MAN OF STEEL - reviews/discussion with spoilers

[Klubmasta Will]

we are going to see this in the scotiabank IMAX tonight.

i figured we should have a thread for this flick, so as not to fill the 'superhero movies' thread with spoilers.

reviews on rotten tomatoes have been lukewarm thus far. it started out a couple days ago at 70% and today it is in danger of getting "rotten" status as it's just a couple points above 60%.

i have avoided reading any reviews in depth, but there appears to be a split amongst people yearning for the christopher reeve era superman (humour and "fun") versus the more "realistic" and humourless route that nolan/goyer/snyder took.

jim vejvoda of ign, who is arguably comicdom's most trusted movie reviewer, gave the flick an enthusiastic 9/10, which is very encouraging. i haven't read his review (i just skipped to the score at the end), but it's here if anyone wants to see it: Zack Snyder, David Goyer Back for Man of Steel Sequel - IGN

t minus 12 hours and counting!

 

[Chris]

we are going to see this in the scotiabank IMAX tonight.

i figured we should have a thread for this flick, so as not to fill the 'superhero movies' thread with spoilers.

reviews on rotten tomatoes have been lukewarm thus far. it started out a couple days ago at 70% and today it is in danger of getting "rotten" status as it's just a couple points above 60%.

i have avoided reading any reviews in depth, but there appears to be a split amongst people yearning for the christopher reeve era superman (humour and "fun") versus the more "realistic" and humourless route that nolan/goyer/snyder took.

jim vejvoda of ign, who is arguably comicdom's most trusted movie reviewer, gave the flick an enthusiastic 9/10, which is very encouraging. i haven't read his review (i just skipped to the score at the end), but it's here if anyone wants to see it: Zack Snyder, David Goyer Back for Man of Steel Sequel - IGN

t minus 12 hours and counting!

tell me this isnt so! I really dont want "christopher reeve era superman (humour and "fun") " Im all in favor of a more dark and realistic version.

 

[Klubmasta Will]

oops, i posted the wrong link above. here's the ign review: Man of Steel Review - IGN

tell me this isnt so! I really dont want "christopher reeve era superman (humour and "fun") " Im all in favor of a more dark and realistic version.

me too! i still have high hopes for this flick, although it really needs to smash the box office if we are to have any hope of seeing a JLA movie in 2015.

 

[Eclipze]

A common theme among negative reviews is there wasn't enough character development and to much action. I'm sorry but I want a hardcore action film for superman. I'm sure fanboys will enjoy it.

 

[SmoothOperator]

As I said in the "Superhero Movie Thread", I saw it last night, and it delivers. LOVED how they stylized Supermans home planet, ships, costumes.....everything.
The fight scenes are epic. Comparable to The Avengers. Mass destruction!!!

Sure the character development could've used more time, but it's understandable considering they're trying to cram a back-story, and new plot in at once. They did a good job considering.

Overall I found it highly entertaining...WAY better than that last Iron Man turd. I can't wait to see it again.

 

[sianspherica]

Got my tickets for IMAX 3D on Saturday

stoked. hopefully it's fuckin better than Superman Returns at least

 

[praktik]

tell me this isnt so! I really dont want "christopher reeve era superman (humour and "fun") " Im all in favor of a more dark and realistic version.

We all knew we were in for trouble when George Clooney said, before Batman+Robin, that he was going to be "the funny batman"

 

[lobo]

I'm watching it tonight as well. I'm really hoping it delivers and it's good to hear that some are actually liking it. I don't know about breaking any records for this weekend as talk has been that it will likely do $100million at the box office. Well below the Avengers.

No matter. Can't wait for the action scenes!!!

Lobo

 

[Lojack]

We all knew we were in for trouble when George Clooney said, before Batman+Robin, that he was going to be "the funny batman"

That film was what made me respect GC. He basically apologized at every opportunity for the movie, accepted all the blame and threw no one else under the bus. Still, terrible movie.

ETA: Still looking forward to MOS, hoping to see it this weekend.

 

[erika]

how can there be "spoilers" in a thread about a movie where everyone pretty well knows the plot because it's been done before?

 

[rave jedi]

Have tickets for Friday, but I may break and see it with the rest of the fanboys at 10:30pm tonight. I'm guessing Scotiabank's IMAX 3D screening is probably sold out for a group of 4. We'd better try a boonieville IMAX 3D if we wanna sit together tonight.

Nemesis, beat it...we know you are snooping in this thread (mature fangirl that claims to avoid spoilers, but always eats her own words LOL) and haven't seen the movie yet. Besides, you always just agree with whatever KMW says about a movie anyways!

