Man of Steel Movie Review
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Well – I guess I’m not entirely huge on Superman – I’ve read some comics with the iconic hero, watched the entire 10 seasons of Smallville and some of the films here and there – but above all, I’m not immersed into the character and familiar with much of the property. I watched Man of Steel in Europe… I thought it wasn’t anything above “meh…” Second time I watched it… I thought it was okay… third time… I was like “this is damn good”… and fourth time around, yesterday, and I freakin love this film!
The Dark Knight is credible for venturing outside of the Comic Book Movie Genre and into Crime Thriller Territory, CA: The Winter Soldier is credible for venturing outside of the Comic Book Movie Genre and into Spy Thriller Territory… and now… I credit Man of Steel for venturing outside of the CBM Genre and into Sci-Fi territory. So although it’s inspired off of a comic book, above all, it’s a modern superman representation – it’s a Sci-Fi film with generic elements thrown in and it works damn well…
There’s aliens, there’s battle ships, there’s destruction, there’s extra-terrestrial forces and fortresses, and overall… watching this film… it made me feel like an 8 year old reading a comic book that’s blowing my freakin mind with all the spectacle. The CGI and visual effects in this film were masterfully crafted – the battle sequences between Superman and Zod towards the end of the film are some of the best in CBM history – Zack Snyder has set the bar remarkably high.
A critique I’ve found in several critics is the “generic block buster territories” or “generic dialogue” but whatever, it’s Superman, he’s cheesy, he’s cliché, and it’s a Sci-Fi action film – it works well here and doesn’t seem out of place. The dialogue in the film is rather simple, and overall I liked it. Zack Snyder and the writers have seriously done a great job in modernising Superman – how an alien from another world would exist in this day and age – and although other’s complained it was “too dark” or “too dry” and “without humour”… well… there was humour. Not much, but when there was humour – it didn’t feel out of place.
Maybe I also love this movie to death so much because of the wonderfully constructed arc for the character of Clark Kent/Superman. This is basically, for the most part, Clark Kent’s origins into becoming Superman – the non-linear storytelling works here, the past and present tangle and untangle, and by the end of the film, there wasn’t a “what the heck?” or anything of the sort, it wasn’t convoluted and it’s pretty simple to put everything together – but Clark’s arc is damn great…
Basically – his life as a kid… he’s been pushed around, bullied, told off, cursed… and he hasn’t been able to do just about anything about it. He’s beat to a ground and against the fence – unable to lash out and hit the guys pushing him around although he wants to hit them “so bad.” But it’s Clark Kent – nonetheless, he was raised by his parents with morals… with a regard for human life… and throughout the film – Clark Kent basically has the morals of the real Superman. He saved those kids in the bus and dragged Pete Ross out of the water – he saved those guys in the “Oil Rig” scene (which for the record, is brilliantly done)… and that’s basically Superman… he was raised with good morals and that’s why he became a hero.
I know others find it silly that Clark Kent let his father die in the tornado – but seriously, I can’t concede the issue with that. Clark Kent trusts his father and that’s that – this is what his father would want, and this is how it’s gonna go – but eventually, he’s free to forge his own destiny – which is why he exposes himself to those guys at the Oil Rig to save their lives. I liked Clark Kent as an itinerant worker – throwing him into different environments and we’re given an insight on how he handles them: he’s thrown into the Antarctic, in a ship as a fisherman, and in a bar… and basically, he just doesn’t fit in and feels alienated…
This film deals with Clark Kent’s struggles to fit into the world – depicting how an alien would struggle to fit into the real word, how an alien would fit into today, not how an alien would exist in a fantasy world. Many go on about how Clark Kent didn’t go through character development throughout the film, and if you think that… well… there’s a great deal of character progression and in the end, I understood Clark’s origins, background and motives rather well. Basically, he’s raised with good morals, struggling to fit in, father dies, he’s free to forge his own destiny but he’s lost in the world, he finally finds his birth father… finally finds his place in the world… finally understands his destiny and what he’s destined for… then Zod threatens the world and he’s burdened with responsibility. Yep – that’s basically it and it’s great.
