Man of Steel (2013)

[Mister Six]

Call me superficial, but my problem with all the Superman films is that he never does anything terribly super in them. For a character so overpowered, he always seems to end up catching petty crooks, or punching supervillains around a dump. Compared to the animated versions, the live action Supermen have always been limited by imagination, budget or technology. Judging by the new trailer, this film has him facing off against something a damn sight more awe inspiring and otherworldly. I want something more impressive than lifting cars or bending guns.

I'm with you there. All the gun-bending and plane catching is all right for starters, but Superman really ought to be going up against entire alien armies, giant monsters and creatures from beyond the universe itself, not getting shivved by a bald cunt in a suit.[nb]I mean, yeah, have Lex - but put him in charge of an armada of superpowered scary fuckers, not a handful of plain human mooks.[/nb]

There was an awesome one-off story that was basically Superman vs an ersatz Authority - basically one guy who believes in common decency and not killing your enemies vs a bunch of hyper-powerful, brutally murderous 'heroes'. And, of course, the American people love those guys and think Superman is a pussy. Then the anti-heroes provoke him into a fight on the moon, and he realises that the only way he can win is to kill or cripple them all, as the world watches. It's fantastic, the payoff is awesome and there's potential for loads of great visual flourishes. Much better than Singer's maudlin shite.

EDIT: Watched the trailer and that looks a bit more like it. I don't like all this stuff about his space-dad giving him a destiny to save Earth, though. To me the most powerful idea in the Superman mythos is that he could have become Kal-El, the dominator of Earth and enslaver of humanity, but instead he became Clark Kent, John and Martha's boy from Kansas who just wants to help out. Without the powers he would have become a fireman; with them, he became the protector of the planet.

[Tiny Poster]

Superman really ought to be going up against entire alien armies, giant monsters and creatures from beyond the universe itself, not getting shivved by a bald cunt in a suit. I mean, yeah, have Lex - but put him in charge of an armada of superpowered scary fuckers, not a handful of plain human mooks.

That is Avengers Assemble.

[Thomas]

I don't like all this stuff about his space-dad giving him a destiny to save Earth, though. To me the most powerful idea in the Superman mythos is that he could have become Kal-El, the dominator of Earth and enslaver of humanity, but instead he became Clark Kent, John and Martha's boy from Kansas who just wants to help out. Without the powers he would have become a fireman; with them, he became the protector of the planet.

They might balance it out by giving him a sneaky uncle who encourages him to become a right cheeky bugger.

[eluc55]

EDIT: I don't like all this stuff about his space-dad giving him a destiny to save Earth, though. To me the most powerful idea in the Superman mythos is that he could have become Kal-El, the dominator of Earth and enslaver of humanity, but instead he became Clark Kent, John and Martha's boy from Kansas who just wants to help out. Without the powers he would have become a fireman; with them, he became the protector of the planet.

Hopefully having Zod there will be used to contrast the differences between an all powerful Kryptonian and an all powerful Kryptonian brought up on earth as a Kent. That's hopefully where the dominator vs protector angle will come in. Really, Zod's the ideal choice for an origin story, for that reason.

Can't wait to see what they can do with today's technology if this film is a proper success. Brainiac in particular could be amazing. Doomsday and Darkseid, not so sure... but it could be great to see some more epic, alien enemies alongside Luthor and his human foes.

[Replies From View]

Smallville, not Kent.

[Mister Six]

That is Avengers Assemble.

Yeah, and it was great. That + a proper plot + Superman = an excellent film.

Though by the looks of things, Superman will be fighting off a big alien invasion in this film too. Hurrah!

[El Unicornio, mang]

New trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlOF03DUoWc

Not liking it as much as the previous trailers, bit too much CGI things battling each other in the sky, but still excited for this film.

[Artemis]

It doesn't reach the heights of the third trailer, but I'm glad to see a little more of the threat.

I hope they don't try and make it too EPIC though. There was a charm to the originals; Kent trying to bumble his away through everyday life. It'd be a shame if they ditched all that to go too serious in scope, although I appreciate that footage wouldn't exactly raise anticipation in the general masses.

[phantom_power]

This seems to be getting pretty great reviews. It seems that there is a lot more action that the trailers suggest and that they were holding back from showing us those bits. If so this is great. It would be so nice to have a film that doesn't blow its load before it's even released

[Johnny Textface]

Great news! Can't wait for this. The trailers were really great for this - apart from that odd bit when he appears to do a superfart during the interview.

[Replies From View]

If only Supergirl had had superfarts in it.

