Synopsis:

This cut does its best to drag the story back to Kal-El, a discovery, a threat, a solution. The rest is superfluous and has been jettisoned, or trimmed, as necessary. These cuts include less of the father figures, no genetic Kryptonians or 'first natural births', less Christ allegory, and a trim to some of the more excessive action beats.

Intentions:

Man Of Steel was a film of promise. The visuals of Snyder with the story telling prowess of Goyer/Nolan seemed like a slam dunk, but somewhere along the way the ball got dropped. In my opinion the casting of big name actors in supporting roles became a problem, the finished film has scenes that seem designed purely to give these star names a defining moment. Another element that felt a bit forced was the Christian allegory with Kal-El no longer being special because he's from another planet, but now being special even amongst his own people as the first natural born Kryptonian in an age. In this cut Kryptonians have children by doing the nasty, just like the rest of us. No genesis chamber. Hopefully this cleans up the narrative, strengthens the performances of all the actors, and makes the ride more fun for the audience.

Change List:

- The politicking and destruction of Krypton has been pretty much removed. As much as I liked the science fiction/fantasy elements it showed, it was not needed, everything in it is described by Jor-El later. The film starts with the birth of Kal-El, his parents putting him into his ship, Krypton exploding and the journey to Earth, all to music from the MOS soundtrack (Flight). Clark's story on earth is chronological but as a kid I've only included the classroom scene and the bus crash (and subsequent talks with Pa Kent). Pa Kent's 'maybe' is gone. The garage bully scene is gone, it was a nice scene but I wanted to keep the transition from Pa Kent telling Clark to find out his origins to... Clark as an adult in the truck stop hearing about an anomaly. - The oil rig scene is gone. Again, as nice as it was, it served no purpose. - Jor-El's chat with Clark is cut slightly. All references to Kryptonians being genetically birthed are removed, as is any reference to Clark being the 'first natural birth in millennia'. Also some of the more ernest nuggets from Jor-El are trimmed. - The most pointless death in cinema is removed, now Clark finds Lois at his father's grave and talks her into dropping the story, no flashback. Pa Kent died, the how is irrelevant. - Visit to the church is cut. The Christ metaphor has been minimised as much as possible. - After his chat with Zod in the dreamscape (What the hell is that supposed to be? A sixth dimension of exposition? Anyone?) he awakes alone strapped to the table, further chat with Zod about his father is removed. - Fight in Smallville has some minor tweaks, the first bullet strafe no longer has Superman jumping out of the way into a building, Faora-UI and Colonel Hardy no longer flirt. - Indian Ocean World Engine scene is now in two parts, rather than many. - The struggles of Jenny trapped in concrete is removed completely. - Zod now goes in search of Kal-El rather than for the genesis chamber. All the scenes involving the scout ship have been removed. - Once again, Faora-UI and Colonel Hardy don't flirt with each other before Hardy sends them into a dive. - Lois falls from the aircraft and is caught by Superman returning from Indian Ocean (no scout ship, so no Zod trying to shoot them down). - Kissing scene is dialogue free and more of a stolen moment than an awkward 'will you be my girlfriend' thing. - Zod and Superman fight is cut down in places. - Zod's eternal laser beams that can't seem to aim where he's looking have been cut drastically, he's dead before they even start warming up. - Lois's benediction of Superman is removed (the Flash must have given her a lift to the station, she arrives so quickly, but then, Zod's eye beams did go on for a while...). - The Tempered Cut added to the Man Of Steel title page. - Fanedit by DSM2337 added to Editor's credit page.

Additional Notes:

I used FCPX to edit. Started in November and finished in early February. Since then I have been trying to figure out how to make it available, had a few issues with FCPX and the 5.1 soundtrack when exporting, but found some tricks around the problem.

Other Sources:

Man Of Steel Soundtrack: Hans Zimmer Seasons: Chris Cornell

Special Thanks:

L8wtr for the technical advice regarding Macs. Who knows if I'm doing it right, but thanks to you both I'm getting it done.