TMOS Review & Speculation Thread (Spoilers) - Part 3

[Lighthouse]

It's not so much something not being addressed, but just not being very involving or immersive when it was addressed. It was kinda' like reading Cliffs notes rather than really experiencing a novel. That's why for many it feels devoid of things that were technically included. You heard and saw it was there, but didn't really feel it that well. I probably put that more on the director, but in a lot of ways TDKR suffered from the same problem.

Agreed. I think it was the terrible pacing problems that took a lot of emotional impact out of certain scenes.

 

[Doc Samson]

I need to let this film hit me still.

I compare it in almost every respect to Batman Begins.

When I walked out of Batman Begins, I knew that I had just witnessed the Batman film I had always seen in my mind. It was the closest I'd seen to the comics. But it was so drastically different from anything on film that I had seen before -- I walked out with a subdued reaction -- not the outright jubilance I had walking out of The Dark Knight.

That's how Man Of Steel is for me. It was so much different from any the previous Superman movies. But for me, it was the Superman I grew up reading. It was my Superman.

This was big. This was science-fiction. This was epic. This didn't shun the weirdest elements of its cannon. It embraced them. It was unlike any other Superman story I had seen on film... but it was undeniably Superman.

It also is much like Batman Begins where even though the film I had just seen was so great, the last seen makes me more excited to see the next step more than what I had just seen. It's like Batman Begins and Man Of Steel set the stage to create that definitive film for the respective character in the sequel.

So as I know that I loved this film. I need more time for it to hit me. I need to see it again. I need to divorce myself even more from the previous films going in -- and catch it all.

But my initial reaction was, "Wow." And as the hours go by, it becomes a bigger and bigger "WOW."

-R

Pretty much how I feel. I put it right now maybe a rung underneath BB, but it isn't much. I think people comparing it to Donner's classic will no doubt feel betrayed in a lot of ways but when comparing it to the comics I grew up reading, this was Superman.

I liken it to how my friend reacted to Ang Lee's Hulk. Obviously that film had issues, but my friend's main problem was the fact that the creature was CG instead of a bodybuilder. That tv show was for a lot of people their only association with the Hulk, so seeing him tossing tanks wasn't what they expected. Similarly, this Superman, by comparison to the other films, is vastly different in many respects. I can understand the shock, but this is what I've always wanted to see.

 

[combocaz]

I thought these guys had good insight with their reviews and discussion about the film, i think two of them are still stuck in 1978. There are spoilers.
[YT]aWOLH-7kgd8[/YT]

 

[Autonet]

I thought these guys had good insight with their reviews and discussion about the film, i think two of them are still stuck in 1978. There are spoilers.
[YT]aWOLH-7kgd8[/YT]

I don't think they are stuck in 1978, they just had a couple of issues with it. They just mentioned the old movies a few times, but I would too if I were talking for an hour. One guy who is "stuck in 1978" gave it an 86%.

 

[Senator Pleasury]

MAN OF STEEL
Spoilers ahead


Personally I think Nolan did a lot of right with Batman, but always have felt Snyder falls short when it’s about things other than visuals and Goyer didn’t convince me a lot with his script for Batman begins, that suffered in the dialogue department.

“Man of Steel” starts just wonderfully. Krypton is portrayed like never before, there’s a lot of emotion in those first scenes. And Clark’s childhood is even better when you consider this is groundbreaking, as little has been developed as to how all those super-powers would affect a child that considers himself “normal.” This is when you thank for this new tone Nolan and co. have brought to the genre. Maybe it’s just me but this movie pays homage to Donner’s films more than once (specially when it’s about what both Jor-el and Jonathan Kent, sometimes literally quoting his Donner-verse predecessors) only this time it is with a twist that makes everything feel more serious, more expanded. Also the script is basically STM and SII events put together. But no problems there, believe me.

