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Superman Returned- A Tomahawk Re-Edit

tomahawk

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Thanks EC!
Really glad you not only enjoyed the edit but took the time to write a review as well. Thank You.
 

MWRK

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** I posted this review on your IFDB page today **

'I tried posting this review on the fan edit IFDB page, but after I login and submit it, I get an error message saying 'invalid token'. I tried resubmitting it several times but in vain. So here it is:

Simply put - Amazing.
I love how you picked up the scrambled pieces and laid them in a neat order that makes Superman Returns a way better movie than it originally is!
Since the first time I watched Superman Returns, I've always had a warm feeling towards it. It was a movie that was, in my opinion, the best attempt to re-invent, and re-introduce Superman to today's generation with the style of charm and epicness that Richard Donner did with Superman The Movie back in the 70s. Super-hero movies today have quite lost that element of emotion and charm and often turn out to be shallow CGI driven generic action flicks, as we all know from watching Man of Steel.
Although Superman Returns never will reach the plateau set by Superman The Movie, you have brought it so much closer with your fan edit, by focusing on story, emotion, emphasizing on the key points of the film and telling the audience the story from Clark's point of view.


I love the narration and the pacing, how it started slow with Clark coming back to the world that had moved on without him, and him struggling to fit in once again, and how Clark returns to Metropolis and the action starting to build from there on. The climax of the film was a great balance between story and action and I loved every second of it. Nothing felt abrupt or awkwardly placed, everything flowed smoothly and it was done professionally. Flawless, except for one point where it felt a bit rushed when you cut from 'tell me everything' in the Fortress to Lex and his crew walking into the mansion. But that's not your fault of course so that doesn't count.

Your audio and video editing is just perfect. No awkward jumps and cuts, no disruption in audio levels, the whole thing was a seamlessly wonderful viewing experience. I love the changes you made, especially in putting the airplane sequence after we are introduced to Richard and the kid. I dunno what it is, but the whole thing feels way better this way. I think its wonderful how, Lois sees Superman first in the original version, but this cut shows Lois meeting Clark first through the rearranging of the airplane sequence. I love how you got around to doing this, because its so subtle yet it has such a major influence on the story. Its beautiful. Also that eliminates my question of how on earth Lois didnt connect how Clark shows up immediately after Superman returns to saves the plane! :p
The cuts and changes you made doesn't harm the movie at all, in fact now I understand why you referred to some scenes as 'bloated' and I didnt quite get it before I watched your edit, but now i do, and I'm grateful you altered it like it is. To be honest I would have hardly noticed what was gone if I had not referred to your changes list while watching the movie.


I really have nothing to say about your audio editing, as its just impeccable (if you can use that word). Love the altered musical cues, everything was great.


I'm running out of words to explain how brilliant this fan edit is, Tomahawk, really. I normally notice the slightest of errors, but this edit is marvelous. Very well assembled, very professional. After all of this talk, if I dont approve of your edit and recommend it to anyone I am an ass.
Very well done tomahawk, very well done indeed.'
 

tomahawk

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This is now available as a 4.3gig mp4 and a 14gig mkv for HD.

Details submitted to info.
 

Nic

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EDIT: Removed, had one too many tabs open, posted message in wrong one.
 

bubblywater

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I apologize. I'm new to this board. Someone linked your trailer on the imdb forum and I've been trying to find this version of the film for the past half hour. Never heard of fan edit before until now. Would really like to see this edit. Anyway, props to you for making me want to watch this film again :)
 

bubblywater

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WOW. This felt like a totally different film experience and I loved every second of it. I've always been a fan of this film but after seeing your edit I have to admit that yours is superior to the original. For one I loved the scene you added of Jor El and baby Kal-El at the beginning. It makes the ending with Superman and his son feel a lot more complete and more emotional. I loved how for the first 30 or so minutes the story is focused on Clark instead of Lex. The newspaper clippings in the beginning were great and painted a clearer picture of why Superman left Earth.

I can totally see how Singer took focus away from Superman and the action he had by including unnecessary long scenes of Lex and his plot that would cause most of the audience to completely forget about Clark's story and push him aside. He definitely should have introduced Clark first in his film and included the Krypton scene like you do here. It definitely would have encouraged viewers to connect with his main character.

Having Lois meet Clark first before Superman and including the scenes where he's talking to his mother on the farm was a great idea and definitely emphasizes the theme Singer tries to get across in his original film that Clark is more of the genuine persona behind Superman and his feelings towards his mother mirrors how he feels about his situation with Lois. I can't help but feel Singer shot himself in the foot while in the editing room :(

Really glad you shortened the train set scene since it definitely dragged the movie down. Also removing the Superman eavesdropping into Lois' house scene really helps empathize with his character more. I never saw him as a stalker like most people who dislike the film claim but since Bryan doesn't establish a clearer reason for the audience to connect with Clark from the beginning then the scene would only serve to distance viewers who didn't care about him even further.

