Superman: Son of Jor-El

Review by TMBTM — December 29, 2010 @ 5:56 pm

Okay, I’ve seen Son of Jor El.
I must say that this edit is very good, the pace is wonderful,
the connection between the two movies is very smart and well done.
The opening credits are great, the editing work during all the movie was good,
minus a little sound problem (or at least it felt like this to me) when Jor El begins to tell the story of Krypton.
The “back the moon” scene worked well for me. Sure the passing of time is a bit odd, but it flows well in the movie.
The story between Lois and Clark worked wonderfuly to me also.

In fact I loved everything in this edit exept one thing, and it is… drum roll…
Lex Luthor, you got it. I’m not very original with this one!
Well, I love Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor, I’m glad he’s in this edit.
But in a great movie you don’t throw a character with such knowledge about the plot that’s going on without some explanations (even the biggest criminal brain in the world! ) specialy if he appears only in the third act of the movie.
but well, if there are no scene to work with to add those explanations, then I guess this edit do the best possible with what’s available.
So this is the only thing that prevent this great edit to be a great movie, to me.

That said it did not prevent me to really enjoyed it and I can easily recommend it to every Superman’s fans.
You will sure be pleased

(side note: cutting the credits to insert the last bar scene, then cut back to the credits did not work very well to me.)

Review by tylerdurden389 — December 23, 2010 @ 11:32 pm

I’m watching SOJE so that I can give my comments as I watch. I personally prefer silence over the Chris Reeve dedication, like the dedication to Stuart Baird from the first film. I just didn’t like how both The Richard Donner Cut and Returns have the music of the film already playing, when the film hasn’t technically started yet.

Don’t care for the Returns shots of Krypton. The effects are too modern compared to everything else in the film. Again, personal preference. Not much to say about the Krypton scenes. I personally didn’t care for the extended dialogue. If the purpose of this edit was to combine the two films into one by trimming the fat, why put back in what was removed in the first place?

I must say I LOVE these opening credits. However, one little nitpick is, I don’t like how the letters seem to “come over us” before appearing in front. The letters “curve” before they come in. Whereas in S1 it’s like the letters come around the camera from all angles. Other than that, these new opening credits are great. Though on my crappy computer speakers the music wasn’t loud enough. It sounded like the sound effects were louder. I especially loved the ending where you timed the last fanfare with the crash (though the fanfare of the trumpets seemed to be cut short. Small audio cue mishap that only nitpickers like myself notice)

Nothing much to say about Smallville. I like that you took out the little girl being Lois Lane, but growing up on the theatrical version, I don’t feel it’s necessary for this extended scene at all.

Onto Metropolis. I never cared for the extended scene of Clark introducing himself to the worker next to him and Jimmy getting him a towel. That awkward moment of Clark and Lois staring at each other unnerved me. Plus, since the purpose of this edit was to have Lois figure it out much quicker, I think for the purpose of this cut we’re better off NOT seeing Clark introduce himself to other people. Again, nitpicking.

Gotta say, I love the new music cues for Superman launching the rocket into space. Though I do wish you had done something about the missile suddenly spinning out of control. I think it would’ve been so much better if Michael Thau had simply let the missile crash into the Phantom Zone.

Moon scene. I don’t like cutting out Ursa’s lines. I understand there’s no sound in space, but for a movie like this I’m able to suspend disbelief. Also, I would’ve moved this scene for after the interview/flight scene. Maybe do it this way:

- Superman’s first night
- Daily Planet
- Interview
- Missile Launch
- Villains freed
- Then go right to the moon scene.

The abrupt change in tone doesn’t work for me. It’s odd watching Superman talk to Lois when we just saw what happened on the moon. From a story perspective, I think this order works better. Also, instead of doing a fade cut to the next morning I would’ve simply done an establishing shot of Manhattan after Clark shuts the door.

I see I’m not the only one who dislikes Ursa pronouncing it “Hooston”. Blame Lester for that one, as I’m sure he had Sarah re-dub her lines just like Stamp for a more comedic effect (which of course doesn’t work). It’s funny how in the Donner Cut we got to hear some of the actor’s original readings of their lines, yet there’s still a lot of dubbed lines in the DC.

When I got to the screen test I initially thought it was bad to cut out a Superman scene, but of course, cutting out as much Lester scenes as possible helps with the overall tone to the film. Lois’ character is so different in Lester’s 2 scenes that it’s probably better to cut it.

Can’t comment on “skunksweat”, as it’s been beaten to death already.

I hate losing Superman explaining his past to Lois, but again, difference in character.

Nice job losing “The whole planet Hooston?”

