TMOS Reviews Thread - Non Spoiler Review and Discussion - Part 7

[The Roach]

This was the one I posted (Not my review, as I state later on. I have yet to watch the movie D

An absolutely spectacular arrangement of action and character development. The movie isn't paced like most others, opting for a more unique approach. It divides itself into massive scale action sequences and lengths of character exploration. Most reviewers have been put off by the massive scale, hour long action sequence near the end, but they seem to forget the thematic exploration of Clark's character that came before it.

Superman as the depiction of the perfect immigrant? You have Clark coming in and doing various oddjobs to try and make a living before he finally finds his calling, and even then he is submit to scrutiny.

Superman as a paradoxical character with a strength that is also a weakness? You have some pivotal scenes where Superman is forced to make a decision for the greater good despite his morals. Indeed at several points in the film, the villains themselves outright state this theme- that Clark's morals make him weaker.

In addition to that, you have Clark's brilliant social predicament as a whole once again laid out perfectly. This absolutely incorruptible, truly good person manages to still somehow be put through a sad and lonely life.

In addition to the thematic exploration being done masterfully by writer David S. Goyer, you have the incredibly character performances. Henry Cavill portrays a humble (if humorless) Kal El/Clark Kent who is always willing to do the right thing on his own terms. His facial expressions and overall body language enrich the film's quality immensely. The look of apprehension the first time he dons the cape and faces the threat. The look of weakness when he realizes that the enemy who has just slammed him into a wall possesses the same powers as him. The look of stern coldness as Superman taunts the main villain. The white hot intensity when Superman turns aggressive. It's all done superbly by Cavill.

The aforementioned main villain is also an absolute powerhouse. General Zod is played by Michael Shannon (famous for his ability to simulate anger). General Zod's character as a whole is one of the most surprisingly good parts about the film. Sharply contrasting with Terence Stamp's cold blooded "kneel inducing" Zod, Shannon plays a megalomaniac bent on trying to restore life to his long dead race. You truly feel sympathy for Zod, but are no less satisfied when his character arc reaches its payoff. Shannon's portrayal is raw, threatening, and downright scary. He really has a way with eyes, being able to intimidate pretty much anyone he wants to.

Superman's father, Jor-El, happens to be one of those people. He is played by Russel Crowe. There's really not much else to say here but the fact that he absolutely kills the role.

The supporting cast all do their jobs very well, but are given rather little to work with. This should be more or less expected, considering the movie's marketing as Superman's origin story. Standout performances include Antje as the menacing-yet-sexy supporting villain Faora, Amy Adams as the adorable-yet-tough love interest Lois Lane, and Kevin Costner as the moral guidance of Jonathan Kent (Clark's father).

There are some issues with the movie. The action scenes do indeed feel too drawn out at some points. This can be seen in the middle 20 minutes of the last action scene where the movie ends up feeling like a Michale Bay-esque building dropper. Fortunately, the action builds up even more, and ends up with a climax so exhilarating that it would take three Avengers movies to top it.

As said before, the pacing is unique, but still strangely polarizing. The film is content with simply dividing the action and story development scenes into sections, instead of integrating them with each other and creating a coherent flow throughout the movie.

And, above all, the film truly is devoid of humor. While this is a new Superman film, some of the humility (and humanity) of the original Clark Kent in the Richard Donner films came from trivial things that would happen to Clark. Fortunately, the ending of the film leads into something that may indicate a return to this style of humor in the future.

The movie does contain some absolutely massive, drawn out action sequences. It is also paced in a strangely polarizing way, and the film is devoid of a lot of the humor that characterized the Richard Donner films. But one must not ignore the thematic explorations of the characters that came with those things and dismiss the film as a "generic blockbuster." Truly, with the teeming sci fi world of Krypton, strong character performances, and thematic respect to Superman's character, it is anything but.

This movie scores a 9.5/10. Since Metacritic does not allow for 9.5s, and the critical response seems to be rather mixed, the score was rounded to a 10.

____

This is my girlfriend's cousin's review. I'm just relaying it here. I haven't watched the film yet myself, but as a longtime Superman fan, the talk of thematic exploration excites me to no end.

 

[Autonet]

The only movies that stand the test of time is one with a great story, script, and well told... When watching those movies, even bad CGI doesn't matter..

That's what I'm saying. Saying S:TM isn't a classic is a little to me. We can't have both MoS and S:TM? I won't just wave the movie off like it never happened.

 

[MadVillainy]

This has been said for years, that superhero fatigue will set in. Still hasn't, the genre is stronger than ever with IM3 and now MOS breaking records a month apart from each other. The audience is eating it up. Hopefully results are solid for Thor as well at the end of the year.

