Review Detail
9.8 7 10
(Updated: October 03, 2022)
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
The superman films were a big part of my childhood, watched many a time, less so as I got older but still present.
one of the last times I watched Superman was when I bought the epic 188 minute tv version, imported. it's didn't quite hit the same way as the special edition extended cut did. But I appreciate it's importance in terms of restoration and in wide screen *when we would have likely watched Pan and Scan version on tv back in the day) Anyway I digress.
Wraith has done a fantastic Job with this edit from a narrative standpoint. Krypton has always been one of my least favourite parts of the film and though some time is spent on it, it seems like only necessary time was spent here. maybe I'm misremembering but the destruction sequence seemed about 3 times longer when I was younger.
Onto young Clark, I always liked Jeff East - though its's hard to judge his performance when Reeves rerecorded his lines. I still am not fond of the train sequence as it doesn't look like he 's physically running faster than the train but that's not a visual fault I'd expect a fanedit to fix. We don't spend too much time with teen Clark overall, and I think that's the thing it's an hour before we see Reeve in the costume. The first hour just pretty much flies by. One thing I love about the first scene with the establishing shot of the Daily planet is the Fruit vendor outside, it just helps set up that that part of the Donner cut in II.
Things play out mostly as remembered for a while until the heroic deeds montage.- it was later where I was thinking about the cat in the tree and had to come back to the cutlist to check if it had been cut or if I was misremembering it as a sequence in Superman II. I didn't mind the scene for the reason that it shows Superman will take time out of being super to help someone with a problem no matter how small, but given how vicious the cat seems and the fact the girl gets smacked for "telling lies" I guess the bad reasons outweigh the good.
I loved that the date scene was shorter, again only a minute but what a difference that minute made. I'd love a revised version without any of Lois' inner monologue lol.
I couldn't remember the entirety of Lex's scheme, I remembered the car crash and the bridge, but not the squabbling in the ambulance in between.
Also I couldn't remember if Superman's makeshift dam was part of the theatrical cut or the special edition. The one thing I remember specifically being from the SE was the bullets ,fire and ice traps outside of Lex's base. On the one hand you wonder why he'd even bother trying, but on the flipside of that is maybe he wouldn't want Superman to be suspicious if he just arrived without any form of hindrance.
It's rare to find edits for Superman: The movie, I think the last one I watched years ago was the Up Up and Away edition which similarly truncated the time reversal and had Lois car simply stall- that's all I remember about that particular edit. I think the pacing here was great throughout. There was one part I forget where that had a little writing in the lower right corner, I thought it was a hiccup with the editing software but Wraith has confirmed this was intentional to confirm the source of the footage. I've amended the review to reflect this.
That small error aside, this was a great revisit to a beloved childhood franchise and made for a fantastic Sunday afternoon experience.
Thank you Wraith
one of the last times I watched Superman was when I bought the epic 188 minute tv version, imported. it's didn't quite hit the same way as the special edition extended cut did. But I appreciate it's importance in terms of restoration and in wide screen *when we would have likely watched Pan and Scan version on tv back in the day) Anyway I digress.
Wraith has done a fantastic Job with this edit from a narrative standpoint. Krypton has always been one of my least favourite parts of the film and though some time is spent on it, it seems like only necessary time was spent here. maybe I'm misremembering but the destruction sequence seemed about 3 times longer when I was younger.
Onto young Clark, I always liked Jeff East - though its's hard to judge his performance when Reeves rerecorded his lines. I still am not fond of the train sequence as it doesn't look like he 's physically running faster than the train but that's not a visual fault I'd expect a fanedit to fix. We don't spend too much time with teen Clark overall, and I think that's the thing it's an hour before we see Reeve in the costume. The first hour just pretty much flies by. One thing I love about the first scene with the establishing shot of the Daily planet is the Fruit vendor outside, it just helps set up that that part of the Donner cut in II.
Things play out mostly as remembered for a while until the heroic deeds montage.- it was later where I was thinking about the cat in the tree and had to come back to the cutlist to check if it had been cut or if I was misremembering it as a sequence in Superman II. I didn't mind the scene for the reason that it shows Superman will take time out of being super to help someone with a problem no matter how small, but given how vicious the cat seems and the fact the girl gets smacked for "telling lies" I guess the bad reasons outweigh the good.
I loved that the date scene was shorter, again only a minute but what a difference that minute made. I'd love a revised version without any of Lois' inner monologue lol.
I couldn't remember the entirety of Lex's scheme, I remembered the car crash and the bridge, but not the squabbling in the ambulance in between.
Also I couldn't remember if Superman's makeshift dam was part of the theatrical cut or the special edition. The one thing I remember specifically being from the SE was the bullets ,fire and ice traps outside of Lex's base. On the one hand you wonder why he'd even bother trying, but on the flipside of that is maybe he wouldn't want Superman to be suspicious if he just arrived without any form of hindrance.
It's rare to find edits for Superman: The movie, I think the last one I watched years ago was the Up Up and Away edition which similarly truncated the time reversal and had Lois car simply stall- that's all I remember about that particular edit. I think the pacing here was great throughout. There was one part I forget where that had a little writing in the lower right corner, I thought it was a hiccup with the editing software but Wraith has confirmed this was intentional to confirm the source of the footage. I've amended the review to reflect this.
That small error aside, this was a great revisit to a beloved childhood franchise and made for a fantastic Sunday afternoon experience.
Thank you Wraith
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
O