. We come back and they're still on the moon. That feeling of momentum is lost. I would also personally add in some extra scenes in those first 2 hours. Since the camp and all subplots have been stripped out of the Superman I and Superman II Niagara scenes, the movie gains a lot of dignity. Unfortunately, it also loses a bit of the "super." We have this core plot about Lois and Clark with nothing else until Zod arrives on Earth. It's nice, but the singular focus is a bit monotonous and it feels a little like we're watching a compilation of Clark/Lois scenes instead of a fully fledged movie. I think adding in some fat (the cut scenes from Superman I) would round it out a bit. This will also give the impression that some time has passed. Currently, it feels like the whole movie takes place in a week.

Aside from those points, this is a fantastic edit. I'll definitely rewatch it L8wrtr ever revisit it.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I really liked this fanedit. Definitely replaces Supes 1 and 2 for me.

Audio/Video Quality

It was good. Not crystal clear but considering the movies are movies from the late 70's and early 80's that's understandable.

Audio/Video Editing

Flawless in my opinion. Not one instance that a cut is noticable.

Narrative

Great except for one thing: How does Lex Luthor know Jor-El and The Fortress of Solitude? He hasn't been there yet. The newspaper? No, it never mentioned Jor-El. If we exclude that, the narrative amazingly works!

Enjoyment

Despite my Lex nitpick, I enjoyed this the whole time. It was so fun! No time-travel, no magic kiss, no stupid landgrabbing (even Superman Returns' landgrabbing made more sense!) and surprisingly the Superman Returns Krypton establishing shot worked perfectly!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to the people who want a near perfect Superman movie!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
Owner's reply March 12, 2014

Thank you for this awesome Review and I'm really glad that you enjoyed it overall.

There is no getting around the Lex issue, and it's one of the rare instances where as a faneditor I relied on implication to tie narrative ends. Because Lex is the 'greatest criminal mind' and clearly his reputation as a really bad guy based on everyone's reaction, I had to let Lex's brief explanation stand.. "How do you know all this?" "Because I'm Lex Luthor, (and I'm smart as hell.)

I've been toying with doing a HD re-edit of this and if I ever really do, I've toyed with creating two versions. One which keeps the original edit which is what Jelio and I worked out, and then one that tries to interweave Lex earlier. I have a few ideas on how I might be able to accomplish that without bringing in Otis and Miss Tessmacher, or at least without their buffoonery.

Anyhow, I'm glad that you enjoyed this in spite of the Lex Conundrum!

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(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Review by Wraith — January 27, 2011 @ 12:24 am

WELL WELL WELL….In the 1980s I pulled these two movies together on 2 VHS machines, and for 30 years refined the dream privately to 3.5hours… and then YOU GUYS came along and did the unthinkable….Goodbye Lex!!! Genius.

Video
The video was reasonable, clear and well reporoduced and rendered and certainly comparable to the better edits out ther so 8 out of 10

Audio
9 out of 10. Nothing really jarred appart from a couple of music segues which could be tweaked

Presentation
8 out of 10, crisp, professional and to the point

Entertainment
This will sound so silly, even “why bother commenting” but it is an area that is easy to ignore and some edits suffer from it….(but not this puppy)…AWESOME TITLE SEQUENCE…..of lord you kill me…The film was great and I can’t and wont add to the extensive positive comments above which I agree with 100%…BUt the TITLES WERE GREAT…AUTHENTIC< FLAWLESS AND PROFESSIONAL….It is one of the reasons I kept my clumsy version private…no credible opening…I have 20 or so edits that will never see the light of day for a varieth of reasons, but the one thing that will pull a viewr out of the experince is a poorly executed title sequence…GENIUS guys…(I rewatched them 3 time berfor the rest of the movie…how sad is that)….

so overall 9 out of 10
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