"Man of Steel" - directed by Zack Snyder
I've never been a big fan of Superman.
For me the issue is that he is so damned powerful with so few weaknesses (arguably just one) that there is always the need to come up with a lame way to weaken him so that a decent conflict can occur.
He is also a bit of a one dimensional character in my eyes.
Too pure and too all-American.
None of the dark edge of a Batman or a Wolverine or a Daredevil.
With the announcement of Zack Snyder as the director of this new shot at the character I felt a little reassured.
Of late he has not had a good run with "Sucker Punch" proving a real low point.
But this is the man who turned in a damned good "Watchmen" movie.
It was gritty and R-rated all the way.
Snyder's super slick visual style worked well and I loved it.
Christopher Nolan was revealed as producer and co-story writer and I became genuinely interested.
If Snyder's shooting style could be combined with the story smarts and respect for character that Nolan brought to his Dark Knight trilogy we would be in for a treat.
When Amy Adams was cast as Lois Lane I was totally sold.
This despite me finding the Christopher Reeve movies silly and the Bryan Singer one flat.
There just seemed to be a lot of great decisions being made.
I have a fascination with opening shots.
One of the things that I love about seeing movies in the cinema is the sense of anticipation I get as a movie starts.
In the case of "Man Of Steel" it was less the opening shot that I was interested in than the entrance of Kal-El / Clark Kent.
Obviously we would start on Krypton with baby Kal-El's escape from the dying planet but how would the lead character be shown to us?
Surprisingly it is as a fully grown man sporting a scruffy beard.
We see his strength as he selflessly saves a bunch of oil rig workers from their rig which is engulfed in flames.
Ending up under the ocean serenely floating amongst whales and dolphins Clark recalls times gone by.
We enter flashback territory going to his young days on the farm of Jonathan and Martha Kent.
He is a loner, prone to the attentions of bullies who he will not retaliate against.
And we see his first acts of heroism.
It's a great decision having the action flip back and forth like this and it will happen several times.
It focuses the movie squarely on the the important aspect.
Clark Kent.
By getting to what we really want to see and going back in time only as a way to fill in the character blanks it allows the movie to get off to a rollicking pace.
Within twenty minutes we have had a spectacular sequence on Krypton that seems like a cross between "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" and "Avatar" and that superb oil rig rescue.
It is jaw-dropping stuff but it's merely a taste of what is to come.
The big question of course is how is Superman himself?
As much as I liked Brandon Routh in the 2006 Bryan Singer directed movie he had a mediocre movie around him.
This time with a strong story and assured direction thanks to screenwriter David Goyer and director Snyder, Henry Cavill fares far better.
He certainly looks the part.
His Clark Kent is gruffer, rougher and more grounded in reality.
Not easy for a man who dons a cape and flies.
Cavill is excellent and finds a nice balance between intense seriousness and light hearted banter.
It keeps things fun even when the darker aspects of the story kick in.
Also helping in this regard is an absolutely perfect Amy Adams bringing a sexiness to her role that she is not often allowed to.
She can do sweet and cute in her sleep (and probably does) but with the exception of "Psycho Beach Party" and "The Fighter" I have not seen her this overtly sexy in a long time.
As Lois Lane she is determined and driven.
After an initial encounter with Clark and his novel use of the heat ray vision she becomes obsessed with tracking him down again to solve the mystery of who he is.
I love how the relationship between these two develops.
It is nicely paced with an almost innocent sweetness to it.
By the time General Zod arrives to demand that Superman surrenders the relationship is well under way.
Zod is a nasty character well played by Michael Shannon.
He keeps the snears and postering just on the right side of hammy.
There is no doubt that he poses a very real threat to Superman and to Lois Lane.
Lois may be the damsel in distress of the piece but she is far from helpless.
Credit again to the insanely talented Adams for creating a character finely balanced between the styles of the old and new.
Modern woman she may be there is still something nicely old fashioned about her too.
It's all leading up to a finale that is lengthy and incredibly over the top in the best way possible.
