Fan cuts of JL

[The Laughing Fish]

As the thread title implies, there are disgruntled fans who have edited their own version of the movie; incorporating deleted trailer footage and Zimmer's score, as well as deleting the reshot scenes as much as they possibly can. There are three fan cuts circulating online. I've watched one of them, called the Ultimate Fan Cut. While it does the best it can to incorporate most of the deleted scenes into the film and replaces the most contentious scenes fans have complained about, e.g. the opening Superman mobile phone scene, the cut is still too choppy and awkward in some places. After all, it's extremely difficult trying to edit a movie without the proper equipment for sound mixing, or if some deleted scenes lacking in proper context to be a smooth transition. But anyway, let's move on.

Others have edited certain scenes to match what was apparently envisioned by Snyder. For example, the Superman resurrection scene was supposed to show Cyborg getting a vision of the future, which was the entire Batman sequence in BvS.

There's another edit by somebody where Cyborg gets the visions while interacting with the Mother Boxes in the final battle against Steppenwolf. It's not a great edit, but you can get the idea and a reminder that Batman's visions weren't just nightmares in BvS.

One edit which I think is an improvement is the rooftop scene where the team discuss with Commissioner Gordon about the Parademon sighting. It includes that great shot of Batman looking down from above as we saw in the trailer, and replacing Elfman's bland score with Junkie XL's Batman suite from BvS.

There's also re-editing of the entire tunnel scene. Batman's reshot dialogue was removed and replaced with the original 'My Turn' line from the trailer. I reckon it's an improvement too.

But the best edit I've seen would have to be Clark and Lois back at the farm, with Zimmer's music replacing Elfman's yet again. This time, the piano motif from MOS plays in the background.

Normally, I don't like watching recycled footage from previous movies, but I think repeating key scenes between Clark and Lois's relationship and his heroic sacrifice illustrate how he has fully recovered after being brought back to life, and it contains nice intimate callbacks from Snyder films. The editing of this scene did a far better job than the completed Ultimate Fan Cut, never mind the theatrical version.

I must confess, I never imagined that I would ever prefer Zimmer over Elfman in my lifetime. But his score in the first two DCEU films is leagues above what was delivered in JL. I know it's already been said a few times here on this forum, but looking at these fan edits, it's hard to deny it. It's sad, really.

[The Dark Knight]

I must confess, I never imagined that I would ever prefer Zimmer over Elfman in my lifetime. But his score in the first two DCEU films is leagues above what was delivered in JL. I know it's already been said a few times here on this forum, but looking at these fan edits, it's hard to deny it. It's sad, really.

Zimmer's work with the DCEU is fantastic. I also like him as a person, and have since begun to appreciate his other work. Elfman somehow lost the fire. I admire that Zimmer created a bunch of new themes and maintained himself in the superhero genre for so long. His audio landscape simply suits the new era of films in a much better way in comparison to Elfman. The torch was passed, and going back to Elfman was a regression.

[The Laughing Fish]

What annoys me is Elfman came out and admitted the score itself was a last minute job. He even compared the experience to working on an animated film, as he could only work with rough footage of JL. So why even bother wasting time and money on making a new score if it's going to be rushed and not up to par? Unless they couldn't for contractual reasons I'm not aware of, I don't see why they couldn't reuse the score from the last two Snyder films. Besides, if you listen to the official soundtracks of both movies, there was still a fair amount of material that didn't play in the films.

[thecolorsblend]

What annoys me is Elfman came out and admitted the score itself was a last minute job.

Wasn't that Whedon's call? Have to wonder wtf Whedon was thinking. It broke continuity with the previous movies, the end result was necessarily lackluster and it wasted a lot of time and work by Junkie XL, whose work probably could've been inserted into the movie fairly easily if Snyder's game plan had been adhered to.

Ridiculous...

[The Laughing Fish]

The most glaring scene that broke continuity to me would have to be Cyborg's body. In BvS, his cameo showed his right forearm, his entire mid-section and legs were amputated.

But when see Diana investigating him in JL, we see new footage of his entire right arm, torso, pelvis and his thighs intact with the rest of his body. How does this make any sense? I expect this bullsh*t from a stupid X-Men movie, since that franchise has no regard for continuity whatsoever.

Wasn't that Whedon's call? Have to wonder wtf Whedon was thinking.

There are a lot of things in the reshot footage that make me ask the same question now that I'm looking back.

• Reshooting scenes with unnecessary, bland quips. Including a dumb joke between Flash and Wonder Woman, which was the same joke Whedon copied from Age of Ultron.
• The rather good Batman opening scene gets spoiled as the burglar suddenly goes out of character, with Batman inexplicably letting him go. Lazy writing.
• Deleting footage of Clark Kent returning to the Fortress of Solitude and meeting Alfred, but opting for that awkward mobile phone scene with the awful CGI mouth. Yes, I understand that scene was supposed to be sentimental, but it's not more so than that other footage.
• Unnecessary removal of lines of dialogue as we saw from the trailers.