So, what’s the problem? What is that most critics seems to have a problem with? What is the “fun” that’s missing? Thing is, when we get to see Superman in full costume after a wonderful and promising origin story... the movie forgets this is a Superman movie and goes directly to an alien invasion film. Just when this normal man is prepared to presents himself to the world, do wonderful deeds, leave everyone in awe, nothing happens and we’re taken directly into a complicated Kryptonian invasion that completely removes all those iconic moments everyone is expecting. Superman, the character, is introduced to the world only in function of the Kryptonian invasion and his heroic deeds are skipped until the end of the film. So, basically the world – and this is a group of soldiers and FBI agents and Lois Lane, not the whole world – knows of Superman after they know about General Zod and his henchmen. And so, Superman the character, is left incidental to the plot. One important character but not the quintessential superhero as he should always be. He could be easily described as the "first Kryptonian."

To make it worse, Lois Lane takes no time to find out about Clark Kent and his super powers and alien nature, of which not only a group of people know, but the whole town of Smallville. And all this before Clark Kent even think of going to the Daily Planet, radically changing one of the core elements of the myth just like that. I get that a TV series such a Smallville – which premise was having a superhero show without the superhero, one of the stupidest concepts I’ve ever heard – go and change everything so they can keep making episodes avoiding the full costumed hero. But for a movie that promises the real deal, lots of what Superman’s story is was changed for no important reason.

The acting is very good, Cavill does great as Clark/Kal-el, Shannon is also great as Zod, Amy Adams’s Lois Lane is also a surprise as this version is much more than the usual nosy shallow reporter and Russell Crowe’s jor-el is also notable. The rest is also good as most secondary characters are given something to do. Special applause to Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. The special effects are incredible but after a while they end up being more tiresome than actually surprising.

In short, this movie had everything to be outstanding, but its tone predominated over and digressed just when it was most important to have kept some fundamental elements. Or, if you know little about Superman, you can enjoy this much more as an awesome alien invasion movie.

3/5

 

[Afrokin]

...

SPOILER:

Why and how was Jor-El a better combatant then Zod, the GENERAL of the army?

Why was Feora more epic than Zod in combat?

Why was Superman a matching combat skills with Zod? shouldn't Zod have whooped the hell out of him?

How do Kryptonians fly? If they are lighter in density due to the different atmosphere wouldn't they just move like us on the moon? What makes him maneuver in the air, float, change velocity etc?

Who else thinks it should have been Lana instead of Lois and Lois is saved for a sequel or the finale as an introduction?

Why was that suit randomly in that 1000 year old ship and perfectly fitted for Kal-El?

Why wouldn't Feora and them use Martha Kent as leverage once Kal went flying off with Jor-El at the farm? They could have used her to make them do ANYTHING they wanted him too...was he ready to let both his parents die for the better good?

Also they didn't really show a reaction by how people would accept a superman if he existed...never got the feeling. yes how some smallville folks handled it "it's Jesus", but what of the more intelligent scientific folks like most thinkers into stuff like what we are into?

Who else feels Jor-El should have had a kal training session before letting him lose as the next hope in the red and blue?

 

[iamsilvio]

Motown Marvel, well said! Perhaps, someday Zack/WB can release a re-edited version of this film. I think it can be saved. It just needs to be re-edited so that it is linear in the first half. No flash backs. And in the end, cut some of the fighting and over the top destruction.

 

[bes628]

Cut some of the Fighting ? What the hell.


This movie is damn near perfect in my mind.

 

[Afrokin]

Cut some of the Fighting ? What the hell.


This movie is damn near perfect in my mind.

It had a tremendous amount of flaws...sorry, but it could have been a MASTERPIECE if they trusted the story to carry the action rather than the other around.

 

[iamsilvio]

Here's my off the cuff morning after rant that everyone is gonna take issue with....

KRYPTON:
It all starts when we are thrown into the middle of a rather important conversation about the planet on the verge of destruction. And for whatever reason the council of elders doesn’t believe Jor-El, even though he is allegedly the planet’s leading scientist. I say allegedly because his quality as a scientist is never really displayed, yer just kinda told to go with that (which is a common problem in this film). But, before we’re even really allowed to come to terms with the plot of Krypton’s imminent destruction, Zod busts in with an agenda and plot of his own that consumes us for the next 10-15 action filled minutes, which seems more of a distraction from when we started with Krypton’s destruction. Zod comes off as a generic 2-D villain that we’ve seen a hundred times before. But once his Krypton arc is wrapped we are jarringly thrown back to Krypton’s destruction with great urgency. This movie often transitions from one idea to the next without concern for its audience or without regard for the ideas themselves. We weren’t even settled with Zod’s arc and Jor-El’s death and Kal-El’s departure when suddenly the planet starts blowing up leaving me to be like, “Oh! We’re doing that part now? Okay.” It just clumsily stumbles from one thing to the next.

