Man of Steel Thread

[sa226]

Just came back from Man of Steel. I figure other movies have threads, why not this one?

First impressions? Really good movie. Really, really good. Is it a masterpiece? is it a 10\10? No. But I don't think it had to be.

This is mainly going to be random thoughts. I'll try to add spoilery stuff in tags, but my version of spoilery may be different than others.

I understand the mixed reviews, but I think they have more to do with hype and expectations. I haven't read many of the reviews, but what I don't understand is the common criticisms. Almost every critic complained about the never ending final act. I couldn't disagree more, I thought it was perfect. The fight with Zod got a little ridiculous at times, but it was still entertaining as hell.

If someone were to ask if Henry Cavill is about to be a huge star, my answer is maybe. Its kind of hard to explain, the way the movie is shot does not lend itself to superstar acting performances. What I will say is that he is perfect as Superman\Kal El. Light years ahead of Routh. He conveys everything that he needs to.

I don't know what the complaints are about Lois Lane. I thought that was the pleasant surprise of the movie. Amy Adams was great as Lois, and her role was excellent, maybe the best written role of the movie, the critics who say they missed the classic Clark Kent\Superman\Lois Lane stuff, needs to get their heads out of their asses, it was exactly what it needed to be.

Shannon as Zod was excellent as well. Probably the best actor in the movie, but like I said, the way the movie is shot it doesn't really lend itself to that. He is great in what he gets to do.

Russel Crowe was also a pleasant surprise as Jor El as well. Also a well written role.

The story was not groundbreaking, it didn't have to be and it wasn't supposed to be. It served its purpose and served it well.

The angst\heart of the film I thought was quite well done and it's something we havent really seen before from the character.

Apologies if this is spoilery, but to me the last 5 mins of the film perfectly sums up exactly what this film was supposed to do.

In scale and epicness this is a polar opposite from Batman Begins, but in everything else it is exactly Batman Begins. This is a reboot\origin 100% it just had that fell to it. We haven't seen that before, aside from a low budget television series, this part of the character hasn't really been explored before. Those people missing the charm and "lightness" of the donner films can go pound sand, they are looking in the wrong place. But I do believe that part of the character is coming, and there is tidbits in this film.

My general criticism is of the pacing of the movie. It jumps around a lot, it kind of slows down when you don't want it to and when you want it to slow down it picks it up. I think it needed some longer one shot, one angle scenes with dialogue to let the actors act. It just kept jumping and jumping, moving and moving. Second criticism is the lack of the Kents. I think the script's intent was to convey the importance of both the Kents and Jor El in who Clark would one day become, but it seems like they skimmed the Kents a bit. I could have done with less deadliest catch\Busboy and a bit more of the Kents. But that could be a result of my next point.

This is just a wild guess based on a shoddy memory, but I think the way they shot the "Earth Origin" may have something to do with the lawsuit between the Seigals and Shusters and DC comics\WB. I think DC may have lost the rights to certain parts of the origin story. I could be wrong though. I found it to be an interesting creative choice anyways.

I think I'll give it a solid 8.5\10. Not without its faults and some filming annoyances don't really detract from a very well thought out reboot. This is a fresh new take on Superman, but not too completely different.

This is probably ridiculous to say, but I don't think you can really judge just what they have done with the character until Man of Steel 2 comes out. I think the next one will define this generation of big screen Superman much like TDK defines Batman.

Random Spoiler thoughts:

Spoiler!

I think people may find Jonathan's death controversial, but I thought it was well done. Zods death however will probably be quite controversial. Is it sacrilige to have Superman kill someone? It may have been an unecessary way to pound home the point of Superman having to make a choice between Earth and Krypton

I guess there really isn't a fortress of solitude then, that ship got destroyed, so I wonder if we will see the fortress at all.

What the hell was the codex? Is there any significance to it being in his DNA? or is that just how Jor El decided to hide it.

The ending was great. Perfect.

[flamesfan6]

Spoiler!

The codex was that skull at the beginning of the movie that Jor-El stole. From how it was described it contained the genetic structure for the people of Krypton and could be used to create more Krpyton people using those chambers. For the significance of it being in his DNA, it's exactly that - to hide it

I thought it was a good movie, there are obviously some plot holes but tell me a movie that doesn't have a plot hole, it had a lot to cover in what was a long movie. For the first time for a 2.5 hour movie I actually didn't think it was too long of a movie for the content.

The fight scenes were really well done, great to watch. For the pacing, I'm the type of guy who actually likes flashbacks for the most part, I don't think I would of got the same affect if they did the flashbacks in a linear fashion and then just jumped to the scenes that triggered the flashback, I found them to be good tie-ins to the flashback.

