TMOS Reviews Thread - Non Spoiler Review and Discussion - Part 5

[hopefuldreamer]

Thought i'd throw a bit of positivity in here. I'll post more later

This is easily director Zack Snyder's most mature movie - even taking Watchmen into account. He finally finds the balance between worship and respect; mimicry and adaptation. The effects are flawless, the fights between the Kryptonians are appropriately brutal, and there's none of the fetishistic slo-mo that scuttled his ill-conceived Sucker Punch.

[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman]Man of Steel works. It’s exciting, it’s intelligent and it has a stellar cast. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman]Henry Cavill plays Superman not as an icon but as a conflicted character trying to figure out his place in the world. Amy Adams threads the needle of being the endless damsel in distress – Superman rescues her falling to Earth twice – while also being credible as the intrepid reporter who falls in love with him. Michael Shannon is harsh and chilling as the single-minded Zod who is not so much evil as so dedicated to his purpose that he doesn’t care how it might impact others.[/FONT]

It is thoughtfully crafted and occasionally breathtaking

Smartly refusing to simply feed us a facsimile of the 1978 beginnings arc, Man of Steel makes the most of its beefy – yet never excessive – 143-minute run-time to re-fashion Superman as a less squeaky-clean albeit no-less idealistic superhero

"Man of Steel" takes Superman back to square one and recalibrates him as a pure-of-heart hero for a new age of anxiety.

The movie finds its true, lofty footing not when it displays Kal-El’s extraordinary powers but when it dramatizes Clark Kent’s roiling humanity. The super part of Man of Steel is just O.K.; but the man part is super.

Hope is a recurring theme in “Man of Steel,” the rousing, rollicking reinvention of the Superman saga, in more ways than one. In the movie, Superman represents humanity’s hope against annihilation. For fans, the latest big-screen incarnation is their hope that pop culture’s original, most iconic superhero of all will finally, after years of movie misfires, get one that has the right tone, the right look and right feel—and move the 75-year-old character to the rightful head of the superhero class.
Not only does the new movie feel like a renewal of all-around, long overdue Man of Steel movie mojo, expertly pitched to modern times and modern movie tastes, it also seems like summer’s big dog telling the little dogs to move it on over.

“Man of Steel” is a movie that slam-bangs hard with action when it’s time to bring the hammer down, but it also spends quality time with its characters and its themes, especially the conflict, loneliness and loss that make up the superhuman “man of two worlds” who ends up in a spectacular computer-generated smackdown to save his adopted home.

David S. Goyer's script is textured and skillfully crafted

Flashbacks punctuate the tightly focused, adroitly written screenplay by David S. Goyer from a story by Goyer and producer Christopher Nolan (“Dark Knight” trilogy), and it’s stylishly directed by by Zack Snyder. Redefining the essential mythology and filled with awesome, eye-popping action, this is an innovative, amazing incarnation, worthy of the world’s most iconic superhero, whose “S” is a symbol of hope.

Without spoiling the outcome, the movie is about sacrifice, or how far you'd go to protect your loved ones from themselves and the world around them. It's incredibly powerful and emotional, and it's something we've never seen from a Superman movie before. That sort of richness.

Where Man of Steel really succeeds is in its power to connect, emotionally and spiritually, with its audience. That's a rare trait for a giant movie like this with an incredible amount riding on its sucess, but that's what also makes it the best Superman movie to date.

"Man of Steel" — which was directed by unabashed comic-book fan Zack Snyder — gets all that. It treats Superman not just with a purist's respect, but with old-school, Golden Age awe. There's no angst here, and little irony. Instead, the film sets out to explain what we loved about this character to begin with.

A Superman for the 21st Century, this sweeping epic soars, bursting with ambition, a keen sense of drama and some knockout special effects.

In fact, without really giving anything away, the last 45 minutes of “Man of Steel’’ seem like a deliberate, and quite successful attempt to top the sheer destruction wreaked on Manhattan in the climax of “Marvel’s The Avengers’’ (called, of course, Metropolis here). The special effects are better, too.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Fact is RT only has select reviews, most of the time, there are many more reviews out there, see Critics Choice: 84/100, probably a totally different set of reviewers from RT.

Most of the bloggers dont have their reviews on RT, and till now, it seems like they're the most positive of the bunch along with geeks from AICN, or McWeeny, etc.

 

[fake]

Autonet, is it ASM quality?

I watched MoS last night and loved it. It definitely falls in the top cluster of superhero movies for me. Was not getting the criticism before I watched it, am REALLY not getting the criticism now. Will be watching it again in IMAX tonight at midnight.

 

[Autonet]

Is that good or bad?

I dunno. I kinda liked TASM and their take on it. t:

 

[TheFlamingCoco]

Is that good or bad?

Depends. I found ASM to be OKAY and not much more that.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

So, if he says it's better than ASM, you'd be happy?

 

[Autonet]

Depends. I found ASM to be OKAY and not much more that.

I think you'll like MoS more than ASM probably. This movie is all over the spectrum with people's opinions. On Saturday the mods will have their hands full with the discussion.

 

[TheFlamingCoco]

http://www.inquisitr.com/699708/man-of-steel-review/ REALLY strong review here.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

I think you'll like MoS more than ASM probably. This movie is all over the spectrum with people's opinions. On Saturday the mods will have their hands full with the discussion.

