Review Detail

9.9 8 10
supermandonner_front
FanFix May 07, 2021 2840
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Wraith is a great editor and communicator of his passion and vision. I am very happy to have been able to make his acquaintance through this site and enjoy the vision of the edits of Superman he has clearly worked on as an ultimate labor of love.

I am reviewing and recommending this cut most of all, as paired with Bobson's Superman II Extended cut it does complete the vision for me of what I have looked for in a Superman edit all these years. Many attempts have been made at great edits, but I've often found them either 1) limited by source material, or 2) not quite grabbing the right combination of essentials that, for me, make up the experience.

Take the beginning of Superman. The entire Krypton and Smallville sequences, including the trip north, for me, set the standard for the entire superhero genre. I'm not the best one to say such things, since I don't watch superhero movies, don't care, couldn't be less interested, especially with the fact that it just seems like a frenzied fad more than anything else these days. But these films, especially these opening setpieces, are a world apart from the current trend in movies and occupy their own "fortress of solitude", as it were.

I prefer this edit over the Epic cut Wraith has done with the story because of an essential that's needed in the opening, and that is the first scene with Martha and Jonathan. It is not a long scene, but does give the film that bit so needed to develop the characters, especially as Jonathan has just two scenes - the 2nd being his very affecting death scene. I find these scenes incredibly poignant - both sets of parents played off the other - especially the dynamic of Jor-El and Martha as two sides of the same coin (Superman's actual mother doesn't have a lot to do). The reverence given to these scenes is incredibly important, and anyone who goes through a Superman edit must use Wraith's standard, as it keeps all of the essentials in tact.

The narrative develops perfectly, with the good balance of story vs needed humor (isn't Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty's chemistry a scream?), all that Margot Kidder-spoken song appropriately truncated (this was always a VHS-fast-forward moment). The buildup leading towards the big detonation moment doesn't feel forced, always easy to follow, and buffered with character scenes that do feel essential, even if they could be removed for narrative purposes.

The one edit in the entire experiment here that, for me, could use a little more tweaking (or just left alone from its original state) is the "truth, justice, and the American way" comment, which was edited out. The problem isn't the decision per se, although we could see it as a charmingly naive aspect of Kal-El's personality, especially when paired against Lois's exasperated response (she's correct!) The problem with the edit is the 'nod' after his "truth, justice....." moment - that extra beat takes us out of the moment, especially when we're so used to the 'trilogy'. It's awkward, but how else *could* it have been edited? Wraith does what he can with it, although, again, leaving it alone is still, especially in 2022, charmingly quaint for Superman in an old-fashioned kind of way.

But that's a nitpick. The ending - Superman taking the route as scripted, no world-revolving, etc. - works as it should (Lois's exasperation when he shows up post-time travel, in the original, doesn't make sense with her rant about gas stations blowing up, etc., if she was indeed now saved - the original had the explosions and all that alongside the earthquake, if I remember correctly.). Now, everything fits as it absolutely should. Superman saves the day but Zod & co are freed.

The pacing is the key here, as it is with Bobson's II extended edit. Everything left in the edit to pad the character development is essential (too many other fanedits jettison this stuff for the sake of time). We're not in any kind of hurry here, and Wraith understands this. The care put into the opening, even if it is 'truncated' compared to the extra bits in the 'epic cut', is evident (the little edits aren't noticed). I so cherish the beginning of Superman, everything leading up to Metropolis, and it's all carefully rendered, nothing jarring, nothing that takes us out of the moment.

Wraith, your edit here - Donner cut - is my go-to edit from here on. Thanks for fulfilling a long dream since the dawn of fanediting - to have a complete vision of Superman as Donner intended.

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