Man of Steel (2013)

[Warhorse]

The opening stuff on Krypton is so, so bad. Really awful. Zod and his cronies punishment was that they got to live? Ok. Supes' mum (Lara?) was an atrocious actress, her cleavage made me laugh though.

 

Cavill was ok. It's amazing though that it's a Superman movie with him in the movie almost all the time and he's given nothing to do. He did his best but there was only so much he could do. I loved Crowe and Costner.

 

The action was fun but relentless. Once Supes and Zod started fighting the second time I had to groan.

Pretty much said what I thought. I loved Crowe, Costner, Adams and Meloni in this. I was skeptical of Cavill because I cringed at his acting in Immortals, and with him not talking much in this movie, I took it as a sign that the director was like "you stand there and look pretty, we'll let your costars do the talking for you" And as much as I love Shannon, I did not like him as Zod. I keep thinking someone with a deeper voice would have been better. Perhaps Liev Shrieber, or hell, have yet to see him in a villain role, but perhaps Vin Diesel. I give it a C for the performance of most of the cast, and some of the action scenes (my favorite scene would have to be when the Colonel sacrifices himself to save his world) but for the most part, I just felt I wasn't watching a superman movie.

[4815162342]

Zimmer's score was a major letdown for me. The majority of it was felt like white noise.

[Blankments]

Zimmer's score was a major letdown for me. The majority of it was felt like white noise.

What did you think of the movie, Numbers?

[AniNate]

I was disappointed in how little presence Costner had. Because Clark's childhood is drawn out in shoddily edited flashbacks I was pretty much completely unmoved by his relationship with his adopted dad. I didn't particularly like the role his biological dad was given as a convenient plot device either.

[4815162342]

I thought it was pretty good overall, didn't understand why they felt the need to rush so quickly through the Krypton prologue. The first act was also a bit choppy with Clark popping up in random spots for a scene and then disappearing.

 

The film should have gone bold and expanded the Krypton prologue and Zod's story in general. His reasons for the attempted coup are glazed over (same with why Krypton is about to go boom and no one seems to care). I thought it would have been much better if Zod had figured out what was causing the problem but the only way to save Krypton required his coup attempt, making it a situation where he really is doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and he's foiled by Jor-El whose narrow and strict view of morality and the future essentially dooms everyone because he's absolutely convinced things can ONLY be done HIS way. Jor-El's plan essentially did to the Kryptonian race what Zod was planning to do to Earth and I think the movie would have been better for showing that hypocrisy.

 

One thing that bugged me is that if Krypton could arrange for a giant space contraption to send people into the Phantom Zone, how could they not even build normal spaceships to evacuate at least some of the population?

[Spidey Freak]

Well, wasn't this a letdown? I agree with all the criticisms that the "flashback" method to show Clark's childhood hurt the pacing and storytelling more than help it. The movie could have really benefitted from a more linear narration.

 

And not a fan of Pa Kent's death scene. It was hamfisted and overtly melodramatic beyond reason. Actually they pretty much ruined Pa Kent, except for the "You are my son!" line, which we already saw in the trailers. Cavill was hohum, Adams was good with what she had, but what she had in the first place wasn't much. They really dropped the ball when it came to the Supes/Lois romance. Just did not feel connected to it. Actually, that is true for the rest of the movie as well. Superman killing a man, especially the only other survivor of Krypton, did not have the effect it was supposed to have at all. Speaking of Zod, Shannon comes nowhere near Stamp's fantabulous performance! Most of the dialogues were so super sappy and dumb. Ugh. 3D sucks as usual, lol. Faora chick was hot but had zero to do. And what's with the desaturated tint, seriously? It is fricking Superman, brighten up a little!

 

The Few Likes: Action and effects of course, Russel Crowe, and the Fall of Krypton storyline that they had going, despite rushing through it.

 

6/10

Edited June 15, 2013 by Spidey Freak

[Spidey Freak]

The film should have gone bold and expanded the Krypton prologue and Zod's story in general. His reasons for the attempted coup are glazed over (same with why Krypton is about to go boom and no one seems to care). I thought it would have been much better if Zod had figured out what was causing the problem but the only way to save Krypton required his coup attempt, making it a situation where he really is doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and he's foiled by Jor-El whose narrow and strict view of morality and the future essentially dooms everyone because he's absolutely convinced things can ONLY be done HIS way. Jor-El's plan essentially did to the Kryptonian race what Zod was planning to do to Earth and I think the movie would have been better for showing that hypocrisy.

 

One thing that bugged me is that if Krypton could arrange for a giant space contraption to send people into the Phantom Zone, how could they not even build normal spaceships to evacuate at least some of the population?

 

All this, really. Why the hell was Jor-El reluctant to pay heed to Zod's plans of saving selected bloodlines and only wanted HIS son to be the sole survivor? It reeks of selfishness, hypocrisy and a bit of downright evil on Jor-El's part. 

 

And yeah, I don't get why they couldn't at least evacuate 1% of Kryptonian population (or the one percent equivalent of Krypton ).