Some of it may go on a little too long so that it becomes almost ho-hum but pound for pound the last thirty minutes of "Man of Steel" is about as spectacular as it gets.
It begins with the sort of visual excess that the film excels at. Krypton an amazingly imaginative place that borders on the out and out weird.
The influence of "Avatar" is clear in these scenes. Maybe the fact that WETA Digital provided the visual effects for the Krypton scenes it is no surprise.
Prior to that there is a fabulous twister scene and some nice high speed test flight sequences.
The $225,000,000 budget is all up on the screen.
Frequent Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer provides a score ranging from the gentle piano strains that become Clark's/Superman' theme to bombastic pounding strains that punctuate the amazing actions scenes. It is typically strong stuff.
Toss in some fine work from Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne and even a surprisingly not-annoying Russell Crowe and this thing is quality through and through.
It's enough to make me a Superman fan.
The ending seems perfectly fine to me although I believe some of the stauncher Superman fans have called it controversial.
Lois Lane does seem to have the ability to be exactly where she needs to be and often for no clear reason and there are a couple of minor aspects to the plot that don't entirely add up.
All in all it is a very solid first movie re-boot and does a lot to right the Superman ship.
Clearly a sequel is intended and with the excellent box office take so far looks likely.
(It has made over $400,000,000 worldwide so far and seems poised to rake in upwards of $800,000,000
Eagle eyed viewers can spot a little treat at about the 2 hour, 3 minute mark that may point to a possible villain in the sequel.
If this film is a sign of what we can expect I say bring it on.
For me the issue is that he is so damned powerful with so few weaknesses (arguably just one) that there is always the need to come up with a lame way to weaken him so that a decent conflict can occur.
He is also a bit of a one dimensional character in my eyes.
Too pure and too all-American.
None of the dark edge of a Batman or a Wolverine or a Daredevil.
With the announcement of Zack Snyder as the director of this new shot at the character I felt a little reassured.
Of late he has not had a good run with "Sucker Punch" proving a real low point.
But this is the man who turned in a damned good "Watchmen" movie.
It was gritty and R-rated all the way.
Snyder's super slick visual style worked well and I loved it.
Christopher Nolan was revealed as producer and co-story writer and I became genuinely interested.
If Snyder's shooting style could be combined with the story smarts and respect for character that Nolan brought to his Dark Knight trilogy we would be in for a treat.
When Amy Adams was cast as Lois Lane I was totally sold.
This despite me finding the Christopher Reeve movies silly and the Bryan Singer one flat.
There just seemed to be a lot of great decisions being made.
One of the things that I love about seeing movies in the cinema is the sense of anticipation I get as a movie starts.
In the case of "Man Of Steel" it was less the opening shot that I was interested in than the entrance of Kal-El / Clark Kent.
Obviously we would start on Krypton with baby Kal-El's escape from the dying planet but how would the lead character be shown to us?
Surprisingly it is as a fully grown man sporting a scruffy beard.
We see his strength as he selflessly saves a bunch of oil rig workers from their rig which is engulfed in flames.
Ending up under the ocean serenely floating amongst whales and dolphins Clark recalls times gone by.
We enter flashback territory going to his young days on the farm of Jonathan and Martha Kent.
He is a loner, prone to the attentions of bullies who he will not retaliate against.
And we see his first acts of heroism.
It's a great decision having the action flip back and forth like this and it will happen several times.
It focuses the movie squarely on the the important aspect.
Clark Kent.
By getting to what we really want to see and going back in time only as a way to fill in the character blanks it allows the movie to get off to a rollicking pace.
Within twenty minutes we have had a spectacular sequence on Krypton that seems like a cross between "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" and "Avatar" and that superb oil rig rescue.
It is jaw-dropping stuff but it's merely a taste of what is to come.
As much as I liked Brandon Routh in the 2006 Bryan Singer directed movie he had a mediocre movie around him.
This time with a strong story and assured direction thanks to screenwriter David Goyer and director Snyder, Henry Cavill fares far better.