I could go on gushing about this forever. I also liked how you switched the score and used the piece where Lois and co were struggling on the yacht and placed it with the return to Krypton scene. This has become the ultimate cut for me in just one viewing. I really wish it was official.

The only thing I felt was missing was that I wished you included the scene where Kitty tells Superman to call her Katherine and he does whereas Lex still calls her Kitty when she points out her preference for her real name. I know it's said she has a crush on Superman before when Lex opens the paper but I feel this scene cements why she admires Superman (perhaps she sees he's a little more respectful than Lex?) and cries for him at the end when he's getting beaten. Without that scene I feel she had no reason to be really crying for Superman or even throwing away the crystals before they leave the kryptonite island.

One other thing is that the audio was low at times and I had to increase the volume when dialogue was being spoken and then lower it when the score came on. It could be my computer though :)

Thank you so much for this edit. It will definitely be the version I show to other people from now on~
 

NewSpock

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The main problem I have with the official version of Superman Returns is beside the usual criticisement regarding the lameness, the unsympathetic Clark/Superman, the son-story-element, that Lois doesn't look nor act like one would Lois expect to... the main problem I have is the main-story plot regarding Luthor and his plan to create a new continent with the help of Kryptonian crystal-technology.

Lex luthor as a character (as described in the comics) is usually extremely intelligent and not some lunatic madjob that just wants to create as much destruction as possible. He does so that he gets more power and influence and he hates Superman because he is the only one who could disturb his plans.

So when he does something, he does it only when there is at least a 70% opportunity that he will gain something personally out of it.

What I mean is that he isn't some suicidal-lunatic who wants to go out with a bang, he usually has plans for a long and successful future.

In Donner's Superman The Movie, he developed this plan to use nukes to destroy a coast-line and create a new coastline on desert-land he previously bought cheaply, and get mega-rich that way. That plan was based on two things: a)That no one knew that he was behind the nuke-attack and b)That the one who knew, Superman, and who could have stopped the nukes was dead, thanks to the kryptonite-chain he put on him.

The plan would have worked if not for Mrs. Teschmacher's unexpected intervention, because one of the nukes threatened the town in which her mother lives.

So what I mean is that Luthor makes plans where there is a good opportunity for him to come out successfully and unharmed.

Not so in Superman Returns:

His plan was to create a new continent with kryptonian crystal-technology. The idea was to have this kryptonite-poisoned continent, so that Superman couldn't touch him. But what then? What would he do with it? The continent is not good for growing something on it, people wouldn't/couldn't live on it.

What is his future plan for it, how can he personally gain something out of it? He just gets a huge useless continent, killing millions/billions of people because of the huge flood caused by it, but he wouldn't gain anything.

And equally important: How does he think to get away with it? Sure, Superman can't touch him, but he just needs to tell the other countries' armies what and who caused it, and in a few hours they would be all over that new continent and emprisoning or killing Lex luthor. So what was his plan to deal with the normal mights and forces of earth?

Even if the huge flood would come so quick that the other mights wouldn't know what happened until there military power is all destroyed. What then? Does Luthor expect the surviving people to come to him and pay for land on his kryptonite-continent?

Pay with what? The economies would be down and currencies would have no worth, the world would be thrown back to pre-industrialization-times, it would create a new dynamic where the opportunity for Luthor and his handful of thugs to remain on top is very slim.

This is not a plan of a brilliant mastermind, it's a plan that would work for a lunatic suicidal madjob, who doesn't care what would happen afterwards with the world and with himself, just enjoying the huge chaos created.

But I think it's pretty difficult to fanedit around this imho major plot-problem.
 

tomahawk

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bubblywater said:
The only thing I felt was missing was that I wished you included the scene where Kitty tells Superman to call her Katherine and he does whereas Lex still calls her Kitty when she points out her preference for her real name. I know it's said she has a crush on Superman before when Lex opens the paper but I feel this scene cements why she admires Superman (perhaps she sees he's a little more respectful than Lex?) and cries for him at the end when he's getting beaten. Without that scene I feel she had no reason to be really crying for Superman or even throwing away the crystals before they leave the kryptonite island.

One other thing is that the audio was low at times and I had to increase the volume when dialogue was being spoken and then lower it when the score came on. It could be my computer though :)

Thank you so much for this edit. It will definitely be the version I show to other people from now on~

Thanks a lot for the comments bubblywater. And your point about Kitty is valid and something I did think about. I did cut that scene for two reasons:-
a) One of the primary reasons for doing this cut was to hasten the pace where it needed to, and let it breathe where it was lacking air. That particular scene although possibly good for Kitty's arc just slowed things down at that particular moment for my liking. The music, the pace, the performances were all so frustratingly sullen. I felt this section of the film needed to move faster.

b) Personally I don't think it worked anyway. She always knew that Superman was going to save her, that was the plan. And she knows who Superman is. His demeanour was never a surprise. Personally I never bought the scene as the motivation for her actions and in fact the "my name is Katherine" scene isn't in the theatrical version.

