TMOS Review & Speculation Thread (Spoilers) - Part 3

[Sup3rman81]

Ok....caught Man of Steel last night at its opening midnight showing, and I'm operating on 3 whole hours of sleep right now, but I wanted to offer my own $.02 on what I thought.

All in all....MOS absolutely rocks! I found it to be a highly entertaining flick; an excellent way to kickstart a new big screen series. Is it a perfect film? Does it have a "Dark Knight" kind of awesomeness to it? No, not quite, I did have some relatively minor issues with it, but basically I left the theater extremely pleased with what I'd just seen.

Allow me to start with what I LIKED: Henry Cavill really owns this role now. Not since Christopher Reeve have we had an actor in the role who really looked the part. Sorry to Routh, but his rather wooden take on it in SR was pretty weak. The visual effects throughout were consistently strong and very impressive from the beginning in Krypton all throughout the final rumble in Metropolis. I can't remember any moments that jumped out to me as particularly bad CGI. The action....oh my god, it was relentless, brutal, very physical.....everything that it should be with Superman. Loved each and every one of the hand-to-hand fights. Despite my own initial feelings of Amy Adams being a "meh" actress with "meh" looks, I can take some of that back. I thought she made for a very good Lois Lane and actually did look better than I'm used to seeing her. I found both Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner were well-suited for their roles as Kal-El's father (natural and adopted) and their performances were natural and fairly moving, too. The character of Faora, I liked and wished there was more of her in the film. She came across, to me, as more of a menace than Zod himself. I also liked the rather different and interesting take on the behind-the-scenes issues on Krypton and how much time was spent there; as well as the various flashbacks from Kal-El on his growing up and trying to adjust to his powers and even his issues in learning how to fly.

What I DIDN'T LIKE: There was no real chemistry between Cavill and Adams. We all know the Superman/Lois Lane history according to the comics, etc....but just because that's supposed to happen, doesn't mean it looked like it could have or should have. I thought it was awfully fast for any kind of romance to have started between the two. They perhaps should have hinted at that developing in the last minutes of the movie and developed it more in the sequel. That would have been more realistic. I also didn't like the blatant, in-your-face product placement throughout. Gee, do you think IHOP, Sears, and Nokia had something to do with supporting this film? As for Zod, I thought Shannon did OK.....but there was nothing unique about his performance here, and he certainly did nothing to stand out that any other actor in the role wouldn't also have done. It's kind of weak that one of his subordinates seemed more deadly/dangerous than he did. I thought it was kind of corny (no doubt Nolan's influence) to toss in the "good guy repeats back a line the bad guy said to him earlier" bit. (Batman did it to Bane in TDKR and Colonel Hardy does it to Faora in MoS.) And as far as Faora, I wanted to see more of her and more of the fight in Smallville really; it just ended too quickly (as did she). One last thing that I kind of nitpick about, and from a narrative standpoint I understand why it was done the way it was.....but with super-speed, couldn't Clark have still saved his father and have no one else notice? The Jonathan Kent death from the original Superman film was a better one, from something Clark couldn't have controlled anyway.

Anyway, I thought this was a pretty terrific film overall, even if imperfect. Personally I'd give it a 9/10.

I like your thoughts on the film. If I may say this about Lois and Clark. I felt they were pretty connected. She helped him and believed in him. She was the first human to actually care about him outside the Kents. I like what Cavill and Adams showed especially the kiss scene. I also felt Costner sold his death scene and him telling his son no dont save me was so sad to watch. As a man it takes a lot to make me emotional but Cavills face was so racked with guilt and pain. Even at the cemetery when telling Lois he had tears in his eyes

 

[godisawesome]

I watche it last night with my Dad at midnight, and he was old enough to have seen the originals. We both liked it. After the film I reminded Dad about the Kansas City Star giving it two stars. I said whoever gave it that rating must have been smoking something bad.t:

I'm not nearly as thrown off by some of the stuff as others because I've been steeped in Post Crisis Superman my whole life, don't give a damn about the silver age, and the first graphic novel I bought was Death Of Superman. And I'm a huge Sci-Fi fan, so no go on the complaint about it not being a superhero genre film.

Having said all the above so my prejudices are understood, this is now one of my top three Superhero films, above most of the MCU's production thanks to its sheer scope, artistry, visceral emotions, and it had a villain I'd say was just as compelling as Loki and Two-Face, so now I've got three villains tied for second. It's because all three manage to mix despair, ambition, sympathy, and terror into their stories, and each clearly has a strong character arc beneath them. When this film gets a sequel, I'm excited to see if Luthor shows up.