Exactly, it's our modern greek mythology. We need these stories inherently by nature.

lmao I remember people said that in 2011 when GL, Thor, and Cap didnt crack 500 mill at the box office. And then Avengers, Spider-Man, and TDKR came out in 2012 and now Iron man 3 made a billion.

I think the fatigue wont settle in for a while because superheroes can be so different in the powers and in other ways. And there are so many heroes yet to be adapted
Wonder Woman
Flash
Aquaman
Luke Cage
Iron Fist
Moon Knight
Hawkman
Green Arrow (kinda)
Black Panther
Doctor Strange
and waaaaaaay more

 

[I'm Old Greg]

They're gonna havta pull a DARK KNIGHT and get Chris's brother Jonathan Nolan to write a BETTER MOVIE..

Goyer on his own blows, The Crow City of Angels, Dark City (was not what the directed intended) Batman Begins...

this is all from what I've read and heard, I haven't seen it yet though! I hope its F'n Awesome!

 

[LostSon88]

I agree. For the sequel have Goyer (and Nolan if he has the time) figure out the story but get someone else to write it...

 

[crimsontide]

I won't be seeing MOS until the 26th here in Sweden but with all the talk from the negative reviews here about awful pacing, bad dialogue & choppy editing, what other movies are comparable?

I'd like to have an idea of what MOS resembles in terms of the above stated complaints.

To all of you who loves MOS, are the complaints minor issues for you or no issue at all?

I'm honestly confused how there's such a split in opinions on MOS, some calling it one of the best cbm's of all time while others slamming it to hell.

Help me please oh wise people of the Hype.

Look, I am not a film critic. I wouldn't recognize choppy editing or bad directing if it hit me in the head. The pacing? I barely noticed because I was too caught up in the great story, fantastic acting, and beautiful special effects. The dialogue was fine. I don't recall a single cheesy line.

Was is humorless? Hmm. I don't know. I guess the people at my theater were laughing just to hear the echo off the theater walls.

Emotionless? I guess I missed that part. I was too busy wiping tears out of my eyes.

Sarcasm aside, here is my advice to you. Forget about what the critics are saying. Forget about pacing, editing, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Just go to the theater, relax, take a deep breath, clear your mind and enjoy the ride.

I loved it. I can't stop thinking about it. I'm going to watch it again tomorrow!

 

[kvz5]

Just saw it. My boyfriend hated it but I liked it enough just fine. Good not great. It had some amazing components but it ended up being messy overall. I understand some of the criticisms thrown around it but I still think there were good moments here and there in the movie and I'm still looking forward to the sequel.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

Has Jonathan Nolan EVER written a script all by himself, or for a movie that his brother WASN'T inolved in? Just curious.

edit: okay he wrote the pilot script for his show Person of Interest. That's it. Anyone hanging the next great superhero movie on Chris Nolan's little brother is, well, delusional.

 

[kvz5]

He wrote Interstellar by himself (at least the version that's floating around right now) but Chris is revamping it.

 

[Hero 1]

Has Jonathan Nolan EVER written a script all by himself, or for a movie that his brother WASN'T inolved in? Just curious.

As far as I know he wrote the pilot episode for Person of Interest by himself.

 

[Tra-El]

Look, I am not a film critic. I wouldn't recognize choppy editing or bad directing if it hit me in the head. The pacing? I barely noticed because I was too caught up in the great story, fantastic acting, and beautiful special effects. The dialogue was fine. I don't recall a single cheesy line.

Was is humorless? Hmm. I don't know. I guess the people at my theater were laughing just to hear the echo off the theater walls.

Emotionless? I guess I missed that part. I was too busy wiping tears out of my eyes.

Sarcasm aside, here is my advice to you. Forget about what the critics are saying. Forget about pacing, editing, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Just go to the theater, relax, take a deep breath, clear your mind and enjoy the ride.

I loved it. I can't stop thinking about it. I'm going to watch it again tomorrow!

One of my favorite posts! I too, couldn't spot a pacing issue for the life of me until the outroar of this thread and focused on that. That's why I enjoyed the second viewing better. I didn't notice a thing...but AWESOMENESS.

 

[8Diagrams(WU)]

I literally just walked out of the theatre and I have a HUGE smile on my face.

They nailed this thing. Its epic.

Its basically like Batman Begins: Some people will doubt it going in but this is the start of something that could get even better.

The movie blew me away and weve finally seen a great take on the character.

 

[Joeyjojo72]

My cousin just texted me outside the theater. He gave it a C-. Major disappointment. He's a film buff and a huge cb fan (he loved both TDK and TA). Sucks.

