Man Of Steel: Ten Years Later - Do You Like It?

[MasterBoss]

It’s clear if you watch the Snyder trilogy he really sees Superman as Doctor Manhattan. Hence why Lois is the “da Key”. He becomes a tyrant without Lois in the alternate future just as Manhattan was theorized to become one without Silk Spectre.

His whole morality hinges on earthly booty. such an insulting take on the character.

To be fair though have you seen Amy Adams?

 

[Brother Jack]

It’s one of the most frustrating movies for me because when I watch it I can see so clearly the movie that it could have been. There are great ideas in the script that are squandered. It’s a great cast that wasn’t utilized well, especially Cavill who I still think could have turned in a great Clark. With a different director and another script writer (with Goyer as the idea man) it could’ve been something special.

 

[Link]

I didn't like Man of Steel when I saw it in IMAX a decade ago and I haven't liked it when I've rewatched it with friends for DCEU marathons. My friends haven't liked it either. The opening in Krypton is beautiful and Zimmer's score is fantastic, but that's all there really is to it.

I'd probably like it more if it wasn't trying so hard to be a Nolanesque, cerebral take on Superman, without any of the warmth. I can't think of anything worse than telegraphed gravitas. The lack of genuine humanity in all the "emotional" scenes is tough to watch, like an AI was prompted to replicate the emotional manipulation of an average Pixar film, but left all the charm and intellect on the floor. Ultimately Man of Steel just rings extremely hollow to me and that's more unforgivable than the silly, B-movie hijinks of Suicide Squad or the unintentional humor and lack of class in Josstice League.

 

[B]

Was decent when it came out & I still think it's decent now. Far from perfect, did a lot of things I'd consider 'wrong', but on the flipside it also did a lot of things I liked.

A lot of the problems I have with the film are more now because of what it led to, or didn't lead to in some instances with a lot of ideas/angles wasted or underdeveloped.

In hindsight, I think the film might have been better with a different director. Same film, same sort of key moments (including the neck break), but with a different director that has more of an ability to make all the characters within the film trigger some sort of emotion with you.. as opposed to very little, which is what Snyder did.

Even saying this, I still think it's a decent film, wasted potential in the overall scope of things, but still decent.

 

[TheVileOne]

I think it was decent enough and could've been a good start to the franchise if they didn't emphasize all the things people hated about the film.

 

[elgaz]

Overall, it's still a great film for me and a solid 8/10 at least.

Love most of the casting, some of the concepts, the dramatically different look for Krypton/tech which set it apart from the Reeve films, the action, the score and so on.

Not overly keen on a couple of plot choices (Jonathan Kent's death, and the wanton collateral damage in Metropolis) which I felt Clark/Superman in other medium would have addressed differently. And not sold still on Amy Adams as Lois. But other than that, it's an enjoyable movie and I felt it suitable refreshed Superman for the modern era.

 

[DarkKnight]

I absolutely adore this film and always will. I also loved the first two Christopher Reeve films as well as a fan of the animated series from the 90's. MOS gave me everything that I wanted to see that I never got in live action form until Snyder took the helm. Some of that was epic Superman the animated series and DBZ style fights with equal or more powerful villains. I had seen enough of Superman simply lifting heavy things or catching falling helicopters or plans from the previous films. This time we had in my opinion actual threats of never-before-seen proportions. Seeing the film placed in somewhat modern times which is in itself darker than years prior was appealing to me. The Alien aspect, bullying, trying to fit in a lot of Clark's struggles were touching to me.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I respect that, but this will forever be one of my top favorite superhero films of all times.

 

[elgaz]

It's interesting to watch modern reactions to it. I follow a lot of youtube reactors and a while back I actively sought out a ton of MOS reactions over the course of a few evenings. They were all, without fail, extremely positive, especially more recent ones. I think MOS offers an aesthetically and dynamically very different kind of superhero outing if you've only followed the MCU stories to date.