 

[lobo]

Well, I'm still not sure whether I really liked it or whether it was "just there". I do think it was better than Superman Returns which to me only had one really great scene which was when he saved the plane. I think I may have to see it again to make a final call. My other 3 buddies hated it. They said it was garbage and were bored when there were no action scenes. And these are hard core comic book guys. Speaking of action scenes, I would say the movie delivered on that part. The level of destruction was bar none the biggest I've ever seen in a movie that didn't have a nuclear bomb going off. Not even the destruction of Chicago in Transformers 3 can compare to this one so I tip my hat off to that.

It's not Avengers that's for sure. And if you're thinking of taking the younger kids just ask yourself if you would take them to watch Batman Begins. There's a LOT of what kids would consider dry/boring parts and there were some scenes with people actually dying and the odd curse word (shit/ass and almost f*ck). I'm thinking that it should hit $100million this weekend but with World War Z coming out next weekend, I think it may have a hard time staying in the #1 spot.

Lobo

 

[acheron]

Loved it. There were some little quibbles but otherwise an entirely enjoyable summer action film.

 

[Hi i'm God]

Lexcorp tanker trucks!

 

[voytek]

never thought i'd say this, but that was one good fucking supe movie. and i don't like supe. at all.

 

[el presidente Highsteppa]

I was surprisingly moved by this - there's a significant amount of sentiment and soul to this that I wasn't expecting - by Kevin Costner, of all people, who acts as one half of the heart of the movie.

It's a very straight faced, very seriously toned superhero film that really manages to make Superman someone that people can empathize with - themes of adoption, alienation, loneliness and a lot of Christian/Christ imagery dominate the film (not always in subtle ways - but still quite effective).

Michael Shannon stole the show for me - after seeing him in Revolutionary Road, The Iceman and Take Shelter, he's absolutely fearsome as Genera Zod. He makes the character less megalomaniacal than Terrence Stamp's take (but there's still a raging ego there), and making the character more fanatical to his goal to save and restart his own species. He'll likely get offered a lot of villain roles after this.

They did an excellent job of re-imagining and re-thinking the mythology of Superman - having him struggle with the moral code that he adapts and how it won't allow him to solve and save everything. It often shows that his moral code is anything but simple and has to face the demands of his adapting it in the face of difficult situations and the complexities involved. In this movie, Superman has to deal with the fact that sometimes being good isn't enough and the world he's living in isn't as black and white as Superman's morality would like it to be. Snyder does a great job of this with the fractured, flashback peppered storyline to illustrate his conscience and how he's got to live up to being a better man because of the powers he's imbued with.

Zack Snyder does borrow a lot of ideas and imagery from other films - including Alien, The Matrix, Dune, Prometheus and a slew of others, but he manages to make them into some remarkable spectacles - especially the opening on planet Krypton.

The casting is solid - Henry Cavill makes for a great, if somewhat brooding Superman, Amy Smart is a much appreciated modern Lois Lane, Russell Crowe gives some gravitas to Jor El, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner were fantastic as Clark Kent's adoptive parents - Costner really imbues the film with a beating heart. As mentioned, Michael Shannon puts in a very effective and very, very fearsome General Zod. Other supporting cast members are excellent as well, ranging from Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White, to Harry Lennix and Christopher Maloni.

There are a few complaints - the use of hand held cameras and the shakey cam action sequences can get to be a bit much and can obscure making sense of exactly what's going on and some of the Christian imagery can get a bit heavy handed, but it doesn't really detract from the experience. The thing that does undermine the film is the straight faced, nearly humorless tone the film has - it's almost as grim as The Dark Knight Rises - but then again, it's kind of hard to balance some of the carnage onscreen (and there's a lot of it) and the death of nearly an entire species and crack wise about it.

Anyone catch the Lexcorp bit with the fuel truck getting thrown around in the final battle? Guessing they might bring in Lex Luthor into the next film (which I'm pretty certain they're going to do)

 

[Klubmasta Will]

i liked this film, and loved parts of it, but i didn't love the total package. i wanted to love it, but was disappointed.

the action sequences were epic, although i did not appreciate the shaky camera, the hazy colour filter/scheme or the quick zoom-ins, and i think some of the scenes, especially the jor-el versus zod fight, were shot so close that they were hard to follow. overall, the action scenes were easily the best of any superman movie.

my problem with the film is its lack of character development. kal-el is in so much of the movie, but he speaks very little and we never really get to know him or care about him. i care about the superman character automatically, because i have loved the character in other stories for decades, but this movie did not make me care for the character as i think it should have.