Edited June 15, 2013 by Spidey Freak

[Kvikk Lunsj]

Was anyone else reminded of limbo in Inception at the end when half the city is destroyed?

No

The city being destroyed remind me of 2012. Thanks for out put on the score.

[Ozymandias]

Liked it overall.  Good, but not great.  Its got some pacing problems and some scenes that felt forced.  Favorite part of the movie was the evil chick.

 

B-

[Kvikk Lunsj]

If this movie had a better writer and director it could have been amazing. A lot of good ideas went into film but they were not executed as good as it could be. 

[Ozymandias]

Did anyone else get an H.R. Giger vibe at some of the stuff in this movie?

[FTF]

Did anyone else get an H.R. Giger vibe at some of the stuff in this movie?

At the masks Zod and hot evil chick are wearing when they first get to earth I assume you mean?...yeah I can understand that.

[RobinHood26]

The score was disappointing, its good, but very repetitive. Nothing new or creative. 

[Ozymandias]

At the masks Zod and hot evil chick are wearing when they first get to earth I assume you mean?...yeah I can understand that.

 

Yeah, that and their suits in a way.  Also at some other things like when Zod and his cronies were zipped into giant black dongs before being loaded onto the phantom zone ship(I wasn't the only one, there were some chuckles around me when it happened.)   H.R. Giger should sue for space dong imagery infringement. 

[redfirebird2008]

I'd give it a C.

 

It definitely has some editing issues. Flashbacks were handled strangely (much weaker than the non-linear storytelling in BB or IM1). Not enough quiet character moments during the last 90 minutes. Way too many high pitched, screeching sound effects. Felt like they would do a 15 minute action scene, then a 1 minute "quiet scene," then another 15 minute action scene...over and over. Zimmer's music isn't anywhere near as good as the stuff he came up with for the Batman movies.

 

All of that being said, the action is incredible and this is probably the biggest scale I've seen in a superhero movie. Very impressive from a visual standpoint. Acting was pretty good across the board, especially Crowe and Cavill. Adams was much better as Lois than Bosworth, as expected. And nothing in this film was as bad as the Super-kid fiasco in Superman Returns.

[The Stingray]

If Red didn't like it, I'll probably be disappointed as well.

[redfirebird2008]

If Red didn't like it, I'll probably be disappointed as well.

 

I liked it. Don't be fooled by the rating. My highest rated superhero film is only a B or B+. For me, a C is still like a 7 or 7.5/10, so it's still a good score on my scale. A bad superhero film would be something like X3, which would get like a 3 or 4 out of 10 and a F letter grade. There is a lot to like in this film, but I just wish either the sound design wasn't so aggressive or they gave us longer quiet scenes between the big action scenes or better yet, the theater employees would just turn the damn speakers down a bit.

[Olive]

I think C equals 3 out of 5.

[4815162342]

On the whole, I think it was better than IM3, because it had more weight behind it. IM3 is more entertaining and fun, but the Trevor twist loses mileage upon rewatch and reflection.

 

The film had several themes going on and the most interesting one (which gets buried by Zod's arrival) is the First Contact theme of the military/government realizing they have an omnipotent alien in their midst and unsure if he is friend or foe with agitators on both sides.

 

If Superman Returns hadn't existed, I would have kept Zod and his crew out of the picture for the first film and instead focused on the First Contact aspect. The military would try to figure out a way to counter Superman, enter Lex to design something for them and he comes up with Metallo, and you could either have Metallo go rogue or have Lex be secretly controlling Metallo for his own scheme, but by the end of the film Superman and the US have settled into a relative understanding about one another with no more hostilities, even if some like Lex want Superman gone because of the whole human supremacy angle. Then you have at the very end of the film the Phantom Zone finally breaking after being weakened by Krypton's destruction, Zod and company pick up the signal Clark activated in the "Fortress of Solitude" ship, and set course for Earth.

 

But again, that would be if Superman Returns had not existed. But since it did, the series needed to get away from Lex Luthor for a little bit. And yes, I know that would essentially be Superman 1 and 2 again in terms of villains, but while I thought Man of Steel was very good, it felt very packed full of stuff that needed to breathe so we got an abbreviated prologue, non-linear flashbacks to Smallville, and underdeveloped villains.

Edited June 15, 2013 by 4815162342

[Brilliant Dynamite Neon]

One thing that bugged me is that if Krypton could arrange for a giant space contraption to send people into the Phantom Zone, how could they not even build normal spaceships to evacuate at least some of the population?

Two reasons: One, Jor-El was the biggest advocate for the doomsday theory, only he was also about half as looney as Zod.  Jor-El felt there was no point in saving anyone on Krypton, only in insuring the future of the Krypton race.  And Two: Once Jor-El was dead, there was no longer anyone to ring the alarm bell anyway, and the Council was never convinced of Jor-El's doomsaying.

 

Also: You guys didn't like the score?!  That was the only thing I thought they got 100% right.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Brilliant Dynamite Neon