Sunday, June 23, 2013

Man of Steel Review


While this is the only movie I've seen in the theater since Dark Knight Rises, I can say that it was worth the price of admission. It had strengths and flaws, the flaws being abundant, but it was entertaining. Let me expand on the comment. Christoper Nolan's is probably the best in the franchise to date, but that isn't saying much. There are spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen it, look away. Oh, and Superman is a difficult character to write. You are somewhat limited by the fact that the guy is indestructible unless kryptonite is involved. Just a silly idea from Jump Street...but I digress.


Man of Steel promo
If you are looking for character development or depth, turn away. Seriously. It's just not there. I was 3/4 of the way through and did not care if anyone lived or died. Almost no one, anyway. If you want to accept that this is a movie about superheroes destroying a city when aliens invade, come on down! (Sound like Avengers a little bit?)

The cast was pretty good. Henry Cavill played a believable, albeit silent, Superman. The best parts and acting in the movie was the peripheral characters--the bystanders. The Kents, played by Costner and Lane were excellent...probably the best of the movie. Crowe was not terrible as Jor-El and Amy Adams was an excellent Lois Lane...at first, anyway. She was a sassy, take-no-crap reporter that went to her limits to tell a story. And then, she met Superman. Her character morphed from that sassy, strong woman into a smitten, starry-eyed school girl. (Just my opinion, some may disagree.) She did show backbone and fearlessness entering the ship of Zod, and from there on, she tried to hold it together.

Fishburne played a nice Perry White, too, though he was not in many scenes. The invasion and fight scenes were fun. There was some tongue in cheek comedy in small one-liners and it suspended my belief for a while, where I was just inundated with super beings pummeling each other all over Metropolis. I must say, I very much liked Zod's lieutenant, Faora-Ul, played by German-born Antje Traue, who I thought was cold and callous as a villain, just the way I like 'em!

Faora-Ul

Anyhow, the movie ends with what I was hoping he (Nolan) would avoid doing and yet it happened. I cringed. Clark Kent, glasses and all, was introduced as a reporter for the Daily Planet. Ack! Stop it! Do you seriously believe that tossing a pair of glasses on a guy changes his appearance that much? Let me tell you it doesn't. I got my first pair of glasses in 5th grade, and those barely developed, inexperienced, unwise children knew exactly who I was when I walked into the classroom. Boo! Oh, well... Better luck next time.







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3 comments:

  1. Definitely a great-looking movie, I just wish they paid more attention to the story and how it started off at first. Good review Gary.

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  2. Thanks, Dan! And thanks for stopping by to comment. It was a pretty good story and I thought they were going to do something like him staying away, kind of like the old Bill Bixby HULK series on TV in the 80's. I thought that was more believable. Also, the Jor-El parts on Krypton were kind of cool. Anyway, it turned into all the other ones in most respects. Cast was great, acting mostly good and story was not bad.

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  3. Yeah, the glasses thing felt really forced. Like they didn't want to make him Clark Kent, but wanted to pander to fans. Other than that, it's a good movie. Great review Gary!

    - Maurice Mitchell

    The Geek Twins | Film Sketchr
    @thegeektwins

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