Post #342304

I just finished watching the Son of Jor-El prerelease/rough cut (basically this is like the version they would give to test audiences, I imagine) on my Sony HDTV hooked up to my computer.  It was the best Superman movie that I've ever seen, mostly because you took the best parts of the best Superman movies and put them together in a fantastically logical fashion, with a near-flawless sense of storytelling and style (I have read the entire thread, so I was keeping the various things in mind that you mentioned) that I haven't seen in a fanedit in a really really long time, if ever.  The way you combined the two narratives into one, I thought, was brilliant, and everything just felt like it fit together where it should.  Of course, I wasn't trying to watch as a critic, just as a fan of Superman, and so that probably will make my love for it much more effusive than if I was looking for errors, but on casual viewing, nothing really jumped out at me as missing, except for when Zod burns the one guy.  I do wish that there was some way to supplement East Houston with scenes of the supervillians tearing up Washington DC, with the four-star general being there instead.

My favorite edit (that I noticed): the tanker heat beam vs. cold breath sequence.  The way you handled Luthor's introduction and the encounter with Superman where he explains his plan was also handled very well, the intercutting really ramped up the tension here.  The way you brought out the parallels between the two films by joining them together really excited me too.  And the ending!  Fantastic!

Speaking of tension... when you watch a movie enough times, it doesn't affect you like it used to, and the Superman films are examples of that for me.  I don't feel worried for Superman during his battles and I don't feel as excited as I used to when I watch Superman and Superman II -- they're old, comfortable favorites.  Watching Son of Jor-El was like seeing Superman for the first time.  I gasped, I shrieked, I laughed and celebrated as if it was all new and fresh.  It's not just because it's a fanedit -- I've watched good Superman edits before (the ADM edits, a few others), but none of them thrilled me like Son of Jor-El.  Come to think of it, this was more fun than when I first saw Superman Returns.  (and when it comes to SR, most of my problems with that film would be fixed with a single change; that Jason isn't Clark's son -- that was the way the novelization was, and I was suprised at how that simple change almost completely fixed the story)

Can't wait to see the final release.

Galen/guitarfan01

P.S.  I'll try to watch it again sometime soon so I can be a little more objective and critical, but I wanted to get the initial "you're a genius" reaction out there too.  One helps with the final product, one helps with the motivation.