[Johnny Textface]

Peter O'Toole?

[Johnny Textface]

One final trailer..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dwYatpwrs8s

Fuck me that music is good! 

[eluc55]

Man, this looks like the best film ever made in the history of anything, ever.

[Replies From View]

Every time I see his costume I want to scratch it with my fingernails.  I bet it would be like scratching the underside of a bath mat.

[Glebe]

Nokia trailer is particularly fantastic, although I feel like I've seen to much already. Dying to see it in any case, plus the Desolation of Smaug teaser is playing in front of it, as if I needed any more incentive.

[Mr_Simnock]

All the trailers have looked very good and tbh I havn't looked forward as much to a film as this in years (probably since LOTR). The only bit that's irked me so far is a clip in which an army woman states that she find him cute, for the love of god please don't have characters goign on about how hot superman looks, it just feels so unnecessary. I have a feeling that this will easily top the Avengers. I like how each of the marvel and dc heroes are being renewed and the different styles in which both are being taken, their creating something for everyone.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Fuck me that music is good!

It is, although I notice it uses the "single melody played over 4 different chords" method mentioned a couple of times in the "lazy songwriting techniques" thread. Reminds me a bit of the Requiem for a Dream music they used for the LOTR trailers also.

[olliebean]

Really, people think the trailers are good? Honestly, I'm fed up with seeing people go apeshit over how brilliant a movie is going to be based on trailers that are essentially just a hot mess of CGI action/superhero cliches. TBH, each subsequent trailer I've seen for this has upped the pointless CGI action quotient and hence decreased my interest in seeing it.

[eluc55]

I think it depends on the film and the character.

As discussed earlier in this thread, Superman has been consistently let down in live action films by a lack of anything "super" to do - and these trailers have increasingly shown a considerable move towards more exciting, awe inspiring action and a more serious tone than the light-hearted Donner/Singer films. Some of the stuff, like a fist fight through the sky of metropolis, look like exactly the kind of action scenes Superman should be involved in. Plus, there's been enough quiet moments - like Pa Kent's scene - to suggest it has a heart as well. For now, that's enough to get my attention. I don't expect a blockbuster's trailers to hint at deeper character work and underlying themes or ideas. Those will hopefully be present when I actually watch the film.

CGI action/superhero cliches

There's certainly a lot of CGI in the (action orientated) trailers... but until I see that in context, I'll reserve judgement. What are the superhero cliches, though? Bearing in mind, it's Superman, one of the most famous - if not the most famous superhero ever. If anything, it's managed to so far avoid the clichés of the existing Superman films and the tone of the existing Marvel series, which in itself is exciting.

So what are the clichés that have put you off? Would you prefer him not to fight aliens? Not to punch people through walls, or fight in a city? Not to confront a supervillain? These are all key parts of the superman world, and superhero films in general. You can't avoid them just because they've been done before. You simply have to do them better. 

[olliebean]

It doesn't mean the film is going to be bad, it's often more a fault of the trailer than the film. (But I suppose it's not really a fault as it seems to be what gets people into the cinemas.) I'd just like to see more of an indication that the film isn't just going to be just a string of big CGI set pieces strung together by a plot that has no purpose other than to serve the CGI.

I hate the excess of CGI in superhero films, in particular. If ever there was a genre that cries out for practical stunts, that's it. There's not much of a feeling of superness about the hero if everything super that he does is actually done inside a computer in post-production. CGI to enhance practical effects and stunts, I don't have a problem with. It's when the entire scene gets done in CGI that I lose interest.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The AV Club gave it a C+, which is fairly damning for them.

Spoiler alert

More space opera than superhero movie, Man Of Steel, Zack Snyder's Superman reboot, focuses almost exclusively on the DC Comics icon's alien backstory. This gamble doesn't entirely pay off; by effectively denying Superman his defining traits—his complex relationships to duty and humanity—the movie robs the character of any depth or agency. Decisions, not daring, shape heroes, and since Man Of Steel's Superman never has a chance to make a decision, he never registers as anything more than a handsome, inscrutable alien with a smug smirk.

Man Of Steel opens on planet Krypton, a Roger Dean prog-rock album cover filtered through the sensibilities of David Lynch's Dune. There, tough-guy scientist Jor-El, played by Russell Crowe, pleads with the planet's government to take action against a coming environmental cataclysm (this is the first of the movie's many half-hearted attempts at political relevance, which culminate in Superman punching out a Predator drone). However, a coup by Michael Shannon's General Zod interrupts the proceedings, leaving Crowe no choice but to steal a MacGuffin called the Codex and launch it into space along with his newborn son, Kal-El. As Krypton implodes, Kal-El's spacecraft crash-lands in a field in Kansas.