As a personal taste, I didn’t like the portrayal of Krypton. I didn’t like this overly complicated neo-medieval depiction. It was clunky. And while Krypton had their advanced Etch-A-Sketch technology, they didn’t seem advanced as a society. They didn’t seem any better than humans on Earth, which I don’t like. And for no reason they’re all genetically engineered? It’s a casual idea that serves no purpose, other than to diminish a character like Jor-El. Because now instead of earning his place as a great scientist, he was merely genetically engineered to be that way. Are Zod’s actions really his fault? Not really, he was genetically engineered to do what he does. And it could have been interesting if Zod was made an example of genetic engineering gone wrong, but they never even bothered with a worthwhile idea like that. The whole Kryptonian society almost came off as fascist and cold. But I guess Kal-El will be extra super special because he wasn’t genetically engineered.

Russel Crowe did well enough. But there was no chemistry between him and Lara. Not that there’s any real chemistry between anyone in this movie.

CLARK’S JOURNEY:
This is where things really start to get real messy as a film. I’m fine with flashbacks and non-linear storytelling, but this here was a train wreck. The flashbacks came with no subtlety, the transitions were jarring, and it went on for way too long into the movie. It was like this movie was edited by a 5 year old who was treating their ADHD with crack. There is no movement to the story, it’s just all mashed together at once never really allowing any of it to settle in.

All the flashbacks of Clark being bullied were just poorly written clichés. Young Clark struggling with all these crazy sensations and powers was cool.

I dunno why present day Clark was on his journey, what he was looking for, or why he went where he went and did what he did. He was just aimlessly wandering hoping to find…I dunno. There wasn’t much of a bridge between the flashbacks of him as a kid to him as an adult to prompt his motivations.

I felt Jonathon Kent was a confusing character. He never really imparted his son with any great wisdom or guidance. Clark’s parents are supposed to be the source of his moral compass, but we never really see that being passed on. We see them concerned for his well being and urging him to be cautious of his abilities and to cope with his reality. But there is no great moral wisdom passed on. Clark’s moral compass is mentioned a few times in the film, but we are only told about it, it’s never really on display. Martha’s attempt at guiding her son through hard times was pretty cheesy and forced. Jonathon’s death was almost humorous. Trying to save a dog in the middle of a twister while refusing Clark’s help was pretty anti-climactic and non-sensical. I never really felt much of a connection between the two characters anyways. And before we even get to recognize his death, we are hit with another flashback where he’s alive again, so it’s almost like he never really died, stripping away any emotion one may have been able to conjure over it.

But, Clark finds what he’s looking for. We know this because he tells his mom “I found what I was looking for!” to which her reply sounds like “Oh that’s just great son, we’ll have to put it on the fridge.” But Clark never really gets to discover anything, he just wanders around aimlessly until he inexplicably stumbles upon a…something….where inside a computer Jor-El just tells him everything with an Etch-A-Sketch animation. That’s not discovery. That’s being told. We later find out that the “something” is a Kryptonian scout ship that apparently came to Earth thousands of years ago. The casual mention of this in a single sentence of dialogue introduces a big idea that really serves no purpose. This ship has nothing to do with anything happening in the movie, it’s just kind of there. More messy storytelling.

Lois tracking down her “mystery man” was kinda cool, but her actually discovering him was groan-inducing. Lois knowing who he is from the beginning is going to strip away so much of the fun chemistry that resulted in the traditional Clark/Lois/Superman love triangle. The scene with them at Jonathon’s grave made no sense. Clark has no reason to trust a NEWS REPORTER with everything he tells her. I don’t know what his reasoning was for that, because it made no sense to do so other than to forcefully push these characters along.