I'm aware it sounds like I'm jumping on the bandwagon against what we got, and that's something I don't want to do. But at the same time, when you look at these fan edits putting these scenes together, you can't deny there's a sense of feeling robbed. You look at that particular edit of Clark and Lois back at the Smallville farm, and it elicits a stronger sense of emotion than the film's version did.

I can't tell if Whedon was incompetent with finishing the rest of the film, or he was sabotaging it as much as he could. To suggest the latter would sound outrageous to me, if I didn't know about him never promoting the film on Twitter and allegedly liking a tweet that criticised the villain. In any case, it's hard to deny he was negligent. After his idiotic statement by asking if there was a 'sexier' word for failed, I'm glad he's gone.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm aware it sounds like I'm jumping on the bandwagon against what we got, and that's something I don't want to do. But at the same time, when you look at these fan edits putting these scenes together, you can't deny there's a sense of feeling robbed. You look at that particular edit of Clark and Lois back at the Smallville farm, and it elicits a stronger sense of emotion than the film's version did.

I can't tell if Whedon was incompetent with finishing the rest of the film, or he was sabotaging it as much as he could. To suggest the latter would sound outrageous to me, if I didn't know about him never promoting the film on Twitter and allegedly liking a tweet that criticised the villain. In any case, it's hard to deny he was negligent. After his idiotic statement by asking if there was a 'sexier' word for failed, I'm glad he's gone.

No need to walk back anything. You're dead right. I was anticipating JL like crazy and I still feel like I haven't seen it. Because we haven't. We've seen a Frankenstein amalgamation. The only time it felt remotely like a BvS sequel was when Zimmer's Krypton music was playing in the resurrection chamber. But that was a fleeting moment. As for Whedon, he's always been a despicable clown. But now he's basically been radicalized. I have no time for him and I hope he stays away from whatever is left of the DCEU. I've said it before - JL gets the job done but it will remain a scar.

[GoNerdYourself]

As far as fan edits go, they are tricky. The problem is they rely heavily on the released cut that has already been mixed and edited, meaning you have no coverage, very little options, music/sound effects to edit around, and nowhere near enough of the missing footage. The results are often sloppy, nearly unwatchable, and hardly an approximation of what Snyder's version would have been.

[The Laughing Fish]

As far as fan edits go, they are tricky. The problem is they rely heavily on the released cut that has already been mixed and edited, meaning you have no coverage, very little options, music/sound effects to edit around, and nowhere near enough of the missing footage. The results are often sloppy, nearly unwatchable, and hardly an approximation of what Snyder's version would have been.

You're right, but some die hard fans still try their hardest anyway. I don't begrudge them for it, far from it; it shows their passion and dedication. I've heard of somebody working on a fan edit titled "Black Suit Edition" for over six months now, and he re-edited the entire sequence of Batman's assault on Steppenwolf's base and getting the Parademons' attention. As you can see in the clip below, he used colour correction to change the scene's red filter to the original darker pallette, as it was seen in the original trailer for the movie, and replaced Elfman's score with music from the warehouse scene in BvS. Unsurprisingly, the scene looks as if it is from Snyder's real vision.



Speaking of colour correction, I wondered why Warner Butchers opted for that red pallette in the reshoots, and my guess is, the dickheads must've listened to the criticisms over the supposed lack of colour in MOS and BvS. I remember watching a few YouTube videos by pretentious jackasses who colour corrected scenes from MOS to make it brighter. To be honest, I wasn't such a big fan of the dull and drab colour of Smallville and Metropolis, but Krypton looked lively. But then again, I noticed that tons of people criticised Captain America: Civil War for lacking bright colours, which might explain why the MCU is oversaturated nowadays. It appears to be more of a trend, and not a criticism exclusive to the DCEU.

[thecolorsblend]

What annoys me is Elfman came out and admitted the score itself was a last minute job. He even compared the experience to working on an animated film, as he could only work with rough footage of JL. So why even bother wasting time and money on making a new score if it's going to be rushed and not up to par? Unless they couldn't for contractual reasons I'm not aware of, I don't see why they couldn't reuse the score from the last two Snyder films. Besides, if you listen to the official soundtracks of both movies, there was still a fair amount of material that didn't play in the films.

I'm coming back to this.

I'm on the record for not admiring Elfman's JL stuff. That's no secret. And yet, I can't help thinking an already bad situation was made worse by his insane deadline. Had Whedon not reshot so GD much, there's an argument that Elfman's work might've been stronger. If he'd been given a 90% locked picture a month or two earlier which needed only minor reshoots/additions, he might've produced something overall more effective.

We'll never know. But for as much I generally don't enjoy Elfman's stuff, I have to believe even he was capable of something better if he'd just been given the chance.

[GoNerdYourself]

I've heard of somebody working on a fan edit titled "Black Suit Edition" for over six months now, and he re-edited the entire sequence of Batman's assault on Steppenwolf's base and getting the Parademons' attention. As you can see in the clip below, he used colour correction to change the scene's red filter to the original darker pallette, as it was seen in the original trailer for the movie, and replaced Elfman's score with music from the warehouse scene in BvS. Unsurprisingly, the scene looks as if it is from Snyder's real vision.

That is such a vast improvement. They did a fantastic job re-editing the sound and switching out the music. Any idea if he's toning down the humor?