And Cavill as Superman was awesome. He had the more countrified attitude that I could actually see some of my high school buddies having, and I really liked the touches they made to his love of Kansas (though I did boo at him being a KU fan). Cavill was far from wooden, and I think this film definitely benefitted from making him just Clark for most of the film in costume and out, and I liked the way they handled him.

So yeah, this film to me justified its existence pretty epically, and now I don't want to see anything following this film except its sequel in some form or another.

 

[GremlinZilla89]

The difference of opinion here is mindboggling. It's NOT the fact that some people aren't liking it and I loved it. No, it's that without any sort of attitude, I can't understand what movie the people who are disappointed saw.

Cold? Sterile? Clinical? What movie did you people see? Again, I'm not trying to be confrontational or obstinate-I honestly am baffled at some of the reactions. It wouldn't be so baffling if others like myself haven't raved about how much emotion and soul the film has. Two polar opposite viewpoints like this don't ever really occur with films like these.

I thought every flashback was well handled and important. I would have liked more Clark in his teen years, but that isn't something that takes away from the film. I also could have done with more Lois/Clark interaction. The film was begging for more, but barely any superhero films have honest to goodness well developed love stories and interests. Iron Man is the only series to do it well imo. So I don't see a reason to knock Man of Steel too hard for this grievance. I'd say Man of Steel handles it's love angle better than BB and TDK combined...if I am to be totally honest.

I don't know, I simply don't see most of the problems people are having with this film. Like, not at all. And the issues I do see aren't big enough to really hurt the film in a major way.

 

[kguillou]

Ugh, I'm reading some of these twitter reactions and I don't want to sound like a d**k but what do people want from a Superman movie exactly? Everybody and their mother complained and complained that Supes did nothing in Superman Returns and then finally we get a movie that unleashes his full potential and gives us a true superhero epic and they still complain that it's too much. Someone please enlighten me.

 

[BlueLantern]

Anyone who's had a problem from themselves has summarized their peeves with the film in a fair amount of detail. Just read through the thread and its previous iterations.

 

[kedrell]

6/10 That rating might change but as it stands now I put this about even with X-Men 1 or Spider-man 1. It just barely pulls it's buttocks across the tolerable line. My biggest complaint is that the sense of wonder is non-existent. The movie is too interested in being heavy for that. And that's something IMO that absolutely NO Superman movie should be without. Anyway the action, while larger devolves into white noise fairly quickly as it becomes repetitive. Too much debris flying at the screen that all looks the same. I DID like Cavill as Superman but felt like the script kinda let him down. The cast was uniformly good. They deserved a better script to work with. No weak links there. I felt the whole Brave New Krypton angle was not all that well utilized thematically and Zod had far too many people helping him which only managed to dilute his threat. I'd have been happy with just him and Faora and absolutely no one else.

 

[restlessdreams]

Ugh, I'm reading some of these twitter reactions and I don't want to sound like a d**k but what do people want from a Superman movie exactly? Everybody and their mother complained and complained that Supes did nothing in Superman Returns and then finally we get a movie that unleashes his full potential and gives us a true superhero epic and they still complain that it's too much. Someone please enlighten me.

I think people just want a balance. Both movies were really unbalanced when it came to things. As you said Superman Returns spends to much time doing nothing. While there is so much action in MOS that it's a bit much, it was like I was watching Transformers Dark of The Moon.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

By having a Superman that actually throws punches, we've sacrificed all the little things that really made him Superman...

He was Superman through and through, imo. Not sure what you mean.

 

[dante2012]

Just saw it again with my mate! Man! I still love it. Change my mind on the score now and its an 9/10 and the same level as TDK for me.

Really the action and acting was awesome. It reminded me alot of birthright, secret origin and TAS combined.

Loved krypton and jorel riding that dragon creature. Also the climax was badASS. I felt it was too fast paced!lol! Very enjoyable overall. Ending was wicked with clark in the daily planet.

This blows every superman movie out the way. Soz but the original movies are long, boring and dated.

NEW RANKING:

1: TDK 9/10
2: MOS 9/10
3: SPIDERMAN 2 9/10
4: IRONMAN 1 9/10
5: THE AVENGERS 9/10

 

[Micromind]

8/10.

Good but not a great Superman movie.

Solid performances by Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

Shannon as Zod and Antje True as Faora were great, really liked Fishburne as Perry White.

