First, I am not the biggest Superman fan. I mean he's okay, but he would not be in my top five super heroes of all time and probably would barely make it into the top ten. I understand his importance in comic book history, but he's just not the hero for me. I dislike how perfect and saint like he is. Also just overall I am not a big alien fan...unless your name is E.T.
Second, I dislike every movie Zach Snyder has made except Dawn of the Dead. Watchmen was boring. 300 was over rated and over acted. Sucker Punch was a good idea wasted and badly executed.
Third and probably the most important, I have no loyalty to any live action Superman property. Meaning, none of them have ever spoke to me. I get the Romanticism behind the Christopher Reeves movies but quite frankly they are cheesy and not that good. I respect what they have done and did for comic book movies but overall none of them are of a high quality in my mind. It could be I was too young when they were released (I was born the year the first one was released) to really get them, but even as a kid I thought the flying backwards thing around the earth to reverse time was hokey. With that said the theme song is absolutely perfect and was missed in this new film.
Lastly I have read no other review before writing this. I left the theater and wrote this before hearing or reading any other opinion on this movie. These are my initial views whether popular or completely off base from others. Like all movies I try to be true to how I feel about the movie on all levels and how it effected me.
Now that I have given you an idea of where I come from on this flick...here is my review of the film Man of Steel:
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| No, not this Steel but I wanted to remind you of its terrible existence. |
Here is the basic gist of the entire film:
It starts with an origin story of Superman (Henry Cavill). It flashes backward and forward between his youth and adulthood. We see him adapting and orienting himself on planet earth. This is after his birth mother (Ayelet Zurer) and Father (Russel Crowe) shoot him into Space because of the destruction of their planet Krypton. The death of their planet was caused by the evil General Zod(Michael Shannon) and the people of Krypton. Zod is imprisoned for his actions. Kal-el (Superman's Kryptonian name) then grows up with the burden of having powers and having to keep them a secret. Eventually he is called back to a ship that is on planet earth and has a replicated version of his birth father that explains his back story and planet. General Zod shows up to extract revenge, kill Kal-el and possibly resurrect his planet and race.
So there is the quick and dirty synopsis of what happens over the course of 2 and a half hours. There were things I loved and hated about this movies but overall I think it was a good basic stepping stone for more movies.
What I hated:
Let's start at the very beginning. I hated Krypton. It looked like a Star Wars like city,with Dragons. Like someone just mashed together their favorite movies when designing it. I find it hard to believe with technology like that people are riding dragons. That is like us today riding horses around the city for consistent transportation to travel to places instead of using cars. Massively absurd.
Then you have General Zod. I thought his character and presence was weak. I don't know if it was the actor or the script but I just thought it was mediocre. In a time where we have superhero villains like the Joker (Dark Knight) Loki (Thor and the Avengers) and Bane (The Dark Knight Rises) you can't just show up. You have to bring your evil A-game and Zod was forgettable.
Something that annoyed me the most is something that was subtle. One thing about Superman is how often he has been referenced in literature as being saint like. He has been compared to Jesus on numerous occasions and unfortunately I felt like this movie embraced that and mixed in subtle hints of it throughout the film. I disliked this mainly because that is why I don't love this character. I want flaws and normal problems. I got three references to Jesus through out the movie and this is coming from a non-religious guy. Keep in mind I have seen this movie once:
1) Superman is the First on Kypton to be conceived "Naturally" the exact opposite of an immaculate conception. I don't recall this in any other Superman movie but I could be wrong.
2) Zod references that it took him 33 years from when Superman was born for him to locate him on earth. That means at the exact same age Jesus is believed to have died and came back from the dead is also the same age Clark becomes Superman and starts helping people.
3) We find out that the codex (the one thing that can bring back Krypton back and it contains millions of lives) is embedded in Superman's DNA. So basically millions of people will not be born because Superman has to live and because of the sins of Kryptons race previously. So instead of dying for our sins like Jesus he is living because of the sins of Kryptonians.
I think we will hear about this again and someone will articulate it better then me at some point. If I caught this in only seeing the movie once someone much smarter then me with more of a religious background will catch it too.
So a couple more nit picky things: I didn't like Lois's hair. I know it's petty but she has black hair. I don't care what race actors are if they play certain characters. I think you have to cast the best actor not race, but I do care when it is something you can physically change, like hair. There were also no references to Justice League whatsoever. That makes me sad. There was also no PS (or as they call it now, a zinger) at the end of the film after the credits. Also disappointing.
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| This picture depicts the battle of Heat Ray Vision VS The Power of Fish |
Chris Keller, Toby Ziegler and Lieutenant Gata all in one shot on film. Though none of you will probably get all three references (Look them up) it was overwhelmingly cool to see all three of these actors on film together. All of them who played characters in Television shows I liked. I noticed peppered throughout this movie there were random shots of actors I recognized from TV. I thought this was cool.
Henry Cavill was perfectly cast. I didn't see it until I saw the movie but this guy embodies what Superman physically looks like. I thought he had an essence of all actors who played Superman before him but yet still had an original flare about him. Plus the ladies love this guy. Anything that gets ladies in the seats to watch comic book movies is alright with me. Even if it is gratuitous ab shots.
I also thought it was a great way to tell an origin story. I liked them flashing back and forth. It moved the action forward but also gave us the point of reference of his beginnings. This helped the movie flow different then similar movies.
Massive Spoiler here stop reading if you care:
Superman kills Zod. Look, as I already mentioned I don't know Superman all that well, but I love that he killed Zod. Why do I feel that way? Because guess who that will piss of in the future? You guessed it, Batman. That is his only rule and Superman broke it. I think this could foreshadow a great division and struggle in their partnership and I am excited for the future.
There was an oil tanker that said Lex corp. I need me some Lex Luthor and that tanker means he definitely exists. I am glad he wasn't in this movie but I hope he is in the next. He is as important to this franchise as the Joker is to Batman.
Overall:
I think the movie did what it needed to and we will see this as the start of something bigger. You can clearly see influences from other superhero movies. Obviously the overall tone is like Batman Begins and I feel like there is a Little bit of Iron Man thrown in there. Namely with Lois knowing his identity so early on in the progression of his story. I mean Clark Kent wasn't even really in the movie all that much. This movie will divide the fan base because I think this is one of the harder characters to portray as we saw with the failed Superman Returns. But I think this movie did the best with what they could in this superhero film hungry time. I am just hoping and waiting for the day a Justice League movie and DC cinematic universe exists like the Marvel Cinematic universe.
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| Someday... |
Boom! That's all folks! Be Super...man!
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