The movie then leaps forward 33 years to find the adult Kal-El, now played by Henry Cavill, aimlessly drifting around Nova Scotia and working odd jobs. The discovery of an ancient Kryptonian spacecraft in Northern Canada brings Cavill into contact with Amy Adams' Lois Lane; it also alerts Shannon, who survived the destruction of Krypton, to Cavill's location. The rest of the film is set over a couple of days, as Cavill fights Shannon and his gang in a series of superpowered battles, all of which are admittedly pretty cool-looking; interspersed throughout are flashbacks to Cavill's childhood as well as comically insistent product placement for IHOP.

Man Of Steel eschews the usual trappings of Superman stories—right down to the word "Superman," which is uttered only once. There's no Lex Luthor, no Kryptonite, no glasses, no mild-mannered reporter, very little Daily Planet, and even less Metropolis. However, the movie is anything but stripped down; like Snyder's Sucker Punch, it's a confused but fascinating mishmash of religious, military, and sexual imagery. One scene finds Cavill framed with a stained-glass Jesus behind him. In another, he—robbed of his powers by a gaping hole in narrative logic—races around a Kryptonian spaceship seemingly designed by H.R. Giger, vulvar doorways and all.

Cavill—whose performance involves more posing than acting—is alternately presented as an alien messiah, a superweapon, and an American flag flapping in the wind; the one thing he never gets to be is a character. As a result, Man Of Steel sometimes feels like arty advertising—the tentpole movie equivalent of a car ad that invokes images of freedom or luxury without ever mentioning the price or specifications.

[close]

I don't know why as I'm a huge superhero movie fan, but I just can't get that excited by this. Hmmmm. I might have to trust you lot before spending my hard earned cash.

[El Unicornio, mang]

A friend reviewed it and was very negative

http://thisisinfamous.com/man-of-steel-movie-review-john-shade-vick/

He tends to be quite critical of new films, but I am hearing mixed reviews. Guardian gave it 3/5

[Johnny Textface]

It is get pretty mixed reviews across the board.

Has anybody around here seen it yet?

[checkoutgirl]

Guardian gave it 3/5

3/5 is good isn't it ? Apparently the love story is shit (Snyder can't do romance, surprise surprise) which doesn't bother me because I hate them anyway but the action stuff is tops and what more can you ask for in a summer blockbuster ? I have tickets for tonight which is good but they're 3D which is bad because they strain the fuck out of my eyes. I'll be taking the glasses off and rubbing my eyes within 10 minutes. Guaranteed. Is that what cinema will be from now on ? Sitting in a dark room rubbing your eyes ? Swings and roundabouts, innit ? Swings and roundabouts mate. I can't wait to see Michael Shannon wrecking the scenery because he's a particular favourite of mine.

[clingfilm portent]

3/5 is good isn't it ? Apparently the love story is shit (Snyder can't do romance, surprise surprise) which doesn't bother me because I hate them anyway but the action stuff is tops and what more can you ask for in a summer blockbuster ? I have tickets for tonight which is good but they're 3D which is bad because they strain the fuck out of my eyes. I'll be taking the glasses off and rubbing my eyes within 10 minutes. Guaranteed. Is that what cinema will be from now on ? Sitting in a dark room rubbing your eyes ? Swings and roundabouts, innit ? Swings and roundabouts mate. I can't wait to see Michael Shannon wrecking the scenery because he's a particular favourite of mine.

Go to a 2D screening you div.

[Phil_A]

I saw it this afternoon. It was...good? Kind of?

It's certainly not the disaster some are making it out to be, and I did enjoy a lot of it. The whole first half of the film, up until the point

Spoiler alert

Zod arrives on Earth

[close]

, was decent. All the stuff with Krypton and Clark's childhood was really well done, and actually quite affecting in places.

The action's probably the most disappointing aspect, unfortunately. It's fine up to a point, but then Snyder suddenly decides to go full-on Michael Bay for the fight scenes, turning everything into a  CG heavy, over-loud, confusing mess. It's the kind of thing which really makes my heart sink when I'm enjoying a film like this - things are just trotting along nicely and then it gets to a big fight, and it's like "Oh, we're doing that now, are we. Great." There's nothing duller than long tedious sequences of superpowered beings chucking each other around and smashing into building and cars and shit blowing up etc, etc. It's pure empty cinematic bluster and nothing more. Most of the time they don't even feel necessary - I seriously think you could most of the fight scenes and the film wouldn't suffer in the least.