Cavill is Superman for this generation !

 

[kguillou]

Respectfully, I think there was very much a balance: the flashbacks to his childhood where young Clark is integrating into society, the tender moments with his parents, his relationship with Lois, it all built who this version of Clark was, a lost soul who's still trying to find his place in this world and discover his destiny.

I mean, in all fairness, could there have been more 'quiet' moments? Sure. I probably would have liked to have seen a scene or two more with PA Kent and Lois, but I thought what we got was more than adequate. I just don't see how anyone can say there's no character development. That's what the first half of the filn did and then when it came down to kicking ass, it KICKED ASS. But, I dunno, that's just my opinion.

 

[silentrascal]

I like your thoughts on the film. If I may say this about Lois and Clark. I felt they were pretty connected. She helped him and believed in him. She was the first human to actually care about him outside the Kents. I like what Cavill and Adams showed especially the kiss scene. I also felt Costner sold his death scene and him telling his son no dont save me was so sad to watch. As a man it takes a lot to make me emotional but Cavills face was so racked with guilt and pain. Even at the cemetery when telling Lois he had tears in his eyes

Thanks. But the Jonathan death scene, though it touched me as well, still made he wonder: If Clark still has his super speed, couldn't he still have saved his father so fast that nobody else would have or could have noticed?

 

[dante2012]

AGREE kguillou this movie has heart and especially character development for Clark kent. its freaking superman begins guys!

 

[Anjow1060]

I think more of the problems with the film I noticed are:

1) The entire build up to Superman centers on a quiet quiet Clark Kent. The problem I realized here is the very minimal dialogue he has AS Clark. As my friend pointed out, he's Superman the whole damn movie. He DOES Superman things but to me - there's more to him than just saving people and doing good. He should preach good as well. My problem is that Clark / Superman isn't so pronounced as he should be as a character. He's not bold, rich and outright in his conflicting with humanity. The Superman I want not only does good, but INSPIRES good. That's what was lacking for me. And no he doesn't have to be the boyscout scooping kittens out of the tree, but his character needs to do more than just do. He needs to inspire. He doesn't. That's the missing component from the character. And it's not a Donnerverse thing, or a Singer, or smallville - that's a comic book thing. And yes it's necessary and yes it can fit in this "real world." It's one of the best aspects of the character of Superman and right now it's missing. I can get over it because this is just the start and they do need things to keep it interesting. But I would have really loved just a taste of it.

2) The fights. Yes the action is awesome - but there's still a lack of emotion out of the fights. Mainly because there is nothing at stake. No characters that I care about are ever in any real jeopardy. Christopher Nolan knew this when he created Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins. The problem he encountered was that she was a boring character that no one gave a **** about and she had bad actresses portraying her. Here - there is nothing at stake during the fights. We all know he's going to save metropolis and Lois ain't dying. The threat of something detrimental happening needs to be done better. In all of the Nolan movies - there were things at stake. TDK had gordon's son, TDKR had Batman himself. MoS needs to grasp this aspect in the future.

3) Zod - I'm sorry. He does evil things. But up until a certain point of the movie - he's still not an evil enough character for me. A hero is best defined by his villain. And while it's leaps and bounds above former ones - the threat Zod presents against superman for a majority of the movie is quite out of proportion. It's odd that in a film the hero wins the first fight against his enemy... and then the 2nd. Zod is not booked correctly as a threat to Superman. Superman really needed to get his ass handed to him by Zod, not his henchwench or anyone else in the first fight. That's what creates drama and an investment in the final fight - which is why I didn't feel it last time. That said - by the end of the final fight - they get Zod and Supes where they need to be. My gripe is that it didn't happen sooner and expel more into interesting details on that conflict.

4) Zod in Superman's mind / Acid weed trip smoking sequence and the obvious cut scene involving Lois with the same. I'm not going into detail onto this one for spoiler reasons - but when you see it and are like "What the **** just happened?" You'll know what I'm talking about.

5) Structure - the flashback scenes were handled fine, but the transitioning to them was terrible. Did Clark flashback to saving a schoolbus EVERYTIME he saw a schoolbus? What was so different about this noticing of a schoolbus that made it stand out in his mind. Not 30 seconds ago we were flashbacking to being locked in the closet at school. Begins covered this well by keeping flashbacks mostly together or relevant to what was happening to the main story. Furthermore - we really lost out on a "moment" he decided to become Superman. Bruce knew he wanted to become something but it wasn't until the bat was in his foray that he realzied what it would be. I would have much like to have seen Clark with a scene with his mother after Jonathan's death saying "If I hadn't kept myself a secret... I could have saved him." They needed to reverse engineer who Superman is and maybe instead of Jonathan telling him to keep it a secret - maybe it was Clark who was afraid of being found out all along as a young boy. And in that moment he made a decision to never be afraid to show who he really is anymore. Seeing as his character arc in the film isn't all that well defined, I think that really could have helped.

