Man of Steel

[riddler]

my review will be pretty much spoiler free:

The Good: the film really explored the theme of inner conflict. Clark, Lois, her editor, and both sets of Clarks parents all have difficult choices to make about whom they want to be and what their motives should be, they often question what the right thing to do is. The acting itself is outstanding, all the major characters hold up. General Zod was a strong villain, he was multi-layered and not just pure evil; he had his agenda but was hoping Superman joined him rather than simply wanting to beat him. Despite being underwhelmed by the film, the ending was strong enough to make me excited for a sequel.

The bad: Suffers from many of the flaws as the dark knight rises; very little heart and fun. My theatre laughed only once and it was a very small chuckle. It did take an awfully long time to get some action in, the pacing was weak. The musical score was severely underwhelming. Often in superhero films, the city and setting itself becomes an important character in the film but Metropolis as well as Smallville were severely underdeveloped.


The verdict; Editing and running time become drawbacks but not to the extent of the Dark Knight; Man on steel does cover quite a few plot points and solid ground albeit takes two and a half hours to do so. 5/10

[The Joker]

You might want to check out Byrne's Superman run then, because he basically made a Marvel character out of Supes. He doesn't change much drastically, but the most significant and best change (aside from powering Supes WAYYYY down) was making Clark just a regular guy. It's that take on Clark that influenced Dean Cain's portrayal and Bruce Timm's. It makes perfect sense. He was raised as Clark. It's not like when he finds out about his true heritage, his personality changes and he's suddenly all boring and formal and Kryptonian.

With Superman, there's essentially a couple of ways he's been often depicted in the books for years now. One way, and this one centers on the Pre-Crisis Superman especially, is something along the lines of a "archetype play". Where basically, the character was more of a representative of psychological archetypes and/or symbolic of things beyond himself.

The Superheroes genre, following Stan Lee's reinvention of the genre, became more "psychologically realistic". To which the workings of a character's mind and personality are brought to the forefront, and ultimately, the main thrust of the story. By doing that, superheroes in general, some more quickly than others, became more psychologically realistic on what was previously a more archetypal form.

With John Byrne's 1986 MOS limited series, the direction was decidedly much more the latter, than the former, and was met as a commercial success. With it's influence being easy to spot in other mediums pertaining to Superman, be it in the animated form, tv series, or in Snyder's Man of Steel movie. Make no mistake about it, there is still some displeasure by some fans with the changes Byrne implemented on Superman, but all in all, the limited series did it's job by reigniting interest in Superman at a crucial time.

[BatmAngelus]

Just got back from it.  As I told a friend, Superman Returns was criticized for being boring and lacking action, so instead, this one gave us boring action.  I know Nolan didn't direct this, but his DNA was all over it and his approach to superhero films is getting incredibly tiresome.

I'll go more into my thoughts later, but here's a link about the current hot-button debate on the finale:
http://badassdigest.com/2013/06/15/why-the-destruction-in-man-of-steel-matters/

[DocLathropBrown]

Just got back from it.  As I told a friend, Superman Returns was criticized for being boring and lacking action, so instead, this one gave us boring action.  I know Nolan didn't direct this, but his DNA was all over it and his approach to superhero films is getting incredibly tiresome.

I literally laughed out loud over "...Returns was criticized for being boring and lacking action, so instead, this one gave us boring action." Still laughing. Good show!

[greggbray]

This is a film I had been excited for--but then the early trailers made it appear to earnest, and rather dull. As if 'dark' and 'thoughtful' were somehow synonymous.  The first action-oriented trailer had me excited, so I skipped everything else--I wanted this to be an experience unhampered by any kind of expectation.  But then I got spoiled. It's ok.  Not a big deal.  But I know the ending. Having had major bits spoiled for me (though I tend to avoid those), I skipped it this weekend, and don't know if I'm going to see it in the theater.  I don't need IMAX 3-D, razzle dazzle, just a good story told well.  Not sure if this delivers from what I'm reading.  Jett at BOF likes it, which is another red flag....
colorsblend, have you seen it?

[riddler]

.  Jett at BOF likes it, which is another red flag....

The entire film could have been Clark sewing his suit and BOF would have called it a masterpiece due to Nolans name being attached.

[The Laughing Fish]

.  Jett at BOF likes it, which is another red flag....

The entire film could have been Clark sewing his suit and BOF would have called it a masterpiece due to Nolans name being attached.

Nolan could film himself taking a dump, release it in IMAX, and people would still call it a masterpiece. I've never seen such fanatical fandom for such an undeserving director in my whole life. 

[Paul (ral)]

It is a good film. But it's not A grade. Yes it does make mistakes with the character, but he's not in his element in the story yet. As Zod points out...he's had no training.

I'm hoping the criticisms influence the sequels...though I fear arrogance might prevail.

[greggbray]

They are very arrogant filmmakers, that's the other part of the equation I don't care for...

I may see it, but I'm bracing myself for the ending.  It's an ending I don't need to see. 

[BatmAngelus]

I'm going to expand on my thoughts now and keep them as vague as I can for those who haven't seen it yet.

