discostewart said:Im watching your cut right now and reeally enjoying it. You asked for feedback so here are theits i didnt like as much.A lways feel negative to say what you dont like so please take that if i havent commented on something its cause i loved it and thought 90% of it was great ! Also bear in mind its been years since ive seen the original so i going from memory.
Cool. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and am always up for hearing some thoughtful criticism while I'm still hammering down all the nails.
SPECIFICS
- i thought the first half of the movie (cd1) was seemlessly put together, i personally would prefer if it was edited down a bit as it takes quite a long time for us to get to the real main part of the story (zods arrival), not sure what edits u could make. (The flying scene with louis goes on for a while tho, particularly as we get another scene of this later on as they fly after niagra falls). But i just genuinally felt it needs alittle more cutting down to get the flow in line with modern cinema.
I hear you. But this movie is still his only origin movie, and the beginning serves a very specific purpose, and pace. I've shorted several scenes, including the destruction of Krypton. The beginning still is at this deliberate pace to contrast the quicker pace of the rest of the movie.
The flying scene is actually considerably shorter than in the original. I'm afraid cutting it further will ruin that scene. There has to be enough time for her to realistically seem to get comfortable with flying, so she can take the risk and then fall. The time after that fall is about as short as I could manage without it looking chopped up.
I'm always up for finding ways to shorten the run-time of the film, without taking out anything essential. Each scene left, especially in the first half, serves a purpose. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see what else can be cut without damaging the film.
* - you can tell you've paused frames for us to read the paper headlines at the start of cd2 it looks odd (unless this is a glitch on my copy)
Actually, that's an unfinished FX scene. I just put in temp photoshoped stills of how I want the newspaper to read. Making it move is probably the toughest FX shot I have left to do.
- you dont explain how lex luthor finds the north palace. Not sure how u can include it without the prison break tho.
Yeah, this is probably the biggest plot hole that I've created (even though it corrects even bigger plot holes). I've tried using dialog over their snowmobile trip to explain how he knows where to find the fortress, but none of it works.
But considering how Lex already seems to come up with knowledge out of thin air (like how does he know Kryptonite will hurt Superman? How does he know that meteorite that had fallen was Kryptonite? How does he know Superman can hear the higher frequencies, etc...), this really isn't that big of a plot hole. At least that's how I justify it to myself. :)
But if you have an idea of a solution, I'm up for hearing it (as long as it doesn't involve putting the prison scenes back in.)
As an aside,i never liked how he "magically" picks the crystal telling him about zod, in the original doesnt i take him some more time to find it ?
Yeah, in the original he tried one more crystal. But I think that scene is unnecessary.
Superman has no trouble operating it for the first time, apparently because the crystal subconsciously guided him to that. And at the end Lex gains, out of thin air, the knowledge of how to operate the molecule chamber.
In this scene Lex asks for Ms. T to hand him a specific crystal, which turns out to be the one about Zod. It's as if he knew what he wanted somehow.
My rationalilzation is that this Kryptonian technology is so highly advanced that the user interface has reached a state of perfection. Maybe the sound the crystals make is them communicating with whomever is using it, subconsciously instructing him how to get what he's want.
- i like the jump from the scene with zod et al burning the snake (15.25 on disc 2) with the snake on fire to the fire atniagra falls but it feels a bit inserted there. ie very short scene with no real plot furtherence. shouldnt this be part of when they come out of the water (as original?) ?
Actually the scenes weren't connected in the original either. But I will look into merging them because I agree that both are too short as it is.
* - why do u edit the krypton female arm wrestling the guy in the cafe? it doesnt explain why he gets thrown thru the window. also by editing the scenes there we dont really see zod getting increasingly impatient with weak humans, he just jumps to get "bored" with humans. It seems to jump too quickly to the army arriving.
I edited them out for a few reasons: 1) the acting in that scene is horrible. The hicks really ham it up, and it just doesn't fit in with the rest of the edit, 2) the way it was shot wasn't very cinematic, 3) they threaten to attack Ursa first, thus giving Zod justification for the throw, making the viewer sympathetic to them, when it's not necessary. This scene takes place soon after the moon scene, where they killed everyone for no reason. So them out of nowhere, throwing this guy through the wall isn't out of character.
I agree that my solution is a bit sudden and so not perfect. But I haven't come with a better one. Please give the original scene a watch and let me know if you have any suggestions on how to fix it: http://www.heathenofeden.com/zoddinersceneorigDIVX.avi
* - the gap between superman losinghis powers and wishing to regain them now seems too short, perhaps of rediting could suggest a longer passage of time?
Acctually, you'll be surprised to know that in the original Superman 2 there are 8 minutes 47 seconds between the scene where he loses his power and the scene where he's hiking back to the fortress to regain everything. In my version the time between is 11 minutes and 27 seconds.
- at 1:09(cd2) i would go straight from "good morning metropolis" to "just minutes ago" as the guy isnt a great actor nd this make sit seem to flow better in my view.
I'll give it another watch.
I LOVE the new ending (removal of time trvael and kiss, set up for the (awful) superman returns).
* Only commentis please "remove the to be conitNued".
Someone else mentioned that too, and I was against it. But after watching it over the weekend, I've come to the same conclusion. There's no need for it. It's out.
I hope u dont mind my suggestions. Its nearly my perfect version of superman ut if u dont agree with some of my comments then i will hapilly live with the nearly perfect version ;)
Thanks for the input. it's why I released this copy. It is very much appreciated.