I think I’m the only editor on S2 to notice that the Donner Cut version of the helicopter crashing has 3 frames that repeats right before the explosion. Of all the things Michael Thau did wrong editing the DC, that’s the one that bothers me the most. Amateur.

Ya know it’s funny, I forgot all about Lex until he showed up. Not gonna comment on Lex knowing of Jor-el, the FOS, and so on.

I would’ve cut Lois saying “Lex Luthor”, since they don’t know anything about him in this cut.

Bad audio cut for the reaction shot from Lois and Perry when Supes crashes into the air vent (after Non punches him). Also I never liked the cut of Ursa grabbing Supes by the neck but in the next shot she’s gone. Whether it’s the DC Supes punching Non, or LC of Non grabbing Supes from behind, neither work for me.

THANK YOU for cutting Reeve’s smirk when he says “Don’t do it!! The people!!” Of all the S2 edits here, I think this is now only the 3rd or 4th to do that.

I have no problem with Lois knowing his secret in the end (as my cut does the same), but leaving her in tears and then cutting to the Superman theme just seems morbid to me. Also, why show the beginning of the credits, then show the diner revenge scene? If anything, maybe an after-credits Easter egg would’ve worked.

So there’s my thoughts. Other than the little nitpicks pointed out (as well as my own feelings on DC footage in general), this was a damn fine edit. I gave it a 9 out of 10.

Review by STANKPAC — December 22, 2010 @ 3:51 am

Watched this the other night and overall as a whole I somewhat enjoyed it, but just barely. There are quite a few things that hinder it from being a great edit. However, the biggest compliment I can give you two is that you were able to construct a consistent story out of 2 movies. It finally felt that Superman actually had a really threat to face. People from his own planet, with the same powers…..actual villians!

Here in lies one of the major problems with this edit though, that was even mentioned by eldiablosuizo. In the original movie we all know he faces off against Lex Luthor and you might be saying to yourself, “Who really cares? True Lex, for all his scheming is no match for Superman and isn’t really a suitable villain, but he serves a purpose in the long run. In this edit Lex has been truncated down to an afterthought and not considered important. There is no background information on who this character is, why he is in this movie, and more importantly why I should care. Lex Luthor shows up out of nowhere for absolutely no reason, none whatsoever. He comes in telling Zod that not only is he searching for Superman, but the actual Son of Jor El. WTF? How does he know this? Takes them to the Daily Planet to capture Lois and tells them that they are an item. Superman and Lois only had one interview or date if you want to call it that. But, he seems to know this plus knows exactly where the Fortress of Solitude is. That is stretching it a bit thin on the whole suspension of disbelief meter, if you ask me! Secondly, the same thing can be said for Lois Lane. Clark reveals himself to the world by saving Lois in the chopper and does a few heroic acts to save the city of Metropolis. Of course, since she is the main character she is going to get the exclusive interview with Superman. After that one night with Superman and the way this edit is cut, the very next day she has already figured out Clark is Superman. Wow, I don’t know about you but that is some unbelievable intuition. Then right after that you inserted from the Donner Cut the shooting him with the gun, “It is you!” “I guess I’ve always known!”. Huh? Known what, after one interview! So much for the disguise there Kal-El!

Other things I didn’t like was that you left in “Holy skunk sweat!” Really? The floating shotgun looks pretty lame. Right after the launch of the missile by none other than John Ratzenberger, the villians are released from the Phantom Zone. However, the scene after Superman talks to Jor-El, you have the scene with the space station checking up on the astronauts on the moon, but John Ratzenberger is there playing a totally different character. Didn’t make sense to me. During the fight around Metropolis, the scene when Superman catches that tower and puts it all gingerly on top of Non, I always found that to be utterly ridiculous. Get the crap up! You have superpowers damn it! No I’ll just lay here like a tortoise on it’s back, “Please help, I can’t move this measely bar!” Wuss. Now the Daily Planet itself. That must be the best piece of real estate I have ever seen with the best view. I mean they are fighting all around various areas in Metropolis, but for some reason everyone in the Daily Planet and even including the people on the street can see everything that is going on in the fight! **WARNING** Suspension of disbelief meter verging on critical!**

Technical Aspects:
Video: Overall I thought the video looked fine. No real faults, considering they are 30 year old movies. Nice job.
8 out of 10

Audio: This was actually quite good. I only noticed one really hard cut. That was when young Clark goes to the Fortress of Solitude, meets his true father, and Jor-El begins to tell him who he is. When the mask is coming towards the screen the audio actually goes silent for a few seconds in mid speech. Found that to be strange. I think that was the only hiccup.
9 out of 10 stars