Spoiler!

I'm really glad how they handled Lois finding Clark's identity and Clark being straight forward with her about who he is too, I never really liked the dancing around the is he or is he not superman thing that has been done to death, so for it to resolve like that in a nice way I found to be a good change to this movie.

I really liked it, I agree with the 8-9/10 score on the movie, not perfect.. but it's exactly what I was looking for.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Really disappointed. Had high expectations so that played a part, but I just left thinking "meh."

The emotional scenes, the scenes that were supposed to show a new kind of Superman movie didn't do anything for me. It felt forced and riddled with cliche dialogue. The performances also didn't help and that's on Snyder. He got very little out of Cavill and Amy Adam's talent was wasted. Even Michael Shannon who I like a lot, was real hit or miss.

Visually awesome, but I'm tired of reviewing a movie and only having great visuals to hold it up with.

A generous 6/10.

Haven't seen the movie, but I went to school with the girl that has a cameo as the singer in the "cabaret"

Cool story sistah...

[mac_82]

I don't really think spoiler tags are needed now, since the movie is out. I purposely didn't talk any specifics in the general movie thread for that reason.

If you haven't seen it and come looking into this thread, really it's your own fault at this point.

I gave this movie a generous 6.5/10. I find my ranking are usually very close to Vanflamesfan, so I don't feel like a jerk for giving it that.

I hate how they handled his powers in this movie. They purposely go out and explain how his powers work, to give you a framework. As a baby he had a hard time breathing. He couldn't breath properly on the Kryptonian ship. But he can fly around and fight in space, no problem. It was things like that that bugged me through the movie.

They could have done some amazing never before done stuff with the fight scenes. But they were overdone, way too long, and the same thing over and over. Punch through building, repeat 10 times. End fight scene. The ending with the negative zone hole that took out all the Kryptonian's also felt pretty cheap and anti-climatic.

The camera work was problematic at times as well. Doing the running shake camera with 3D certainly doesn't add very much to the film. And they were really copying the Star Trek feel of having a wide shot, doing a quick zoom in, and then wobbling the camera a little bit. This movie really didn't need to be in 3D, and it feels like it was more of a money grab than anything. I wish Christopher Nolan took a stand on this like he did with the Batman trilogy.

Man of Steel producer Deborah Snyder stated that that the reason for not including the post credits scene is that the movie's makers felt that the short clips are just commercials that detract from the actual film. They certainly didn't have an issue selling every available ad spot in the film. What a bunch of hypocrites. All they were missing was Superman flying around wearing Ray Ban's and sipping a Coke. They had 98 corporate sponsors at the end of the day.

That's my rant for now...

2 more things:

I understood at the end that they were trying to make heros out of regular humans as well, as show that Superman wasn't the only hero. But with the whole Daily Planet drama of trying to rescue the intern, they barely showed Perry White or any of the other staffers other than Lois. I truely couldn't have cared if they lived or died at the end, there was no connection to those characters, they felt like throw ins.

And it was my understanding that Superman was so strong because he'd been soaking up our suns radiation for 30+ years. So how do other Kryptonians show up and after 1 day they are stronger than him?

/rant

[WCW Nitro]

I loved it, 9/10. Amy Adams is really good in this. Applause at the end from the audience.

[GreenLantern]

Spoiler tags are needed until we see the word spoiler in the thread title.

I thought it was great, 9.5/10. I was very impressed with every aspect of the film. Couple cheesey parts but hey, Superman is kind of a cheese ball.

Spoiler!

So how many people noticed the Wayne Enterprises pasted across the satellite that Zod and Supes are fighting over? Or the LexCorp on the side of the gas tankard in Metropolis? We might not have gotten an after scenes credit but I think that is just as good of an indication Batman and Superman will cross paths in the future, maybe even Man of Steel 2, before JLA.

I am taking off .5 because obviously there are some holes, like they know Superman cares about Lois and they are trying to make him suffer, you can't beat him just go over and rip her head off. How is it that hard? But they let her live.. but I really don't see how you get around that..

I thought everybody who had a part to play did it great, they wrapped it up nicely for the sequel and I will eagerly await it.

Edit: After googling spoilers it appears as though there is a mention of S.T.A.R.S. lab as well, but I missed it, anyone else catch that?

[Bootsy]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

I loved it, 9/10. Amy Adams is really good in this. Applause at the end from the audience.