Oh, and then there’s the completely pointless scene of Clark talking to a priest. He just shows up to tell this priest the biggest secret in the world. In doing so, he asks the priest for advice but gets up and leaves before the priest even responds with advice. The priest actually has to stop him from leaving to give him the advice that he sought. It was pointless and didn’t make any sense. Why was he in a church in the first place? Was this just a pointless ham-fisted attempt to reference the Azzarello/Lee "For Tomorrow" comics?

SUPERMAN:
There was almost a grand moment when he first dons the Superman suit. It was cool to see him fail at flying, but I wish that happened before he put the suit on. It was awkward seeing that happen in the suit. But once he got flying it was cool. The suit still looks dumb to me though, but I’m not gonna go on that rant again. Cavill does a good job with what he’s given. He’d make a really good Superman if he were working with film makers that actually understood Superman.

In the lead up to this movie Zack Snyder constantly made the point that he wanted to show how the real world would react to someone like Superman existing. Okay, that’s cool. But that never happened in the movie. At all. Superman’s arrival was grossly unceremonious. There was an opportunity at a grand entrance, but it doesn’t happen. He’s just suddenly there, standing in front of the military, then in handcuffs. That’s his reveal to the world. Hell, his arrival on Earth in general wasn’t even depicted. What a missed opportunity it was to not even show the Kent’s discovering Kal-El’s ship. And in the future there will be the missed opportunity of Clrak revealing himself to Lois, because in this movie she already knows, which was pretty underwhelming in comparison to what could have been.

This film is full of things that should be amazing and awe inspiring and full of wonder, but you never feel any of that. It just clunkily plods along at an awkward pace that never really lets you experience anything. Yer never immersed in anything. Yer just briskly told stuff and expected to go along with it. It’s like they expect you to rely on yer pre-conceived attachments to Superman to feel awe-inspired instead of actually making the effort to create that emotion in the film itself. Not once did I have a sense of amazement when watching this movie.

And in the lack of people’s reaction to Superman’s existence you realize that there is no connection between Superman and the people at all. The people that Superman is allegedly protecting and saving are so completely absent from this movie. Which really undercuts the importance of the Superman character. And worst of all, there is nothing hopeful or inspiring about this Superman. We’re told that the symbol he wears is a symbol of hope, and there is the All-Star Superman dialogue about him being an ideal for the people to strive towards to join him in the sun, and that’s all great stuff. Those ideas are what Superman is supposed to embody. But none of that is in the film. There’s nothing even inspiring about his eventual “victory” over Zod. Nothing you want to cheer for. If I were one of the people in this film, I would have been pissed at Superman. All he brought to their planet was destruction. I could understand if he had some pre-existing relationship with the people of Earth, where they had a better understanding of him. But no, Zod shows up looking for Superman. Superman reveals himself to the world. The two of them destroy everything and millions die. What about any of this can be seen as inspiring or hopeful? What has he given the people to strive towards?

Also, he was called Superman once in this movie. Once. And it was from some no-name generic military dude. “They’re calling him Superman now.” Who is calling him Superman? Where is that coming from? No one has called him Superman. The whole entire time they’re yelling Clark, Clark, Clark. Um, what about SUPERMAN?! It was dumb.

THE ACTION:
Oh my god, the action. The destruction. There was so much of it that it lost any impact. It just became rubble and noise. How many times do I need to see a build blown to bits before I get numb to the image of it? And how grossly reckless was Superman? He destroyed SO MUCH stuff without any regard for anything. It was insane. He made little to no attempt to avoid destroying everything in his path, in fact he purposely destroyed things. Even the action that would have been cool doesn’t get to be recognized because it’s surrounded by so much stupid action. Yes, it’s great to see Superman fight and punch and get physical. But this was so ridiculously over the top that it was just eye rolling and non-sensical.

THE ENDING:
So, apparently the codex was something super important to Zod and his motivations as a character. Although, despite it’s great importance, what the codex actually is was casually relegated to a single sentence of dialogue. And suddenly Zod is gonna terraform Earth, which is a pretty big idea that just kinda came out of nowhere at the end.