Picture the first hour or so of Superman: The Movie.  You've got the doomed Krypton.  Zod being sent off into the Phantom Zone with his minions.  Jor-El begging the council that the planet is doomed.  The Jor-El and Lara good-bye scene to their child before sending him off.  The destruction of Krypton as the ship goes to Earth.  Young Clark Kent feeling like an outcast, being mistreated by his peers, and frustrated that he can't take out his anger on them.  Pa Kent lecturing him that he was sent here for a reason.  The death of Pa Kent, which instills Clark with guilt for being unable to save him.  Clark discovering the spaceship he was sent in and that he's an alien.  Clark going up north in the snow and discovering his true heritage by meeting a hologram consciousness version of Jor-El, who tells him about Krypton and gives him the Superman suit.

Got it?  Now picture Batman Begins.  We start out in the past when the main character is just a child, then flashforward to when he's a grown man and he's a bearded drifter.  Right after meeting this grown-up version, we gets a nice sequence that shows off his skills and he eventually heads up into the mountains to meet a bearded father figure, who waxes philosophical and provides him a path in life.  Out in the snow, our hero learns more of the skills that will help him become the superhero we know and love.  Eventually he returns home to the remaining adoptive parent figure in his life.

During all this, we've got flashbacks to his childhood and see his father teach him lessons shortly before a major tragedy hits him and the family.  The main character feels guilty for what happens and it's affected his actions ever since.

Alright, you probably get the point.  Combine the above together, shift the order around a bit, and I've pretty much described the first hour of Man of Steel by using two other movies.  And the thing is, I like how those two movies did it better. 

At least in Batman Begins, Bruce was doing something in present day, so you felt some forward momentum between the flashbacks.  Here, though, the only thing that happens between two flashbacks is Clark getting out of water and finding clothes.

Man of Steel, in a nutshell, is Superman done through the lens of the Dark Knight Trilogy, with Snyder's explosive action brought to the max.  In the interviews leading up to the movie, I kept hearing the filmmakers ensure that Superman isn't Batman.  Superman is about hope.  The only similarity would be the "What if this character really existed?" approach.

And yet, the movie is, without a doubt, the darkest Superman film yet, right in line with the Batman approach.  In spite of a few lines of dialogue, it's really tough to buy that any of this movie is about hope when half of Metropolis gets leveled and the climax ends with Superman sobbing (and no, it's not out of joy).

Another example I'm going to use is that there's a tornado scene in Smallville.  This isn't really anything new.  We saw this in the Smallville TV show, when they used it as the Season 1 finale cliffhanger.  Superman For All Seasons used it to have Clark realize that he could use his powers to save people.  Secret Origin uses it for Clark to discover flight when he saves Lana.

But how does Man of Steel use a Smallville tornado?  To kill off a character.

Mind you, there's nothing inherently wrong about these choices.  But it's disappointing since I didn't find this darker approach to be necessary at all.

On top of that, as I said previously, Nolan's DNA is all over this.  Again, it's not necessarily a flaw, but since we've seen it before, it doesn't feel fresh at all.  Aside from the Batman Begins flashback approach to Clark's backstory, you've got Hans Zimmer's pounding, relentless score. 

With the exception of Krypton, there's the dullifying of familiar comic book elements.  For example, the Daily Planet.  The bullpen here looks like any other office.  And this has to feature the most mellow versions of Lois and Perry that I've ever seen.

There's the superhero causing tons of property and collateral damage in the action scenes (whether Clark/Superman will learn from this remains to be seen.  Batman certainly didn't learn after endangering cops in Begins when he blew up more cars in Dark Knight). 

Much like Begins, there's the supporting characters practically guiding the main character's path to becoming a superhero at the risk of him becoming reactive. 

Also, remember how Nolan's trilogy had a ton of intercutting away from Batman with action involving side characters?  It's here, too.  Just with alien villains this time and a different Zimmer score booming through the sequences.

And then, of course, there's the controversial ending.  It's honestly nothing that Batman fans haven't seen before from Nolan (though funny enough, he's reported to have been against the creative decision).  But to see it close out the first Superman movie of a potential franchise is, again, disappointing.

Now, there are still some elements that I liked.  I thought any scene with Crowe's Jor-El was solid.  I got chills in the "You can save them.  You can save all of them" scene (that you can see in the Nokia trailer). 

I actually thought the dark/drabness of the film was appropriate for Krypton since it's a doomed planet and they did everything they could to separate the look of it from the ice planet of the Donner film. 

Lois Lane felt much less of a damsel in distress than in past interpretations and gets to have some action of her own. 

We also got to see Clark experience his first flight, which was awesome- something we hadn't seen in the Christopher Reeve movie and was played very well by Cavill.  Likewise, my next favorite Superman moment has to be when he gains acceptance from the military.

Goyer's take on Kryptonians needing adapt to their powers on Earth was cool, too.

But all of this gets weighted down, for me, by the tiredsome action sequences and destruction in the second half.  Much like The Dark Knight Rises last year, it feels like they tried so much to hit you with multiple things happening onscreen that they forgot to make you give a damn about it.  By the time we got to the final Superman and Zod fight, I just didn't care anymore.