Man of Steel (2013)

[MusicEd921]

With the Dvd release on Nov 12, anyone planning to make an edit of this? After being a lurker on these forums for sometime now this film makes me want to get into fan edits.

I had actually started a thread just focusing on what we would change in a Man of Steel edit. There are some really awesome ideas in there if you want to check it out.

 

[ShortRound24]

With the Dvd release on Nov 12, anyone planning to make an edit of this? After being a lurker on these forums for sometime now this film makes me want to get into fan edits.

I plan to make an edit called: Superman Genesis.

This is my cutlist from the "Man of Steel - The Fan Edit" forum.

A couple of months ago I went and saw 'Man of Steel' again, however this time with a pen and paper. I was near the end of it's run at our local cinema, so no one was there besides me. I took notes and what can be used and how things could be re-structured. Here's my basic timeline:

- Start with the oil rig blowing up, have it like the start of an Indiana Jones movie with Supes being introduced when he breaks open the door.
- Falls into the water and the movie continues into the flashback of Clark at school, "world's too big" scene. However now we cut to Clark being a teenager in the car, reading Plato. Clark gets pulled out of the car and gets beat up. Cut Pete Ross helping him up. Jonathan Kent's "you have to decide what kind of man you want grow up to be Clark... whoever that man is good character or bad he's going to change the world". Now we have the bus scene, Clark decides to be the good guy. Continues into showing Clark the spaceship. Cut Clark's winy "Tell Me!"
- Cut back to present showing Clark in the dinner/pub, movie continues as normal until we meet Jor-el.
- Huge exposition dump, not sure how to counter this. Show prominent flashbacks to Krypton. Show Kal-el's birth with Jor-el's lines "you were the first natural born in centuries" show the whole setting-up Kal-el ship scene after Jor-el's line "that's why we risked so much to save you" Cut back to present after the space capsule closes.
- Move flying scene to later. Maybe.
- Move shot of Jonathan Kent's headstone, till after the flashback. Remove Jonathan disappearing into the hurricane, just have Clark's expression.
- remove military tracking Zod's ship, have the scene centre on Clark and Lois' reactions to Zod's broadcast.
- Talk to priest scene, remove the flashback, because we saw it before.
- Possible, Superman suit up and fly if we don't use the learning to fly scene from earlier.
- Add flashbacks to Krypton in Zod's dream/explanation scene. Zod's trial, quick shot's of Jor-el stealing the codex. Clark wakes up show condensed version of Zod killing Jor-el after Clark mutters "you killed my father?" and Zod returns "I did"
- Remove shitty cg shots of Lois in the pod.
- Supes does not smash Zod through a brick tower thingy.
- Remove long shot of civilians witnessing the petrol station explode.
- Zod escapes, Faora and Non rip-off march towards Supes, inter-cut between Zod discovering that the codex is within Kal-el, "does he need to be alive to extract the codex?" his doctor dude says "No" hard cut to supes smashing through the ihop. Faora throws him into the bank vault. Cut to Zod releasing the World engine. Remove the military seeing it.
- Supes flys at Faora, fights both her a Non, troops helicopter in all proceed as normal. Cut Supes fighting with Non (helps remove Supes punching Non into the trains) while Faora toys with the Colonel dude. Surprise! Supes saves him and then... Surprise! a train hits Supes.
- Supes overcomes the terraforming device as discussed.

Originally Posted by Sunarep
The only thing i would change is already show the flashback in the first act so that the audience understands what is happening to Zod. There was some argument that it would come as a surprise to the audience but I think it would be the same problem as the codex has: withholding information to add confusion.

But if the audience already knows this scene supes can fight the terraforming machine and we hear his heartbeat.
then we hear all the destruction of metropolis and people screaming. *Alter Jor-el's "you can save her Kal" to "you can save THEM Kal, you can save all of them."*
add voiceover "the world's to big mom"
"then make it smaller"
we then see young Clark running around with the "cape" which inspires supes and gives him strength to destroy the world machine

on top of that (as i noted before) this would probably make the final scene with his father much more powerful because we have already scene this moment as an audience and then we learn that Jonathan Kent saw the very scene which inspired supes in the final fight.