But he’s got this world engine over the Indian Ocean, and his ship over Metropolis. Oh, by the way, Metropolis is in this movie. Not that the great City of Tomorrow is given any sort of recognition, introduction, establishment, or scope. Anyways, the world engine is in the middle of nowhere, unprotected, and in itself not any sort of immediate danger to anyone. Unlike Zod’s ship which is protected by all his artillery and henchmen and killing hundreds of people by the minute. So what sense does it make that Superman goes after the world engine? Why not send the military to blow that up while Superman tends to Zod, his men, and all the people dying? The military has no chance against Zod in Metropolis and is completely incapable of stopping the destruction.

And we’re gonna solve this whole thing by smashing two phantom engines together to create a black hole and suck all the bad guys into nothingness, because apparently that’s what conveniently happens when you smash two phantom engines together. So much smashing in this movie! Oh, but let’s not worry about all the good people down below in Metropolis that might get caught up in the black hole. Phantom Holes only go after bad guys, so it’s cool.

I mean, lets not try anything a little more interesting and serviceable to the characters such as having Dr. Emil Hamilton team up with the Jor-El program and use the phantom engine in Kal-El’s ship to engineer a Phantom Zone projector which can be used to trap Zod and his men back into the Phantom Zone. Instead, lets show off Hamilton’s scientific importance by having him inexplicably realizing he should turn this one thing so he can push a button. How dramatic! And why the hell was Lois on that plane other than to allow her to fall off so Superman can catch her….again.

AND THEN! there is the final battle between Superman and Zod. What a cool video game that was. I love seeing rubbery CGI men wrestle and lay waste to everything in their path. At this point, we’ve already seen multiple cities destroyed. Seeing even more destruction and bombastic noise was nothing more than an annoyance that I couldn’t wait to be over with. Also, I love how Zod proclaims he’s genetically engineered to preserve all things krypton Krypton as his introduction to kill Superman, the last Kryptonian. That makes sense.

THEN SUPERMAN KILLS ZOD! WHAT…THE F***?! I literally sat there in the theater with my hands in the air, surrendered to confusion and disbelief. SUPERMAN DOES NOT KILL! At all. Ever. And the build up to it was so incredibly void of drama. Not to mention this was completely pointless! What does this do for the character other than demean everything he’s supposed to represent?! What does it do? What was the point of this? There is nothing “edgy” or “modern” about a Superman that can’t save the day without killing. NOTHING. There is no reason this couldn’t have been resolved without Superman killing Zod, and there is no reason to believe the film and characters would have been lesser for it. I still can’t believe they did this. This whole movie was nothing short of Snyder/Goyer/Nolan depicting their inability to understand Superman.

And then there is the introduction of Clark Kent at the Daily Planet. Who is literally Superman in glasses. They made no attempt to present any sort of reasonable disguise. And how does Clark get a job at the planet anyways? He has no training or education as a journalist. In none of the flashbacks has he shown any interest in writing at all. He just walks into one of the most prestigious papers and has a job.

And by the way, what the hell are all these people doing? Yer city was literally just destroyed. Completely annihilated. The World Trade Center was destroyed 12 years ago. It still has yet to complete its replacement. The city of Metropolis was just leveled by aliens….and we’re trying to pick up co-workers to go to a basketball game?

MISC.:
All the side characters were fine. They served their minimal purpose, but there was nothing special about them either. And I’m okay with that. This film wanted to focus on Clark/Superman, which they failed to get right. The film was void of emotion and wonder and fun. The chemistry between all the characters was pretty stale. Faora was cool, and served her purpose as the typical hench-woman.

The pacing of this movie was atrocious. And so much of the plotting was completely non-sensical and so many ideas served no purpose. The characters were horribly undeveloped and mis-portrayed. I honestly can’t believe the film was allowed to be made in the form it was. And that so much money was spent on it. And that it was so glaringly flawed on almost every level that no one along the way was like “WAIT A MINUTE!”. How does this happen?

What few good things I can say about the movie are pretty pointless in the face of everything wrong with it.

A Superman that isn’t inspiring and has to kill to save the day is nothing I’m interested in.

I ‘d give it a 2/10.

You are one of the smartest people on this board, Midtown! You are seeing the errors.

 

[Afrokin]

MAN OF STEEL
Spoilers ahead


Personally I think Nolan did a lot of right with Batman, but always have felt Snyder falls short when it’s about things other than visuals and Goyer didn’t convince me a lot with his script for Batman begins, that suffered in the dialogue department.