 

[crimsontide]

One of my favorite posts! I too, couldn't spot a pacing issue for the life of me until the outroar of this thread and focused on that. That's why I enjoyed the second viewing better. I didn't notice a thing...but AWESOMENESS.

Thanks. I think some movie goers are so busy picking this movie apart that they forget to just relax and enjoy it. They can't see the forest for the trees.

 

[KillerMcQueen]

Just got back from it, I can see where some of the complaints were coming from, but I feel they actually weren't that bad, and in some cases became positives for me (I actually thought the way they handled Superman defeating Zod was excellent, Cavill's performance turned what could've been a bad move into something that I felt showed a great understanding of the character), and were more than overcome by the movie itself, loved all the action and thought the character moments were very well done, overall I thought it was awesome with a few iffy moments pacing-wise around the part where he gets his suit. Can't wait to see where they take this franchise in the sequel, though I do think this movie provided enough action that they can easily get away with a less destructive villain in the next one.

If you go into the movie prepared to tear it apart you'll succeed, but if you go in wanting to entertained I expect you to find the movie overall thrilling, emotional, and a lot of fun.

 

[Hero 1]

I'd expect if Jonathan Nolan was brought in he wouldn't be doing it just by himself. Saying that, I think he could work well enough with Goyer, at least based on his interview about TDK:

http://youtu.be/sKnzchqkNs0

http://youtu.be/_tol_mILw6w

http://youtu.be/zYB88tRbnpY

 

[TheFlamingCoco]

I'd expect if Jonathan Nolan was brought in he wouldn't be doing it just by himself. Saying that, I think he could work well enough with Goyer, at least based on his interview about TDK:

http://youtu.be/sKnzchqkNs0

http://youtu.be/_tol_mILw6w

http://youtu.be/zYB88tRbnpY

Yeah, I feel like Jonah would bring a level of prestige and would be able to polish up the writing a bit. I'm sure MOS will have fine dialog, just a bit awkward at times. But I feel like the sequel is where the rubber hits the road. And I feel like Darkseid should be in MOS3.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

Currently an 8.4 rating on IMDB

 

[Dragon_316ca]

Did Kevin Smith do that podcast for MoS?

i'm interested to hear his thoughts about it

http://kroq.cbslocal.com/kevin-bean-podcasts-june-2013/

http://download.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d1/d3/d1/d6/dX/1316X_3.MP3

Start at 45:00 mark. He liked it.

 

[Zing79]

Saw it last night. Really had to compose my thoughts because I felt let down walking out (big time) but didn't seem to fully want to admit to that. Going so far as to defend it to my girlfriend who thought it was "the worst super hero movie she's seen". (Granted her sample size is severely lacking since I only drag her out to the AAA titles).

Today I finally figured out why I wouldn't fully hate it. The movie was a tale of two halves. The first half was almost flawless; and was setting up the best superhero movie of all time and then it was like Zack Snyder basically went and said F it lets blow some poop up.

The exact point where the switch was flipped (for me) came

Spoiler

after the scene with Zod at the Kent Farm. After he punches him out for touching Martha.

After that, it was an exercise building toward a total failure. Not giving the viewer even a second to pause and take in all that carnage.

(The last 5 min are excluded from the hate).

It was so very close, but like others said STM isn't erased

 

[Stephen K. Hone]

Just got back from seeing it. Long story short it is effing amazing. If certain critics don't like it fine, that doesn't make them wrong as it's merely their opinion. With that being said, I hope the onslaught of some of those critics piling doesn't kill it at the B.O. I love Iron Man but this is better (imo) summer fare than IM 3. Btw it doesn't have tons of yuks like IM or The Avengers, and that would not of been a good fit, but despite what you have heard there is more than a few light hearted amusing moments. The audience I saw it with applauded at the end, and although I didn't poll them, overall they seemed to really like this film. I went back to the box office after seeing it, and bought my ticket for tomorrow, and I already had tickets for Sunday.t:

 

[TheFlamingCoco]

^ As far as S:TM being erased, I feel like it's a milestone. For me, it'd be okay if MOS didn't top it. That's what sequels are for

 

[Autonet]

With that being said, I hope the onslaught of some of those critics piling doesn't kill it at the B.O.

Have you seen the initial reports? It's making bank so far.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

My brother just text me that he saw it. He is a big fan of the genre, loves The Avengers, Iron Man movies and TDK trilogy. He gave it an A+, thought it was awesome.

 

[KillerMcQueen]

Have you seen the initial reports? It's making bank so far.

yeah, the WOM is pretty damn good at the moment, and WOM most always overpowers critics when it comes to the effects on box office numbers.