- cut down military fiddling with the pod and shit, Try and remove Lois if possible?
- No kiss.
- No Supes letting the oil tanker blow up the parking station.
- No fighting in space
- No Lois when Supes kills Zod.
- Cut the final scene between the military and Supes "I know you're trying to find out where I hang my cape"
- End as normal, Clark goes to Daily Planet. Or if we cut the learning to fly scene, use the available footage to have Supes final flight into space and circling the Earth.

 

[geminigod]

So many different ideas out there on this. This could get reordered a bazillion times like so many puzzle pieces just as happened with Star Wars OT. I'd be more interested to read about the overarching goal of the edit instead of specific cuts and re-orders. What is the goal of the editor? How will the changes affect the emotional feel of the movie? How will it change the motives and feelings of the characters? How will it change the overarching narrative?

 

[Sunarep]

as soon as the dvd gets out i will try to make an edit which starts with lois lane who gradually peels back the backstory of Superman, memento style

 

[revel911]

So many different ideas out there on this. This could get reordered a bazillion times like so many puzzle pieces just as happened with Star Wars OT. I'd be more interested to read about the overarching goal of the edit instead of specific cuts and re-orders. What is the goal of the editor? How will the changes affect the emotional feel of the movie? How will it change the motives and feelings of the characters? How will it change the overarching narrative?

I agree. I think there are three things people have latched onto which do a great job.

1. Moving Krypton to the middle allows to relate to Clark personally and as a savior rather than making the film a Space Opera.

2. I like the idea of cutting the Smallville fight completely as it shows his first decision of damage limitation, his love for family first, and his desire to stay hidden from those that would know him showing he kept his father's sacrifice in vein.
This is an easy cut, going straight from when Superman beats up Zod to him helping his mother. Why would he leave her alone? Most people's reasoning was that they needed earthlings to trust him, but he already turned himself in peacefully, so I am fine skipping that.

3. Removing the world destroyer scene or having him just go kick it's ass in minute's again, shows he cares for humanity, so it seems like he is actually in a hurry to get back to helping those in metropolis.

- Remove shitty cg shots of Lois in the pod.

Thank god someone else noticed how bad that was.

- No fighting in space

Why? This is the only part of the fight that shows Superman is trying for damage limitation, removing is a terrible idea.

- No Lois when Supes kills Zod.

If you are removing the kiss (which makes sense as it was entirely cheesy, you almost need to keep this. It was the only true connection they had between them and it felt very real.

 

[Sunarep]

I really like the smallville fight, I think it is from a choreography standpoint the most interesting one as there are various threats superman and the audience have to take into account also I really like the trusting superman moment as well as the flying train - the overpoweredness of the movie was somethign I really enjoyed since very few (if any) superhero movies really make use of what those overpowered creatures can actually do

I can see cutting the spacefight to reduce convenience - they jump into space and then fall down exactly onto metropolis again, it is a bit unlikely

personally I'd keep lois at the station. it falls under the convenient-criticism but I love the scene where Superman kneels and hugs her, it's very rare for superhero movies that the hero looks this vulnerable and just wants human contact

 

[revel911]

I really like the smallville fight, I think it is from a choreography standpoint the most interesting one as there are various threats superman and the audience have to take into account also I really like the trusting superman moment as well as the flying train - the overpoweredness of the movie was somethign I really enjoyed since very few (if any) superhero movies really make use of what those overpowered creatures can actually do

For me this fight is terrible because it is in teh city he grew up in, do we really expect none of them will recognize him?

 

[g1orkatsos]

For me this fight is terrible because it is in teh city he grew up in, do we really expect none of them will recognize him?

not being recognized is not really a problem with just this movie but with every single Superman incarnation that has ever been. Movies, animation, comics, etc. Wearing a suit with no mask and wearing glasses as a disguise is gonna be something that will always going to raise some eyebrows. I can recall many moments in all the previous movies and animated shows that your complaint applies as well. And there are waaaaaaay worse offenders than this one.
But i don't really consider it a problem. It's not. It is something that has been around since the creation of Superman, and it is something that you just accept. Its comic book logic. And what he was suppose to do there? Not fight those evil Kryptonians because people might recognize him? And while the script had problems, that fight happening was not one of them. I agree with [MENTION=7583]Sunarep[/MENTION] on this one

 

[Solid11]

My "logical" reason for why no one recognizes Clark Kent as Superman is because they refuse to believe what their eyes are telling them, because Clark seems like such a chumpsicle... There's no way THAT man could be Superman!