“Man of Steel” starts just wonderfully. Krypton is portrayed like never before, there’s a lot of emotion in those first scenes. And Clark’s childhood is even better when you consider this is groundbreaking, as little has been developed as to how all those super-powers would affect a child that considers himself “normal.” This is when you thank for this new tone Nolan and co. have brought to the genre. Maybe it’s just me but this movie pays homage to Donner’s films more than once (specially when it’s about what both Jor-el and Jonathan Kent, sometimes literally quoting his Donner-verse predecessors) only this time it is with a twist that makes everything feel more serious, more expanded. Also the script is basically STM and SII events put together. But no problems there, believe me.

i agree fully about them building a hero to be that ends up just being a tool for action extravaganza that only a few people really know of. By the end of the movie, besides the military or government...who knows this great hero? He did more heroics for people to appreciate when he was NOT in costume...a few regular, save a construction worker, a train out of control etc like the beautiful donner direction with that aspect. I'm down for a NON donner rehash, but there are things done RIGT with that first movie. the montage of a new hero is very important that spiderman 1 got, tho i loathe the juvenile style of marvel movie. We needed a montage of 5 minutes the world getting to accept this guy as a friend. only the military claimed as such. he still helped destroy half the city.

So, what’s the problem? What is that most critics seems to have a problem with? What is the “fun” that’s missing? Thing is, when we get to see Superman in full costume after a wonderful and promising origin story... the movie forgets this is a Superman movie and goes directly to an alien invasion film. Just when this normal man is prepared to presents himself to the world, do wonderful deeds, leave everyone in awe, nothing happens and we’re taken directly into a complicated Kryptonian invasion that completely removes all those iconic moments everyone is expecting. Superman, the character, is introduced to the world only in function of the Kryptonian invasion and his heroic deeds are skipped until the end of the film. So, basically the world – and this is a group of soldiers and FBI agents and Lois Lane, not the whole world – knows of Superman after they know about General Zod and his henchmen. And so, Superman the character, is left incidental to the plot. One important character but not the quintessential superhero as he should always be. He could be easily described as the "first Kryptonian."

To make it worse, Lois Lane takes no time to find out about Clark Kent and his super powers and alien nature, of which not only a group of people know, but the whole town of Smallville. And all this before Clark Kent even think of going to the Daily Planet, radically changing one of the core elements of the myth just like that. I get that a TV series such a Smallville – which premise was having a superhero show without the superhero, one of the stupidest concepts I’ve ever heard – go and change everything so they can keep making episodes avoiding the full costumed hero. But for a movie that promises the real deal, lots of what Superman’s story is was changed for no important reason.

The acting is very good, Cavill does great as Clark/Kal-el, Shannon is also great as Zod, Amy Adams’s Lois Lane is also a surprise as this version is much more than the usual nosy shallow reporter and Russell Crowe’s jor-el is also notable. The rest is also good as most secondary characters are given something to do. Special applause to Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. The special effects are incredible but after a while they end up being more tiresome than actually surprising.

In short, this movie had everything to be outstanding, but its tone predominated over and digressed just when it was most important to have kept some fundamental elements. Or, if you know little about Superman, you can enjoy this much more as an awesome alien invasion movie.

3/5

i'd give it more a 3.5/5 or a 7.5 out of 10. I agree with this review tho...it felt they missed the elements they stared so rich with. they should have taken another 20 minutes to flesh out krypton more as well as clark and Jor-El's build up. Lana should have been used instead of Lois...we would have cared about their chemistry more like a rachel to Bruce who Zod maybe kills in the end.

 

[MadVillainy]

Huh....actually using Lana instead of Lois couldve worked. Although i like Lois better. I just hated her and how she was used in this movie though

 

[bes628]

It had a tremendous amount of flaws...sorry, but it could have been a MASTERPIECE if they trusted the story to carry the action rather than the other around.

We'll agree to disagree. Finest film in the Genre in my eyes.