Anywho, as I've said before the 2nd viewing was a massive increase in enjoyment for me.

Final score would be a 7.5 / 10 for me.

- Jow

 

[Anjow1060]

and to the raging haters of the film, Jor-El has a message for you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs

- Jow

 

[Rock Sexton]

Oh my lord, huge problem. Won't match up. Sequels don't have to look the same as previous movies.

In some cases I might agree with you. However, we're not talking about a normal director here in a visual sense. Zack Snyder stylistically is as unique as they come and he likes to convey messages visually.

You bring another director in and it ultimately will conflict with the Superman established right now in this film. You don't want to re-design something that was just rebooted.

Then again this is an interesting scenario given the looming possibility of JL. Snyder's film would be something so completely different than all those other tentpole franchises, if they're given green lights.

 

[superadam87]

This is the SUPERMAN film I've been waiting and hoping for!

I love the fact that Clark is just Clark in this film -- He's not the 'mild-mannered' reporter, he's not 'Superman' per se -- He's just the young farm boy from Kansas who's on a journey of self-discovery.

Critics are saying that much of the supporting cast didn't get developed in this film. Well, that's because the story wasn't about them, it was about Clark and his relationship with his two fathers. There's a reason why the movie ended the way it did.

Cavill as Clark will continue to grow into the role of Superman and become the iconic savior and hero we all know him to be. It'll just take time.

There was also so much 'Justice League' goodness in this film! Please Warner Bros., don't phukk this up!

 

[Quasimod0]

Cavill was PERFECT in the role. He did a great job. Really likeable

 

[Hotwire]

I think the difference between your opinion and mine is that I was expecting an original and fresh take on Superman without recycling generic stuff.

You were happy to accept whatever they threw at you regardless of how many tropes they use and exploit to the point of boredom.

My bad on that one I guess.

Easily one of the most condescending replies to someone liking a film I've read on the Hype. I guess not all of us have such discerningly refined tastes as yourself.

 

[BlueLantern]

It might still well be condescending but frankly, I really don't care. As someone who's been waiting a long long time for a mind blowing Superman film I'll quite openly say that this was short of it.

It had great great potential but it stumbled. It still has the potential. Maybe some eager fan editor will come in when the film's out on Blu-Ray and trim the film into something greater.

I'm going to watch it tomorrow for a second time and maybe it'll get better but the action overdose was really not to my liking. And I'm not the only one.

The chap who the previous comment was aimed at has been all over the boards telling people they're inferior for not liking the movie. He's not even willing to accept its flaws.

Me? I haven't said I hate the film, I just don't like what it was as a whole. Parts of it were absolutely mind blowing whilst other parts were just so messy that they're impossible to gloss over.

 

[Stringer]

Good but not great is really the most accurate way to describe the movie. There really wasn't such a need to focus so much on Clark's indecision about becoming a superhero when he's clearly one from the very moment we see him as an adult.

 

[BlueLantern]

It's one of the myriad issues with the film. And yes, it was good but not great.

Maybe it's not the best thing having high expectations but this is Superman and it was coming from individuals with a supposed pedigree in tackling such a character.

As a gigantic fan of the first two Christopher Nolan helmed Batman films, this film didn't meet those standards.

The score is damn good though. It really lent a pathos to the character driven moments and expertly anchored Cavill's excellent performance as Clark.

 

[The Caped Knight]

Forget everything you thought you knew about the Superman story (While the Classic film from 1978 by Richard Donner starring Christopher Reeve's will forever be fondly cherished and remembered by Superman fans, It's a reflection of it's era and also a more comic book kid friendly approach to the character as a Fun and very over the top flamboyant (not to the extreme campiness like Adam West's Batman pre-say) but still it's not realistic and part of the reason to many for a long time Superman's appeal by the masses population of people is that he's the most Unreliable Superhero character. MAN OF STEEL CHANGES THAT imagery of the character and goes to great lengths in reinventing Superman for this era we currently live in.

