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 Hooston!". 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