No problem with her acting but I wish they dyed her hair or something , she looks too much like a Lana Lang to me , so I had trouble seeing her as a Lois.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Just got back from seeing it, and I'd give it about a 6. It felt more like a highlights package than an actual story. Here's Superman on Deadliest Catch, here he is as a busboy, here he is as a kid for 30 seconds, it just felt so disjointed. And holy Michael Bay Batman, explosions everywhere! I like big action sequences as much as the next guy, but by the end I was completely desensitized to buildings falling over and Superman smashing through stuff. It had a lot of potential, Michael Shannon as Zod was great and I like Henry Cavill, but Zack Snyder just has no clue how to tell a proper story

[Dion]

The last 45 minutes of the movie was a huge dissapointment. All the action and things getting blown up went on too long. You don't need 45 minutes to do an ending for the movie. It took away from the first hour of the movie that was great. I'd give it 2 thumbs down.

[Joborule]

I thought it was good. It was a bit on the lengthy side, but overall for what the movie is, I guess that's to be expected. Satisfied since it's better than Superman Returns.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Dion

The last 45 minutes of the movie was a huge dissapointment. All the action and things getting blown up went on too long. You don't need 45 minutes to do an ending for the movie. It took away from the first hour of the movie that was great. I'd give it 2 thumbs down.

This!!!

I did not like this movie, and I feel like I wasted $47......pretty soon these movies wil morph into 10 minutes of lead in/ background and then the ending scene will be two hours.

[sureLoss]

Warner Bros is marketing the movie to pastors on the similarities to the story of Christ:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/0...you/?hpt=hp_t1

“There was an actual push to say `We’re putting out something that speaks to your group,' ” said Scott, one of the pastors of Shiloh Christian Community Church in Baltimore.
At first, Scott said, he didn’t buy the religious pitch. Then he decided to attend a free midweek screening in Baltimore.
“When I sat and listened to the movie I actually saw it was the story of Christ, and the love of God was weaved into the story," said the pastor.
"It was something I was very excited about that with the consultation of our senior pastor, we could use in our congregation.”

[sa226]

^^^^^^
Oh great.....so much for this thread.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Warner Bros is marketing the movie to pastors on the similarities to the story of Christ:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/0...you/?hpt=hp_t1

This will not end well......

[Hockey_Ninja]

Saw it. Very good movie. My problems though:

Spoiler!

Zod's death. Kryptonian's under the earth's sun have the healing factor which means he would have just gotten up and snapped his neck back together. It just seemed like a cheep way for him to die. Then again there was no kryptonite in the film so he had to be stopped one way or another.

Also why exactly did he leave home? I know it could have been for him to find himself but they could have explained why.

And a few other things i can't think of right now. Henry Cavill was good as Superman. He certainly looked the part. Looking forward to what the plan to do next.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

This!!!

I did not like this movie, and I feel like I wasted $47......pretty soon these movies wil morph into 10 minutes of lead in/ background and then the ending scene will be two hours.

With many being made in 3D alot of the production money is spent on trying to wow the audiences with all the special effects that are built into the action scenes. A good storyline and development of the characters is being pushed aside. I saw much the same thing in the latest Star Trek movie and it's not a trend I like.

[trackercowe]

Zod and his gang did not have the same amount of powers that Superman did, since they were only on Earth for a short while and had only been absorbing the suns energy for a matter of hours. So Superman was more powerful, and obviously as the movie showed he was able to fully control his powers. Zod began finding about some of his powers during the battle, and was always at a disadvantage. He was willing to kill though, so that's the only thing he held over Superman... until the end obviously.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Dion

With many being made in 3D alot of the production money is spent on trying to wow the audiences with all the special effects that are built into the action scenes. A good storyline and development of the characters is being pushed aside. I saw much the same thing in the latest Star Trek movie and it's not a trend I like.

While I agree, and get it, I felt with MOS that the action ws too frenetic that the camera angles moved so much and so quickly it was hard to appreciate the CGI.


Also hated how the regular scenes seemed like they were shot by the same guys that filmed Blair witch project.......

[Voodooman]

Saw it last night, and came out thinking it was a solid 2 Mehs, or 5.5/10 on the more conventional scale.

My issues mirror some of the other thoughts here. Fight scenes went on way too long (OK, I got the point after the first 9 buildings you threw him through), characters were one-dimensional and the story was weak. Amy Adams just didn't fit as Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon's talent was wasted. And not to channel my Dad, but that was the loudest movie I've ever heard.

I think part of my personal issues with the movie were simply that my expectations were too high. With Christopher Nolan's name attached, comparisons to the Batman trilogy are inevitable, and Man of Steel pales in comparison. And compared to Avengers last summer, not even close.