He certainly looks the part.
His Clark Kent is gruffer, rougher and more grounded in reality.
Not easy for a man who dons a cape and flies.
Cavill is excellent and finds a nice balance between intense seriousness and light hearted banter.
It keeps things fun even when the darker aspects of the story kick in.
Also helping in this regard is an absolutely perfect Amy Adams bringing a sexiness to her role that she is not often allowed to.
She can do sweet and cute in her sleep (and probably does) but with the exception of "Psycho Beach Party" and "The Fighter" I have not seen her this overtly sexy in a long time.
As Lois Lane she is determined and driven.
After an initial encounter with Clark and his novel use of the heat ray vision she becomes obsessed with tracking him down again to solve the mystery of who he is.
I love how the relationship between these two develops.
It is nicely paced with an almost innocent sweetness to it.By the time General Zod arrives to demand that Superman surrenders the relationship is well under way.
Zod is a nasty character well played by Michael Shannon.
He keeps the snears and postering just on the right side of hammy.
There is no doubt that he poses a very real threat to Superman and to Lois Lane.
Lois may be the damsel in distress of the piece but she is far from helpless.
Credit again to the insanely talented Adams for creating a character finely balanced between the styles of the old and new.
Modern woman she may be there is still something nicely old fashioned about her too.
It's all leading up to a finale that is lengthy and incredibly over the top in the best way possible.
Some of it may go on a little too long so that it becomes almost ho-hum but pound for pound the last thirty minutes of "Man of Steel" is about as spectacular as it gets.
It begins with the sort of visual excess that the film excels at. Krypton an amazingly imaginative place that borders on the out and out weird.
The influence of "Avatar" is clear in these scenes. Maybe the fact that WETA Digital provided the visual effects for the Krypton scenes it is no surprise.
Prior to that there is a fabulous twister scene and some nice high speed test flight sequences.
The $225,000,000 budget is all up on the screen.
Frequent Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer provides a score ranging from the gentle piano strains that become Clark's/Superman' theme to bombastic pounding strains that punctuate the amazing actions scenes. It is typically strong stuff.
Toss in some fine work from Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne and even a surprisingly not-annoying Russell Crowe and this thing is quality through and through.
It's enough to make me a Superman fan.
The ending seems perfectly fine to me although I believe some of the stauncher Superman fans have called it controversial.
Lois Lane does seem to have the ability to be exactly where she needs to be and often for no clear reason and there are a couple of minor aspects to the plot that don't entirely add up.
All in all it is a very solid first movie re-boot and does a lot to right the Superman ship.
Clearly a sequel is intended and with the excellent box office take so far looks likely.
(It has made over $400,000,000 worldwide so far and seems poised to rake in upwards of $800,000,000
Eagle eyed viewers can spot a little treat at about the 2 hour, 3 minute mark that may point to a possible villain in the sequel.
If this film is a sign of what we can expect I say bring it on.
| Rated | M for violence |
| Running Time: | 143 minutes (2hrs, 13 mins without end credits) |
| Starring: |
| Henry Cavill | --- Clark Kent / Kal-El |
| Amy Adams | --- Lois Lane |
| Michael Shannon | --- General Zod |
| Kevin Costner | --- Jonathan Kent |
| Diane Lane | --- Martha Kent |
| Russell Crowe | --- Jor-El |
| Richard Schiff | --- Dr Emil Hamilton |
| Harry Lennix | --- General Swanick |
| Laurence Fishburne | --- Perry White |
| Antje Traue | --- Faora-Ui |
| Christopher Meloni | --- Colonel Nathan Hardy |
| Michael Kelly | --- Steve Lombard |
| Carla Gugino | --- Kelor (voice) |
Good Review! It is indeed very good, the best blockbuster this year so far!
ReplyDeleteI saw a new trailer for The Wolverine last night and while I don't think it will be as good as Man Of Steel it is starting to looking damned good. You keen on that one?
ReplyDelete