 

[BobbyCorwin88]

First of all I am glad you enjoyed MOS! I thought it was overall phenomenal t:. But didn't you think that the Krypton scenes were rushed and badly edited? I know what you are saying that you loved the feel of Krypton so did I. The sets and costumes looked great. The actors were all good and I loved the strong science fiction aspects of it. It seems the scenes they actually filmed originally probably made for a great Krypton sequence like all the parts were there and it was executed perfectly. But it just felt so much like it was badly chopped on the editing room floor because the length of the movie had to be shortened. It just seemed way too rushed and awkward. Did you get this feeling?

I'll probably have to see it again to judge that for myself. Krypton definitely is difficult to showcase without completely overpowering the rest of the film. I thought that it was shown for the proper amount of time before they decided to cut to Earth, but I can definitely say it left me wanting more. As with Asgard, I would have liked to see some more of Krypton's people. Not that it killed the experience for me, the setting alone was enough to inspire a sense of history about the place, but I do want to see some normal, everyday Kryptonians. It could have been a nice opportunity to have given a nod to Kara Zor-El and some of Kal's extended family.

All in all I still really enjoyed it.

 

[psylockolussus]

I finally saw the movie and it wasn't very good. The problem with the movie is the pacing and the script/story has a lot of flaws. I just felt like things went so quickly and there wasn't enough character development and enough explanation to things. It kinda reminded me of Green Lantern because things went so quickly, Clark quickly accepted who he is especially when he found out the truth about Krypton. Then he quickly had this romantic relationship with Lois, that kiss really came out of nowhere and I didn't like how they met at the beginning. The movie also felt over-dramatic and predictable, I just felt like Clark was too holy and it was very easy to figure out what he was gonna do when there was trouble. And his relationship with his father was really cheesey, I didn't find it endearing. The villains were alright, I kinda liked the female villian because she was bad-ass and the lead villain was alright, but like I said, there wasn't enough character development. Even if the acting from the cast was fine, their role in the movie wasn't very impressive. The good thing about the movie were the action sequences were impressive but there were too much destruction and seriously, they were like the only scenes that felt like it didn't go too quickly so for that they made the movie longer. Another little thing that I didn't like when the female cop said that Superman was kinda hot, I thought that scene was just unnecessary. I also didn't like the camera movements, sometimes it was shakey and I didn't really enjoy the realism take at the beginning of the movie. And also Henry Cavill's teeth were kinda distracting to watch, like he's also really good-looking when his mouth is close.

I'll give this 6 out of 10. It wasn't that bad but it has a lot of flaws. People are gonna like this movie for the action but the story just wasn't good enough. Even if I wasn't expecting it to be good, I was a bit disappointed.

 

[Afrokin]

You are one of the smartest people on this board, Midtown! You are seeing the errors.

not a 2/10 tho. that's far too mean lol. last airbender, batman and robin, dragon ball evolution are 2/10 movies...come on. OBJECTIVELY it was at LEAST a 7 for what it did do right

 

[Senator Pleasury]

i'd give it more a 3.5/5 or a 7.5 out of 10. I agree with this review tho...it felt they missed the elements they stared so rich with. they should have taken another 20 minutes to flesh out krypton more as well as clark and Jor-El's build up. Lana should have been used instead of Lois...we would have cared about their chemistry more like a rachel to Bruce who Zod maybe kills in the end.

Thanks for your words. Yes, Lana would have worked better if they wanted to make the pre-Daily Planet Superman story.

 

[Autonet]

not a 2/10 tho. that's far too mean lol. last airbender, batman and robin, dragon ball evolution are 2/10 movies...come on. OBJECTIVELY it was at LEAST a 7 for what it did do right

Airbender is a 0/10, just saying. t:

 

[socool]

So, I haven't seen the movie yet. (I think I'm seeing it Tuesday) But my brother just came home from seeing it and his review is, and I quote, "It was just a bunch of explosions for like a straight hour. It got really boring after a while."

Is this the general consensus? (I haven't been reading any of the reviews for fear of spoilers) Cause it doesn't seem like people are digging this film as much as I thought they would. Which is sad. I thought this movie was gonna blow minds. Oh, well, I could still be pleased.

 

[Autonet]

So, I haven't seen the movie yet. (I think I'm seeing it Tuesday) But my brother just came home from seeing it and his review is, and I quote, "It was just a bunch of explosions for like a straight hour. It got really boring after a while."