 

[Awest66]

It's interesting to watch modern reactions to it. I follow a lot of youtube reactors and a while back I actively sought out a ton of MOS reactions over the course of a few evenings. They were all, without fail, extremely positive, especially more recent ones. I think MOS offers an aesthetically and dynamically very different kind of superhero outing if you've only followed the MCU stories to date.

I don't know about that honestly. MOS felt like a very misguided attempt to copy paste the tone and feel of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies onto a character who's basically the guys polar opposite.

 

[MasterBoss]

I don't know about that honestly. MOS felt like a very misguided attempt to copy paste the tone and feel of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies onto a character who's basically the guys polar opposite.

I'm all for a Superman movie with a serious tone. I was actually hoping MOS would be the Batman Begins of Superman movies, it's obvious that's what they were aiming for.

The thing is though is that Batman Begins, despite being a serious movie, is a movie with hope and optimism. I genuinely feel inspired watching Batman Begins.

I feel none of these things when watching Man of Steel, just empty speechifying and a cold lack of humanity. It's kind of sad that a Batman movie made me feel much more hopeful than a Superman movie.

 

[elgaz]

I'm all for a Superman movie with a serious tone. I was actually hoping MOS would be the Batman Begins of Superman movies, it's obvious that's what they were aiming for.

The thing is though is that Batman Begins, despite being a serious movie, is a movie with hope and optimism. I genuinely feel inspired watching Batman Begins.

I feel none of these things when watching Man of Steel, just empty speechifying and a cold lack of humanity. It's kind of sad that a Batman movie made me feel much more hopeful than a Superman movie.

That's a very fair point, and I think that's where Snyder fell down - what we know now with the benefit of hindsight is that he had a full story arc in mind which spanned BvS and JL and so on. He wanted Superman to struggle with acceptance by humanity (MOS), then to sacrifice his life for them (BvS) and in doing so be embraced by humanity, and then to return with new found optimism and hope (JL). It's a typical resurrection type approach which we've seen done before with many characters in many films.

Of course, watching MOS in 2013 (or even watching it now in isolation).......... none of this was apparent and whilst I generally like Snyder as a director, he did get ahead of himself a bit.

There's nothing wrong with planning story arcs over multiple films and many have done it before successfully. But when it means the key character traits associated with your main character are hampered by limiting their scope to the extent of each film, it introduces problems - especially if you don't get lucky enough to get sequels greenlit or for them to proceed as you originally planned.

I don't know about that honestly. MOS felt like a very misguided attempt to copy paste the tone and feel of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies onto a character who's basically the guys polar opposite.

There's certainly an element of that. Batman Begins was a real turnaround point for WB and I think they felt that same gritty, back-to-basics and semi-realistic approach would work for Superman too. And with Nolan as a producer on MOS, there was always a chance it would have a Nolan feel at points.

 

[Awest66]

That's a very fair point, and I think that's where Snyder fell down - what we know now with the benefit of hindsight is that he had a full story arc in mind which spanned BvS and JL and so on. He wanted Superman to struggle with acceptance by humanity (MOS), then to sacrifice his life for them (BvS) and in doing so be embraced by humanity, and then to return with new found optimism and hope (JL). It's a typical resurrection type approach which we've seen done before with many characters in many films.

Of course, watching MOS in 2013 (or even watching it now in isolation).......... none of this was apparent and whilst I generally like Snyder as a director, he did get ahead of himself a bit.

There's nothing wrong with planning story arcs over multiple films and many have done it before successfully. But when it means the key character traits associated with your main character are hampered by limiting their scope to the extent of each film, it introduces problems - especially if you don't get lucky enough to get sequels greenlit or for them to proceed as you originally planned.



There's certainly an element of that. Batman Begins was a real turnaround point for WB and I think they felt that same gritty, back-to-basics and semi-realistic approach would work for Superman too. And with Nolan as a producer on MOS, there was always a chance it would have a Nolan feel at points.

I've never liked the idea that the only way Superman could ever get humanity to truly accept him would be to "die for them". It's an incredibly cynical idea. I've also never liked the idea of having Clark start from a place of being distrustful towards other people either.