Editing: Throwing out my long winded rant about the problems I had with this edit, this was a very well edited fan-edit. Like I said before you combined 2 films pretty seamlessly, but of course at the expense of a certain character. I liked how you eliminated the guy in the boat watching them arrive on Earth. You eliminated the silly scenes after with Non and the twig, and Ursa and the snake. You eliminated the stupid line by Zod, “The Planet Houston!”. I liked how you shortened some of the fight around Metropolis to get rid of some of the poor flying effects. No stupid voice over by Lois or her falling from the sky. Glad that nonsense is gone. I especially like how you ended with Lois’s line, “Up, Up and away!”, and then showing Superman flying over the Earth off camera. The one qualm I had was when the credits roll it stopped in mid-music and then shows the whole scene of him getting back at the guy at the diner. Then fades out and credits continue to roll. I think it would have been better at the end of the credits, instead of showing the Alternate Ending sequence. Other than that, well done!
9 out of 10 stars

Entertainment: Like I said before, I was entertained but just barely. I know some of the stuff was a little critical, but I can’t in good conscious call this a definitive Superman movie. Don’t let me dissuade anyone from downloading it because it is edited really well, except for a few niggles. I just feel if this movie was tightened up a little more, you would have a really close to perfect Superman movie.
7 out of 10 stars

Overall: 8 out of 10 stars. I’ll kick it up a star because of the sheer daunting task of combining two movies and for the most part make it work!

Good Job L8wrtr and Jelio

I loved this edit. There are many hybrid superman 1&2 cuts, but this is the only one that that I feel has been able to combine the narratives in a way that did not feel like two films stuck together, but rather a singular narrative. Son of Jorel is a brilliant superman film, and really trims both lengthy movies down to the core themes and relationships. There is so much to love about this edit, it's hard to know what to mention.

Of special note is the ending. In both Superman 1 and 2, the ending was a letdown. The time travel was certainly dramatic, but was so full of plot holes that it was overall just too problematic. And the superman kiss is, well, silly. The ending of Son of Jorel is really quite something - It's poignant, emotional and powerful. And it ties all the themes together beautifully.

Also of note was the way in which Lois was treated. I loved that by combining the two films, we arrive at that fantastic scene where Lois accuses Clark of being Superman sooner. And from then on, she won't let go. This is much more believable for a character as smart as Lois. It's such a shame that the blank bullet scene was never filmed properly - It's a wonderful moment in the story, and so so much better than the pink bear scene. But of course it will forever be distracting for the poor quality of the scene and clark's changing hair style... Ah well, nothing we can do about that.

I understand L8wrtr may consider an HD upgrade of this wonderful edit in the future. If that is the case, I do have some suggestions. They're not criticisms, so much as personal preferences if this movie is to undergoe minro surgery on its way to HD land.

(Spoilers)
- While I love that you removed 'can you read my mind', I missed Lois falling and Superman catching her again. I always found that moment endearing, showing how caught up in the moment they both are that they forget the logistics of flying... but no big deal
- I would add the "I was thinking we could get a hamburger" line back in. I always find it funny, especially after clark says he wants to show lois the time of her life. It's Clark nice.
- I loved that you deleted most of the dialogue of the 3 villains in space - there's no air up there, so they shouldn't be able to talk! But then, at the very last, you had the scene of them deciding to go to earth, talking merrily on the moon. I really feel you can lose this scene without any problem. If we see them flying towards earth, we'll assume the rest. And then you can preserve the 'no talking in space' illusion. (as opposed to a trick. which is something a whore does for money).
- I felt there was room for some added sound effects to add drama to the 'clark losing his power scene', to add to the tension before the explosions start.
- I had no problem with Luthor arriving late in the piece... it's a shame that he knows where the fortress of solitude is though... I guess we can assume, being the greatest criminal mind in the universe, that he devised a way to figure it out. So at the end of the day, this is no problem.
- The line "Then die as you deserve to" sounds odd without the lines preceding it. It would make more sense to cut the "then", and just have the dialogue be "you are a coward, like your father before you. Die as you deserve to".
- I would cut Non being trapped by the very weak looking spire. There is no way in the world that would trap him.
- Lastly, there is a spelling mistake (The word 'ahead') in the alternative ending special feature, and a 20 second black hole in between the text and the actual footage. btw, I am very glad you chose the ending that you did! It is quite brilliant.

Well done Jelio and L8wrtr, this is really a gift to all of us Superman fans, and finally delivers a worthy combined edit of Superman 1 and 2. 10/10

*This rating was given before reviews were required*