By moving up the scene where Kitty slaps Lex to immediately following the car rescue, we get a straight line of actions. What I was trying to emphasise (maybe not as successfully as hoped) was that Lex was willing to actually, truly, let her die for his plan if it came to it. That to me was the motivation she had (if any could be found) compounded by witnessing Lex's explanation of his plan to Lois and then of course seeing the beating Superman gets. I was hoping by having the slap scene kind of by itself instead of being the prologue to the "rock" cutting scene, that this point was a bit more obvious.

In Superman, Miss Teschmaker betrayed Lex because he was willing to let her mother die. In Superman Returns, Kitty betrayed Lex because he was willing to let her die.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know my thought processes on the change you may not have agreed with and really appreciate you taking the time to give feedback.

That is the first I have heard about the audio. Most of the audio levels did remain unchanged from the sources. If you get the chance, play it in 5.1 and see if that improves things.
 
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I'm an eternal idealist...the world conditions us to be pragmatic and cynical...but secretly i fight that urge...the superman i grew up with is changing...when i saw man of steel, i felt like the re-telling of his origin was a bit redundant, but taken seriously...i did feel i saw something big and, at times, poignant - but i didn't leave the theater uplifted...kal-el had to save himself before he could save the world, and this was his first time using his powers to such an extent - so i get it...i do like reeve's superman/kent, but not all the films he was in, but himself in particular...i thought his battle against himself in superman 3 is highly underrated...so funny how people got crazy about him losing his undies, but never said anything about ripping the "s" off his shirt and throwing it a goon in superman 2...i do feel his colors are too muted and dark, and the tome of the film went that way...will lois be shown with a huge scar now moving forward?...will superman ever get the longer hair from the late 80s?...will superman smile more and save more people in the next film??? i am really looking forward to seeing your edit of super returns on blu ray or hd format. the story was not presented in a linear fashion and should included him searching for krypton and perhaps something that explains his absense to himself was mere weeks, but to us - five years, due to how fast he was traveling in his ship? i don't know...let me know how i get a copy from you in hd, if you'd be so kind..i know somehwere in returns is something that made me feel uplifted...
 

ssj

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rebue, posted on Ieffedyo'DB:

I didn't care much for Superman Returns when I saw it in the theaters. Man of Steel was considerably worse, as the batmanization of supes seemed both unnecessary and tonally wrong.

The latter film was so disappointing that it revised my opinion of Superman Returns. Underneath the crappy crap, Returns has strengths—some channeling of Christopher Reeve's charm, set design with an art deco flavor, a sense of awe here and there.

Tomahawk flushed away some of the crap, thereby creating a very watchable version. The first half of the fanedit was masterful in pulling me into an alternate-reality version of Superman '78. I fucking felt the magic. I wish the second half could have been like that, but it felt too similar to the theatrical product, could have used some streamlining. (Digression/for example—never did like the scene of Lois pulling supes out of the depths, since the guy weighs a ton or so.)

Still, I like this fanedit, as it gives me a really nice way to enjoy the C. Reeve + J. Williams vibe outside of actually watching a C. Reeve film. And now that we know it's possible to suck all charm out of a supes blockbuster, I appreciate even more the work Tomahawk put into recovering what turns out to be a much better film than the studio put out.

Enjoyjoy: 8+ pelvic aerothrusts

p.s. I had the same issue as bubblywater re: sound.
 

tomahawk

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ssj said:
rebue, posted on Ieffedyo'DB:

I didn't care much for Superman Returns when I saw it in the theaters. Man of Steel was considerably worse, as the batmanization of supes seemed both unnecessary and tonally wrong.

The latter film was so disappointing that it revised my opinion of Superman Returns. Underneath the crappy crap, Returns has strengths—some channeling of Christopher Reeve's charm, set design with an art deco flavor, a sense of awe here and there.

Tomahawk flushed away some of the crap, thereby creating a very watchable version. The first half of the fanedit was masterful in pulling me into an alternate-reality version of Superman '78. I fucking felt the magic. I wish the second half could have been like that, but it felt too similar to the theatrical product, could have used some streamlining. (Digression/for example—never did like the scene of Lois pulling supes out of the depths, since the guy weighs a ton or so.)

Still, I like this fanedit, as it gives me a really nice way to enjoy the C. Reeve + J. Williams vibe outside of actually watching a C. Reeve film. And now that we know it's possible to suck all charm out of a supes blockbuster, I appreciate even more the work Tomahawk put into recovering what turns out to be a much better film than the studio put out.

Enjoyjoy: 8+ pelvic aerothrusts

p.s. I had the same issue as bubblywater re: sound.

Thanks for the review ssj! Really appreciate your comments.

Good point about the Lois thing. I like how she gets to save him for a change, but the execution of that idea was definitely flawed.
 

ssj

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tomahawk said:
Thanks for the review ssj! Really appreciate your comments.

Good point about the Lois thing. I like how she gets to save him for a change, but the execution of that idea was definitely flawed.

thanks for creating the edit and spreading cinema heppiness, tom o' the hawk!
 
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