Man of Steel had many good runs, but never the homerun
So, last night I went to see Man of Steel. While never been a fan of the character, I've been intrigued by the movie, especially by the let down that is Superman Returns. After seeing the trailer, I admit my expectation soared. It was great, and give me hope that this new interpretation of Superman was going to give me the kind of boost that the Batman franchise got with Batman Begins.
And there's my mistake.
The intention of making 'Steel' the 'Begins' of Superman franchise is there, but the story and the execution is not. I'm not going to outright say that I hate the movie, because I'm not, but it feels there's a HUGE opportunity missed here by DC/WB.
It started so well. With the introduction of Jor-El (Superman father to those who don't know, played by Russel Crowe) and General Zod and the whole Krypton council and world. This Krypton is remarkable, really feel like an alien world with alien technology. It seems, taking cues from John Byrne stories of the Superman comics in the 80s, that everyone on Krypton was genetically engineered to serve a purpose. No one was born naturally anymore, all was done with machines to produce engineers, leaders, soldiers, scientist, etc. No one, except Kal-El.
In this version, Kal was born naturally, without any programming on what he supposed to be. General Zod, (Michael Shannon) was livid. He tried to kill Jor-El, as he saw this as a heresy, a violation of Krypton way. Zod eventually failed and was sentenced to Kryptonian version of the Blackgate, the Panthom Zone. Meanwhile, Jor-El already sent this son to Earth, knowing that Krypton will soon be destroyed.
It was really well done, and I really like Crowe as Jor-El, and Shannon as Zod. The next part was I think were the weakest part of the movie. It was Clark self discovery journey, as he travel the world trying to find any clues about who he is, and how he learn to master his (super) powers. It was told in flashbacks, similar on Bruce Wayne journey in Batman Begins. But it didn't have the kind of execution that Begins have. In Begins, you understand why Bruce did what he did. It was naturally progressed from wanting to kill Chill himself, to finally understand that revenge is not the same as justice. In Man of Steel, Clark journey was just.. there. We learn that he was forced to hide his powers, we learn how he control it, we learn that he was destined to be something greater (this was mentioned by both his fathers). But we never learn why he choose to use his powers for good. We never learn how Superman got this extremely strong morality that separate him from other heroes. All this because I feel the parts with the Kents is the weakest part of the movie.
What we got here instead is a Jonathan Kent who was okay to leave other people died so that his son powers was not discovered by anyone else. Sure we got Mr. Kent throwing up wise tidbits here and there. But it's never strong enough to made me believe that 'oh yeah, that's how Clark learn his lessons'. All that made Pa Kent's death not as big an impact as it supposed to be, especially the way it was done. Both the Kents was not used properly and it really hurt this movie. It's frustrating when you see got the kind of talent they got to potray them (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane). And this goes to most characters in the movie, most of them are without the proper build up, so you end up care less about the character.
The action scenes was great though, and was one of the highlight of the movie. It was really well done to show the amount of threat when an army of super power beings wanted to wreck havoc on Earth. The fights scenes was excellent, although I have reservation that Superman seems to ignore any collateral damage that endangered civilian life. But I don't have any reservation about the ending. Supes killing Zod was really well done, and Cavill nails it perfectly.
I thought the casting was also great. Cavill really looks the part. His body language, his voice, all just screams Superman. Amy Adams I thought did the best she could given what she got, and for once we got a Lois who is charming and smart enough to be a Pulitzer winning journalist.
All in all, it was a decent movie with some good parts in it, but never really hit that spot of a really good movie. It's like WB/DC understand that Returns didn't really nail it because it's too faithful to Donner version of Superman. Not enough action, they say. We want Superman to really punch someone they say. All valid points. But the filmmakers seems was going too much in the other direction.
Another thing that I find ironic. Most reviews I read was that Man of Steel was too much like Batman. Too dark, to gloomy. However, The Dark Knight trilogy is really about hope and inspiration. It was hammered many times during all three movies. Bruce said it best in Begins, that he wanted to be an inspiration, a force of good, someone who could inspire the people of Gotham to do the right thing, and to do that he needs to become a symbol. And in Rises, it was shown that the people of Gotham finally stood up and fought Bane's thugs, helping Batman to defeat them.
Superman in the comics is seen as the symbol of hope. Many stories was told that Superman is an example of the best we can be. He's the inspiration of how to do the right thing even in the most difficult situations. Man of Steel tried to do that, but ironically can't do it as good as Batman, a character that is not known for hope or inspiration.