i think a linear storyline, showing him growing up before we see him older, would have helped, as opposed to the flash-back method, but i don't think that would have solved the problem. i really enjoyed the scenes of young clark growing up, and his scenes with martha and jonathan kent were excellent. the hurricane scene was spectacular. i wish we had gotten more of those scenes.

i think if the movie had 30 more minutes of proper character development, even if it meant losing 30 minutes of action, it would have been outstanding.

the movie is definitely worth seeing. as i said, i liked it very much. i just didn't love it as much as i hoped i would.

the reviews thus far are mixed. it's trending at 57% on rotten tomatoes. i really hope this movie makes a lot of money, because i would hate to see the superman and justice league franchises end here.

 

[DJ Doublecross]

I actually thought the action scenes were tedious (I didn't like the rest of the movie either). You find out pretty early on that absolutely no amount of sheer force on earth will damage these guys... even slugfests that literally decimate entire cityscapes don't even break a nail or skin a knee, so why do they have to keep punching each other for 90 minutes straight? Just so we can see them crash through buildings hundreds of times in a row. I wanted more creativity in how they fought (I guess it didn't help that I felt no particular attachment to superman). Especially since, in the end, it turns out all you have to do to kill one of them is snap their neck around. If that was the case, shouldn't they be grappling more wrestling-style rather than trying to out-punch each other, which will obviously never work?

I know, I know, it's a superhero movie, get over it. It's how people fight. But at least with Iron Man, wolverine, Avengers, even Batman, at least those characters have personalities that you're rooting for. I guess with superman I just didn't care and was just waiting for it to be over.

Keep in mind I've never been a superman fan (more of an x-men fan for sure), but this movie didn't convert me. Ah well, still worth the 8 bucks for 2 hours of mindless entertainment.

 

[Eclipze]

Fuck. I wanted to love this movie...but ended feeling like they missed a chance at making a great movie. Sloppy editing, forced scenes..I'll post a better review later. 57% on rottontomatoes ..now I see why

 

[Eclipze]

I felt the movie crumbled under the weight of trying to be over the top epic. It suffered from lazy writing in many areas...and like many has said before, scale back on the action just a tad, focus on a tighter storyline and character development so when the climax happens there is more weight behind it.

Krypton - Loved the re-imagining of the dying planet. The birth was beautiful. Everything else felt choppy and rushed. The planet's destruction seemed like a passing footnote with no real weight behind it... like when Supes put on the suit for the first time...or when Clark and Lois kiss... Lazy fucking writing.

The editing was terrible for the first half of the movie. Kal-el's ship arrives on Earth and suddenly we're on a fishing boat 33 years later? I agree with Will on the film probably would have flowed better with a linear storyline with a few flashbacks later on in the film.

All the performances were great. Faora was dynamite. So hot.

 

[Zorro]

The structure of movie holds back.

I liked it. In parts. However I found no attachment to anybody. Except for Zod. I completely understood what and why he doing what he was doing. I mean we humans would do the same.

My high expectations probably hurt it.

You know what else. The movie was all in the trailer

 

[Zorro]

Oh yeah not only near the end. But Clark gets out of a lexcorp truck when he gets home.

The Jesus stuff in parts was a bit much. That church scene didn't need to be there. And of course the image of christ with a red cape over his shoulder. Blah

 

[ndrwrld]

i'll wait for the dvd.

 

[sianspherica]

fucking loved it

you guys are way way too hard to please.

flaws for sure, plot-holes for sure, some inconsistencies, some poor editing, chemistry between Superman and Lois Lane wasn't really there.

BUT to me the origins story was great, all the Krypton stuff was well done, Crowe/Costner/Lane were all solid in their roles, Michael Shannon as Zod was a badass performance/great casting.

The effects were sick, really top-notch stuff. I'm not normally a big 3D fan, but the 3D in this one was awesome. Well well worth seeing in IMAX 3D if you can. All the stuff with Metropolis toppling over looked epic. I know that kind of Metropolis/NYC getting destroyed has been done a lot before in movies, but this one looked even better.

Really entertaining, never boring, good story, fantastic effects.

 

[Zorro]

fucking loved it


flaws for sure, plot-holes for sure, some inconsistencies, some poor editing, chemistry between Superman and Lois Lane wasn't really there.




Really entertaining, never boring, good story, fantastic effects.

I'm not one to knock somebody's taste. To each there own.


I'm just re quoting because that first line and then second paragraph is about as consistent as the movie