Is this the general consensus? (I haven't been reading any of the reviews for fear of spoilers) Cause it doesn't seem like people are digging this film as much as I thought they would. Which is sad. I thought this movie was gonna blow minds. Oh, well, I could still be pleased.

No, that's not the general consensus overall.

 

[Afrokin]

Thanks for your words. Yes, Lana would have worked better if they wanted to make the pre-Daily Planet Superman story.

which would have fixed 90% of the issue this movie had. Lana instead of lois would have been GREAT and we get to meet general LANE who may speak of her daughter to someone else, maybe Perry white is old friends with Lois's dad hence their chemistry. PERRY WHITE should have interrogated Kal and we don't get to hear superman's name till this young reporter who just came to the daily planet, lois lane, dubs him SUPERMAN in a phenomenal article and then clark walks into the office for the first time and meets this new girl that blows his mind...Lois "sassy" lane...THE END!!!!!!

Honestly...JJ Abrams and his Fringe team should have written this movie...it would have been PERFECT.

 

[JangoNate]

So, I haven't seen the movie yet. (I think I'm seeing it Tuesday) But my brother just came home from seeing it and his review is, and I quote, "It was just a bunch of explosions for like a straight hour. It got really boring after a while."

Is this the general consensus? (I haven't been reading any of the reviews for fear of spoilers) Cause it doesn't seem like people are digging this film as much as I thought they would. Which is sad. I thought this movie was gonna blow minds. Oh, well, I could still be pleased.

From what I've read here and other places, a lot of people really like the film, but there are some that were disappointed like your brother.

 

[BobbyCorwin88]

So, what’s the problem? What is that most critics seems to have a problem with? What is the “fun” that’s missing? Thing is, when we get to see Superman in full costume after a wonderful and promising origin story... the movie forgets this is a Superman movie and goes directly to an alien invasion film. Just when this normal man is prepared to presents himself to the world, do wonderful deeds, leave everyone in awe, nothing happens and we’re taken directly into a complicated Kryptonian invasion that completely removes all those iconic moments everyone is expecting. Superman, the character, is introduced to the world only in function of the Kryptonian invasion and his heroic deeds are skipped until the end of the film. So, basically the world – and this is a group of soldiers and FBI agents and Lois Lane, not the whole world – knows of Superman after they know about General Zod and his henchmen. And so, Superman the character, is left incidental to the plot. One important character but not the quintessential superhero as he should always be. He could be easily described as the "first Kryptonian."

I was thinking about this exact thing as pertaining to the people coming to know and understand who Superman is. I felt like a missed opportunity was during the fight with Faora in downtown Smallville. After they retreat, the military accepts him and gives him that credit he deserved, but I feel like the people there needed to recognize him as well. It would have made perfect sense, because I'm not sure that at that time they would have differentiated between the invaders and Superman. After the fight would have been a different story. I can see a scenario where the soldiers lower their weapons and Superman addresses them and then he looks around and sees all the people kind of staring at him in awe. That's all it really would have needed in my opinion.

Something small that I think could have helped would have been to see Superman through the perspective of a child. It's a small detail, but think about most superhero movies that have surfaced in the last decade. Most of the main heroes, including the likes of Batman, usually have a small moment with a child where the kid looks at them in adoration and kind of breaks the ice for the rest of the population to trust the hero. A kid running up and giving him a quick hug in Smallville or him saving a child in some form could have been a great moment. Superheroes are for kids in the first place, at least I think so, and they deserve interaction with a hero in some small way. It's a powerful tool in a superhero movie and I think it was a missed opportunity here, especially considering we're dealing with Superman. What kid doesn't want to be Superman?

 

[socool]

No, that's not the general consensus overall.

Ok...

From what I've read here and other places, a lot of people really like the film, but there are some that were disappointed like your brother.

Yeah, I just browsed through the blurbs on RT. Seems really mixed, especially with the 57% rating.

 

[Doc Samson]

Cut some of the Fighting ? What the hell.


This movie is damn near perfect in my mind.

I've been trying to figure it out all day, smh. But to each his own...