Clark Kent in this movie is a well written protagonist – as another review explained, he’s basically a combination of Tom Welling’s Portrayal of the character and Christopher Reeve’s Depiction of Superman, and as that other reviewer also explained – it helps because those adaptations/depictions have both got huge fanbases, and they’re both really great and iconic. I liked how he wasn’t a man of many words – because in all honesty, I’m sick to death of the same sort of protagonist in every single film – it’s nice to find a protagonist who isn’t really good with words. Okay – I’ve spoken enough about Clark… but that’s basically because he’s the primary focus of the film…
Amy Adams’s Lois Lane is good – not up there with Erica Durance’s great take on the character, but good nonetheless – her portrayal wasn’t sexist, she was independent, a fleshed out character with her own goals – she’s a character and not a character’s girlfriend. The romance dynamic between Lois and Clark is admittedly forced… but overall, it’s a Sci-Fi film and I couldn’t care less about the romance in here and it’d bog the film down with their main focus being Clark’s journey and for a first outing, it’s good. I found Lois likeable – she remained loyal and sympathetic to Clark till the end – she wouldn’t reveal his identity and location to the world although it was in freakin danger!
General Zod is a stellar, well done antagonist – Michael Shannon is well casted and stole almost every single scene he’s in. I like General Zod because he’s a nice contrast to Clark Kent/Superman – Superman is a man who is free to forge his own destiny, whilst General Zod is obliged because of duty, not because of choice – he’ll go to almost any length to insure the survival of his race. Seriously – Zod’s motivation is up there – if not surpassing – Michael Fassbender’s Magneto – Shannon brought a menacing, haunting feel to the character – and the costume/armour were nailed. Also – for the record, I seriously loved the horror like “you are not alone” sequence.
Also – Faora was fantastic and sexy in every single scene she was in – she too was a show stealer, I’m pretty sure she’s already become a fan favourite and this movie was released about a year ago. Not sure if others did, but I liked the “either you do, or I do” scenario in the (overlong) climax to Man of Steel – they’d already set that up, one of the two had to die. For Christ’s sake – Zod was committed to his cause – he is genetically engineered to fight to his death for Krypton’s survival. I liked Superman snapping Zod’s neck – and in all honesty – there wasn’t an alternative. Zod would’ve killed those people… he’s two the point of no return because he’s engineered that way… and it sets up Superman’s morals even further. Simply put – it nicely sets up the next film and develops this character’s hatred for killing rather well and I’m hoping it’ll play well in the upcoming sequel – Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
As explained before – the CGI and combat sequences were the greatest, if not the best, in CBM history – it was nicely displayed… the combat between Superman, Zod and his accomplices are, simply put, stunning. Snyder places the camera in angles you’d never place before. Although the action sequences stun and the spectacle may be some of the best on comic book film – the climax dragged for around 50 minutes long – I would’ve liked the climax to be shorter, and although I thought it was over long, it was engaging nonetheless. So yes, at times, it was eye candy… like… a lot of eye candy – but the battles and encounters were engaging. It’s strange that GOTG had the same amount of action as MOS did – if not more – and I’m not overly sure anyone complained about that – but with MOS… almost everyone will complain there’s too much action. Yes – there is, but it didn’t detract too much from the overall experience – because they understood and progressed the narrative for a good amount of time and the pacing was brisk and nicely done nonetheless…
On another note – The Flight Scene is one of the greatest scenes in CBM… ever… the atmosphere… the amazing Hans Zimmer sound track that blew us out of the water… wow… admittedly, I might’ve liked Hans Zimmer to approach his own take on the classical Superman theme… although Zack Snyder is modernising the character of Superman, reinventing him into the real world with a gritty tone and it mightn’t have worked completely well. The score ranks with, if not surpassing, Hans Zimmer’s work in TDK trilogy. Well… too each has their own…
The story was great and I loved the originality – the narrative works well and the whole concept of the codex, Zod’s motivation for going after Superman and how it all came together was brilliant – overall, not many flaws, with the storyline and how they approached it. The cast was good for the most part – although, in all honesty, some poorly written lines here and there let them down. Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Jor-El etc. etc. all do great in their respective roles and I’m looking forward for each of them to return in BvS: Dawn of Justice, so long as their role is relative to the sequel.
Verdict
Overall – although there was an overload of action at times and some of the dialogue here and there wasn’t really well written – the narrative, protagonist, action sequences and arcs were seriously great – Man of Steel will become a classic – certainly the best of all Superman films and my all-time favourite CBM amongst others. I’m looking forward to Batman v. Superman Dawn of Justice – hope you enjoyed the review, feel free to leave your comments and share your thoughts below! Thanks for reading!
9/10
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