Anyway, I still have hope. WB/DC already green light the sequel, so let's hope they do it better next time.
And there's my mistake.
The intention of making 'Steel' the 'Begins' of Superman franchise is there, but the story and the execution is not. I'm not going to outright say that I hate the movie, because I'm not, but it feels there's a HUGE opportunity missed here by DC/WB.
It started so well. With the introduction of Jor-El (Superman father to those who don't know, played by Russel Crowe) and General Zod and the whole Krypton council and world. This Krypton is remarkable, really feel like an alien world with alien technology. It seems, taking cues from John Byrne stories of the Superman comics in the 80s, that everyone on Krypton was genetically engineered to serve a purpose. No one was born naturally anymore, all was done with machines to produce engineers, leaders, soldiers, scientist, etc. No one, except Kal-El.
In this version, Kal was born naturally, without any programming on what he supposed to be. General Zod, (Michael Shannon) was livid. He tried to kill Jor-El, as he saw this as a heresy, a violation of Krypton way. Zod eventually failed and was sentenced to Kryptonian version of the Blackgate, the Panthom Zone. Meanwhile, Jor-El already sent this son to Earth, knowing that Krypton will soon be destroyed.
It was really well done, and I really like Crowe as Jor-El, and Shannon as Zod. The next part was I think were the weakest part of the movie. It was Clark self discovery journey, as he travel the world trying to find any clues about who he is, and how he learn to master his (super) powers. It was told in flashbacks, similar on Bruce Wayne journey in Batman Begins. But it didn't have the kind of execution that Begins have. In Begins, you understand why Bruce did what he did. It was naturally progressed from wanting to kill Chill himself, to finally understand that revenge is not the same as justice. In Man of Steel, Clark journey was just.. there. We learn that he was forced to hide his powers, we learn how he control it, we learn that he was destined to be something greater (this was mentioned by both his fathers). But we never learn why he choose to use his powers for good. We never learn how Superman got this extremely strong morality that separate him from other heroes. All this because I feel the parts with the Kents is the weakest part of the movie.
What we got here instead is a Jonathan Kent who was okay to leave other people died so that his son powers was not discovered by anyone else. Sure we got Mr. Kent throwing up wise tidbits here and there. But it's never strong enough to made me believe that 'oh yeah, that's how Clark learn his lessons'. All that made Pa Kent's death not as big an impact as it supposed to be, especially the way it was done. Both the Kents was not used properly and it really hurt this movie. It's frustrating when you see got the kind of talent they got to potray them (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane). And this goes to most characters in the movie, most of them are without the proper build up, so you end up care less about the character.
The action scenes was great though, and was one of the highlight of the movie. It was really well done to show the amount of threat when an army of super power beings wanted to wreck havoc on Earth. The fights scenes was excellent, although I have reservation that Superman seems to ignore any collateral damage that endangered civilian life. But I don't have any reservation about the ending. Supes killing Zod was really well done, and Cavill nails it perfectly.
I thought the casting was also great. Cavill really looks the part. His body language, his voice, all just screams Superman. Amy Adams I thought did the best she could given what she got, and for once we got a Lois who is charming and smart enough to be a Pulitzer winning journalist.
All in all, it was a decent movie with some good parts in it, but never really hit that spot of a really good movie. It's like WB/DC understand that Returns didn't really nail it because it's too faithful to Donner version of Superman. Not enough action, they say. We want Superman to really punch someone they say. All valid points. But the filmmakers seems was going too much in the other direction.
Another thing that I find ironic. Most reviews I read was that Man of Steel was too much like Batman. Too dark, to gloomy. However, The Dark Knight trilogy is really about hope and inspiration. It was hammered many times during all three movies. Bruce said it best in Begins, that he wanted to be an inspiration, a force of good, someone who could inspire the people of Gotham to do the right thing, and to do that he needs to become a symbol. And in Rises, it was shown that the people of Gotham finally stood up and fought Bane's thugs, helping Batman to defeat them.
Superman in the comics is seen as the symbol of hope. Many stories was told that Superman is an example of the best we can be. He's the inspiration of how to do the right thing even in the most difficult situations. Man of Steel tried to do that, but ironically can't do it as good as Batman, a character that is not known for hope or inspiration.
Anyway, I still have hope. WB/DC already green light the sequel, so let's hope they do it better next time.
posted by Chafid at
1:12 AM
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