Wait until the Aussies see it in 2 weeks. You know how rowdy we get. t:

 

[TheAQU4M4N]

for those who have seen it, is there a mid credit or post credit scene we should be sticking around for? or is that a Marvel thing?

 

[BH/HHH]

Thought i'd throw a bit of positivity in here. I'll post more later

I thought that was your review at first

 

[JangoNate]

Is that good or bad?

To me that would be good. I really enjoyed the film.

 

[TheFlamingCoco]

Cool. At this point, if the film rises above my lowered expectations, I'll be happy. If it's as great as the trailers and stuff look, I'll be ELATED AND bewildered by the critics. I'm hoping that's the case.

 

["_____"]

So the critics want a donner style superman movie now? Maybe its my age but i don't understand the love for Superman: TM... i guess i had to be there

 

[blumatic]

Anyone worried about the critics can seek solace in this article. Looks like people are recognizing the stupidity of movie critics.

I havent seen the movie. But I can buy a lot of the criticism that many have here on this board and some of the critics out there. I can understand pacing issues, too much action (dont really understand that but I get it), and maybe I can get why they felt no character development with the other characters. All that should drop this film to low to mid 70% on RT.

But whats pulling this movie down is that they dont want this kind of Superman.

In a way, I felt the same way about Batman Begins because I thought it was an origin of the Tim Burton Batman. So when Joe Chill died it confused me because I thought he was the Joker, and it threw off the whole film for me and I didnt enjoy it.

After researching Nolan's approach to the film, I was like "Oh its a totally new thing?" And I bought the dvd. And I loved it. It is a fantastic film.

But the complaints that seem to be really bring this film down that Superman should be story of hope and inspiration to others. And the film didnt deliver that. But let Superman find himself first.

I did not think Birthright and Earth One were inspiring origins. I feel MOS is the same way.

I didnt see the film. Sooo this post might hold little water.

 

[C. Lee]

I personally pay no attention to Rotten Tomatoes stuff....for or against a movie. It means nothing to me.

 

[BH/HHH]

http://www.inquisitr.com/699708/man-of-steel-review/ REALLY strong review here.

This should have been posted in the spoilers thread as its got a few one of which is pretty big.

Still what a great review and he seems to get this is chapter 1 of a much larger story

 

[Gavan]

It's reassuring that the positive reviews say the opposite of the less than positive ones's points. Especially when it's old hands like Richard Corliss of Time... I like that he said the spectacle isn't the best part.

 

[echostation]

Again I'll put in my two cents... The film is great... it definitely has some problems but they are really the same kind of dialog and pacing issues that every comic book movie seems to have and some movies of this scale in general. Random cuts, strange edits here and there and some hokey stupid dialog.

That's like what, 10% of the film? Out of what is 90% pure ****ing amazement.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

It's totally easy to understand, most of the negative reviews have Reeve's Superman in mind, the cheesy, goofy, fun kind, you can tell from the very first teaser that MOS is of the Batman Begins mold, it's serious stuff. Preconceptions are always a b***

 

[fake]

It's totally easy to understand, most of the negative reviews have Reeve's Superman in mind, the cheesy, goofy, fun kind, you can tell from the very first teaser that MOS is of the Batman Begins mold, it's serious stuff. Preconceptions are always a b***

But, I will disagree with the "it's serious stuff" remark. At no point in the movie did I feel that it ever got to a really serious point. The final battle is intense, but never overly serious toned. Yes, it is not goofy, but unlike what many reviewers are saying, it is not dour and broody either.

Watch the movie and decide for yourself. I was really disappointed seeing the reviews that they had made a really bad movie. I watched it yesterday and now I am wondering which movie most of these reviewers actually watched.

 

[BH/HHH]

Again I'll put in my two cents... The film is great... it definitely has some problems but they are really the same kind of dialog and pacing issues that every comic book movie seems to have and some movies of this scale in general. Random cuts, strange edits here and there and some hokey stupid dialog.

That's like what, 10% of the film? Out of what is 90% pure ****ing amazement.

That's great

So what do you rate it? And where does it rank in your favourite CBMs?

 

[hopefuldreamer]

I thought that was your review at first

Nah, just trawling through looking for the nice things people have said on RT. Which is hard, because even some of the fresh reviews are full of criticisms

P.S. I saw three mentions of 9/11 in the first couple of pages... are people seriously taking offense to the destruction of buildings that much?

What should they have done? People are already complaining there wasn't enough actual human death and accountability for the finanical rammifications of the destruction... then you've got people in a corner yelling that destroying buildings is insensitive cause of 9/11? It kind of baffles me as to what some critics WOULD have been happy with for this film...

Cool. At this point, if the film rises above my lowered expectations, I'll be happy. If it's as great as the trailers and stuff look, I'll be ELATED AND bewildered by the critics. I'm hoping that's the case.

Same

 

[Jake Cassidy]

That's great

So what do you rate it? And where does it rank in your favourite CBMs?

Man, you really love this ranking stuff. t:

 

[blumatic]

[QUOTE="_____";26092585]So the critics want a donner style superman movie now? Maybe its my age but i don't understand the love for Superman: TM... i guess i had to be there[/QUOTE]

It was a good film. It resonated for and 20 years because it aged well. Its started to date itself in the new millineum. That film still the magic it had. And that's tough to follow. That John Williams theme and Chris Reeve. It was magical.

But today's audience dont want magic. They want epic. I like the magic of the old films. But Im really enjoying the epicness of today's film. MOS looks epic to me.