 

[revel911]

My "logical" reason for why no one recognizes Clark Kent as Superman is because they refuse to believe what their eyes are telling them, because Clark seems like such a chumpsicle... There's no way THAT man could be Superman!

I will allow this to be logic ... only because you used chumpsicle.

 

[Solid11]

I will allow this to be logic ... only because you used chumpsicle.

Now we know how to convince you in the future...

Your weakness has been revealed!!

 

[ShortRound24]

Why? This is the only part of the fight that shows Superman is trying for damage limitation, removing is a terrible idea.

It seems even more far fetched that Supes and Zod can take the fight into space a destroy yet another thing, the section in space is so short it feels unnecessary. To top it off it's Zod that takes Supes into space not Superman trying to limit the destruction.
Further reasoning behind me wanting to cut it is if I can't remove Lois from the Supes killing Zod scene in a satisfactory way I want to at least make it look like she didn't magically teleport there. When they crash down from space there's an over-the-shoulder shot of Lois watching the debris fall, it looks a descent way away, and then they crash into a building and Lois appears there within minutes. Did the Flash help her out?

If you are removing the kiss (which makes sense as it was entirely cheesy, you almost need to keep this. It was the only true connection they had between them and it felt very real.

I should of clarified this as a maybe, as mentioned before it is mainly due to me wanting to cut Lois's amazing ability to teleport. I find Lois' little smile and 'Welcome to the planet' a powerful connection the characters share, as she helped shaped his sense of belonging to Earth.

 

[Sunarep]

the logic is in favor of cutting the satellite... but that wayne enterprises logo

 

[geminigod]

I agree that Lois needs to be there at the end, but the prior stuff needs to be edited in a way that makes it seem like she didn't instantly get there.

Regarding Smallville, it seems like there should be some way to compromise on toning it down without removing completely. I wonder if there is a way to creatively construct the scene such that the humans quickly realize Superman is trying to help, and then Superman takes the fight elsewhere? This would be an editing feat, but maybe possible with existing footage?? Maybe with some effects work?? Maybe Satellite scene here? (Scene specifics are a bit hazy in my mind presently.)

 

[Sunarep]

I agree that Lois needs to be there at the end, but the prior stuff needs to be edited in a way that
makes it seem like she didn't instantly get there.

Regarding Smallville, it seems like there should be some way to compromise on toning it down without removing completely. I wonder if there is a way to creatively construct the scene such that the humans quickly realize Superman is trying to help, and then Superman takes the fight elsewhere? This would be an editing feat, but maybe possible with existing footage?? Maybe with some effects work?? Maybe Satellite scene here? (Scene specifics are a bit hazy in my mind presently.)

talking strictly about storybeats the things that are necessary are:

first strike by military
optional: feora wanting to destroy plane but superman stopping her
helicoptercrash - superman saves the soldier
optional: feora vs. military guy
final attack using deadly force that knocks feora's helmet off.

so if one looks for trimming I think some of the punching can be easily cut down between those beats

 

[ShortRound24]

personally I'd keep lois at the station. it falls under the convenient-criticism but I love the scene where Superman kneels and hugs her, it's very rare for superhero movies that the hero looks this vulnerable and just wants human contact

I'm leaning towards keeping it, I do like the vulnerable position Supes is in. I guess we'll see once we start editing. Oh and it comes out on the 6th in Australia!

Found this on YouTube the ending fight to re-jog our memories.

 

[geminigod]

Ok, agreed the satellite scene definitely over the top there.

 

[g1orkatsos]

This is by far the Best Superman Tribute Ever!
This Animated Short is AMAZING!

 

[dangermouse]

Watched MoS last night. It. is. awesome. It absolutely blew me away on so many levels. It's the best film I have seen in years - probably since FotR.
Yes, there are niggles (just like with Fellowship), but the overall power of the film is breathtaking. This really is a SUPERMAN movie. Wow.

 

[ShortRound24]

Watched MoS last night. It. is. awesome. It absolutely blew me away on so many levels. It's the best film I have seen in years - probably since FotR.
Yes, there are niggles (just like with Fellowship), but the overall power of the film is breathtaking. This really is a SUPERMAN movie. Wow.

In all seriousness I reckon that's awesome that you can enjoy the film as it currently stands!