Also, was it just my imagination, or were they attempting to draw some rather clumsy parallels with 9/11? I'm thinking of the scene with

Spoiler alert

Perry White & co running from the falling building, which was shot in such a way as to draw unfortunate comparison with the footage of the WTC collapsing. Was Zod supposed to be standing in for a fundamentalist bogeyman like Bin Laden? If so, that would cast Superman's actions at the end in an even more questionable light.

[close]

[Sam]

Imagine comic films were banned. For five years. Just imagine...

And all the talented people grinding the genre into the dirt would have to do something else. And all the fans would have to watch new films...and there'd be singing under rainbows and the stagnation would be banished from the land.

Adaptation. Sequel. Prequel. Remake. Reboot. Franchise. Saga.

The epitaph on the gravestone of cinema.

[The Region Legion]

Hi there, I saw this tonight. It was a load of shit!

No spoilers: the issue is that Superman just isn't interesting. It's a nearly 100 year old property, and comic book stories moved on. It's not relevant or interesting to a modern day audience for there to be a God-Man on Earth, who can basically beat everything with all his powers. That's all Superman ever was. He is the mold on which all other superheroes have been forged, but they all improved on the original concept to the point that this is now an impossible story to try and make modern. You would have to take all the things that make the character Superman and throw them in a bin.

Spoilers:

Spoiler alert

Not that they don't try VERY HARD to do just that. This film takes liberty with comic canon in a massive way, to it's total benefit because the more ignored about anything to do with Superman before this, the better. Trouble is, they didn't go far enough.

They got rid of the idea of pieces of Krypton making Superman weak because that's obviously stupid as fuck - instead, it's Krypton's ATMOSPHERE that he can't take, because he was raised on Earth. Oh wait, but he seems to be fine in the vacuum of outer space so I guess that's a load of shit? Yes, it is.

They killed his dad off in a tornado because it makes for a powerful scene where he sacrifices himself to save Clark's secret... except Clark spends the years immediately following that event saving people, and he had already been saving people as a kid. Why didn't Clark just go and get the dog? Why wouldn't he just go "er, no Dad, I'm the alien with magic powers, YOU go take mom to the bridge"? Desperate and shoe-horned "emotional moment".

Why does Lois love Clark? Why does Clark love Lois? Lois knows Clark Kent is Superman from the word go.

The glasses disguise is just as dumb as it ever was, but under the microscope of modern film-making it's actually ridiculous. They needed to jettison that but they couldn't because they wanted to go for "realistic" whilst still retaining all the bollocks of the character itself.

The ending: so my options are to break your neck - a person who has already almost surpassed my powers on the Earth within a day that took me 33 years - or let a family of 4 innocent people die? Yeah, I'll just snap your neck then. This is not an emotional choice. He was left with no alternative. It would have been nice to see Superman grow some balls for a change and just fucking kill the psycho without remorse. Instead he cries like a bitch into the womb of Lois Lane.

Batman choosing to save The Joker has purpose even if I disagree with it in a logical sense. This is just stupid, ESPECIALLY since they spent the last half hour punching each other into buildings and destroying them, clearly killing hundreds of people. A couple of the shots from the crowd during that final fight kind of look angry, like "fuck BOTH these aliens for destroying this place" but there's no sense at the end that anyone feels anything about Superman at all. We get a little epilogue about a drone and how APPLE PIE AMERICAN Superman is. What he SHOULD have done is told the General how petty his ideas about "will you turn against AMERICA?" were and that he should start thinking globally. Instead we get the usual jingoist "BOY HOWDY I GREW UP IN KANSAS, I'M AN AMERICAN U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A." Maybe that plays well in the States because they're a bunch of self-centered idiots, but if you're looking for foreign box office, you won't be finding it there.

[close]

I've seriously only scratched the surface on everything that sucks about this film. Please god, can someone just admit that Superman is fucking shite and never bother to write another film, comic book or cartoon about him ever again?

[vrailaine]

Please god, can someone just admit that Superman is fucking shite and never bother to write another film, comic book or cartoon about him ever again?

I think there's a limit to how shite these superheroes can be and most of them are right there at the bottom. Superman seems like he might be at least a little different, I think there's probably someone who could make a really good film of him.


Zack Snyder, on the other hand, why is he around? His whole rep is based on 300, right? Was that particularly special or was it slavishly devoted to the source material? I don't get it at all. Is he done now?