I loved Man of Steel, It's got a serious under-toning edge to it. My recommendation is that you go in with no expectations of what your hoping to see and just watch the film as it's presented, Don't read what the critics are saying this time their dead wrong. I thought film was good had great action, solid cast, the score was emotional moving. The story is very heavy but in the context of what the producers were trying to achieve it works and I'm glad they had the balls to do what they did.

While the film is not dark like Nolan's Batman Trilogy starring Christian Bale. This Superman and the reinvention of the origins is raw and edgy and not light and fun like past incarnations. Unlike other Superhero films like (Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Avengers etc...) the fantasy elements in this film is strongly grounded in a potential reality that could happen if a being like this existed in our world. Which kinda gives it an alien feel to it and completely rips the whole clean cut boyscout traditional imagery that's been associated with Superman for 75 years. He's still got all that makes him Superman in tact mind you it's just that he's not as gullible and naive to humanity like "The Whole Truth, Justice and American Way!" bit, He more realistic he's embraced humanity and it's ideals but he doesn't blindly trust them. Futhermore he's but to the test of his morals that when he does a questionable act for the great good it frightens him and he takes the lost very hard. It's a fine line for a hero to take when the greater good will be served by an evil act.

8/10

P.s. Looking forward to further instalment of the franchise. Also I could totally see this version of Superman teaming up with Batman and the Justice League.

 

[Rocketman]

I'm going to post a longer review tonight, but I'll say this: Boy, did the critics get this wrong. This movie is going to spark confirmation that sites like RottenTomatoes are not only inaccurate, but largely unnecessary. Not to mention, we don't know who half of these critics are, and their opinion means very little... yet these nobodies control the "official" grade of a film (or any film)? Doesn't seem like that's a system that should be around for much longer. And I predict that this movie in particular will make people rethink it.

I understand that people won't like it, sure. But goddamn, putting it in the 50% range is embarrassingly wrong, and audiences this weekend will put that 50% in its place. It'll be interesting to see the IMDB rating at 7.9 or 8.0 (or hell, higher), and to see the box office be ****ing HUGE (the midnight numbers are already extremely promising).

This movie is a success - a big one. Don't let a bunch of people in their pajamas getting paid to put down movies on their laptops say otherwise.

 

[BlueLantern]

Forget everything you thought you knew about the Superman story (While the Classic film from 1978 by Richard Donner starring Christopher Reeve's will forever be fondly cherished and remembered by Superman fans, It's a reflection of it's era and also a more comic book kid friendly approach to the character as a Fun and very over the top flamboyant (not to the extreme campiness like Adam West's Batman pre-say) but still it's not realistic and part of the reason to many for a long time Superman's appeal by the masses population of people is that he's the most Unreliable Superhero character. MAN OF STEEL CHANGES THAT imagery of the character and goes to great lengths in reinventing Superman for this era we currently live in.

I loved Man of Steel, It's got a serious under-toning edge to it. My recommendation is that you go in with no expectations of what your hoping to see and just watch the film as it's presented, Don't read what the critics are saying this time their dead wrong. I thought film was good had great action, solid cast, the score was emotional moving. The story is very heavy but in the context of what the producers were trying to achieve it works and I'm glad they had the balls to do what they did.

While the film is not dark like Nolan's Batman Trilogy starring Christian Bale. This Superman and the reinvention of the origins is raw and edgy and not light and fun like past incarnations. Unlike other Superhero films like (Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Avengers etc...) the fantasy elements in this film is strongly grounded in a potential reality that could happen if a being like this existed in our world. Which kinda gives it an alien feel to it and completely rips the whole clean cut boyscout traditional imagery that's been associated with Superman for 75 years. He's still got all that makes him Superman in tact mind you it's just that he's not as gullible and naive to humanity like "The Whole Truth, Justice and American Way!" bit, He more realistic he's embraced humanity and it's ideals but he doesn't blindly trust them. Futhermore he's but to the test of his morals that when he does a questionable act for the great good it frightens him and he takes the lost very hard. It's a fine line for a hero to take when the greater good will be served by an evil act.

8/10

P.s. Looking forward to further instalment of the franchise. Also I could totally see this version of Superman teaming up with Batman and the Justice League.

I actually think the Batman films were less morose than Man of Steel.

All in all the characters in those films had a sense of humour. Even through all the death and misery, the movies still had an element of wit.

With Man of Steel, the Wagnerian undertones from the Dark Knight Rises was ramped up a notch.

Everything's darker due to the fact that people are being wiped out left, right and center whilst the hero's STILL finding his way.