Man of Steel movie review

[Finarvyn]

One more thought. Part of what made the Chris Reeve Superman movie so awesome was the John Williams soundtrack.

Superman Returns made use of parts of that soundtrack, but it seemed choppy and poorly edited. A cheap knockoff soundtrack.

Man of Steel doesn't have that music at all. I would have liked the movie better with the Williams score in the film.

[grodog]

I enjoyed Superman Returns as well as Lois & Clark. I did not like The Man of Steel: 3/10 or so. There just wasn't much of a plot, and what there was had holes through that were being covered over with special effects and action sequences so that you'd miss them (not unlike

Clark saving Lois' life early in the film with is heat vision....

).

[Badmike]

I thought Man of Steel was one of the best superhero movies I've ever seen, 8/10. I'd rank it just behind Avengers and The Dark Knight. It was suitably epic, it was somewhat true to it's comic book roots, and it was BIG in a sense that most other comic book movies (including the Iron Man trilogy) try to reach but fail. I saw cities destroyed, superhumans beating each other up, buildings fall down, spaceships explode.....it was like a Jack Kirby comic come to life. Thumbs up and kudos to Zach Snyder whose been on my Shit List for awhile now. Must preface by saying I'm not a huge fan of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, and think Superman Returns is one of the worst superhero movies ever made, so I enjoyed this new take on the Superman legend. More interesting to me is how polarizing this film seems to be....you really, truly, either love it or hate it. I'm glad to see the general public seems to be loving it despite the lukewarm reception of the critics (who seem to be disappointed it isn't in the vein of all the previous Superman flicks).

Mike B.

[robertsconley]

I liked Man of Steel for the most part however what I think is a downer is that it was never as inspiring as the Reeves Superman I and II and even Returns. Overall it made sense to me why it was what it was but there was never a "yeah!" moment like with the earlier Superman movies. I think that is the main source of the mixed feelings on Man of Steel.

Downey'sIron Man works because despite all that happening he can make us laugh or smile by being just Tony Stark. Superman's equivalent to me has always been "Yeah!" moment when the big guy lays down the smackdown on the villian (preferably to John Williams score) combined with being Clark Kent. Man of Steel didn't have a lot of that. Doesn't make it bad but it does mean it was a lot harder to accept as a Superman movie.

I do really like Adams as Lois Lane and Cavill's performance as Clark/Superman. Reeves Superman persona was always felt a bit unearthly to me. However the jury out whether Cavill can approach Reeves's acting on Clark Kent vs Superman. I suspect it will be more like Dean Cain in Lois & Clark.

[Badmike]

I liked Man of Steel for the most part however what I think is a downer is that it was never as inspiring as the Reeves Superman I and II and even Returns. Overall it made sense to me why it was what it was but there was never a "yeah!" moment like with the earlier Superman movies. I think that is the main source of the mixed feelings on Man of Steel.

Downey'sIron Man works because despite all that happening he can make us laugh or smile by being just Tony Stark. Superman's equivalent to me has always been "Yeah!" moment when the big guy lays down the smackdown on the villian (preferably to John Williams score) combined with being Clark Kent. Man of Steel didn't have a lot of that. Doesn't make it bad but it does mean it was a lot harder to accept as a Superman movie.

I do really like Adams as Lois Lane and Cavill's performance as Clark/Superman. Reeves Superman persona was always felt a bit unearthly to me. However the jury out whether Cavill can approach Reeves's acting on Clark Kent vs Superman. I suspect it will be more like Dean Cain in Lois & Clark.

Some great points here. I did enjoy the Iron Man movies as visual entertainment but they left me cold for the reasons, you give, no big "Yeah!" moment, I never really realized that before. Mostly because the movie sank or swam on Downey and Downey alone, who was brilliant in the part. I thought the plot lines were lame and IM never went up against any foe I thought had any chance of defeating him, and really stayed away from his familiar rogue's gallery (the fubar of the Mandarin in the third movie is really unforgivable). I agree Man of Steel really doesn't have that moment either. The Avengers had it in spades, as did some of the other good superhero movies. Writers and directors are going to have to keep looking for those "Yeah!" moments as more and more of these sorts of movies are made if they want to prevent the superhero flick from getting lamer and lamer and eventually become Second Class Superhero City.

MIke B.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Haven't gone to watch the movie yet, as I am one of the poor lost souls who enjoyed the Brandon Routh movie.

Bought the soundtrack, though, and I have to say: DRUMS DRUMS DRUMS.

[Piper]

I enjoyed "Man of Steel" and will admit right up front that I've not really liked any other Superman film to date ... though I did like the 1950's "Adventures of Superman" television series very much.

[Chainsaw]

Finally saw this film. I liked the first hour or so (especially the oil rig scene), but felt like the wheels came off on the back end, once Zod arrived. The seemingly endless fight scene of the last hour bored me to tears for some reason (and the whole world destroyer bit felt dumb and super contrived). I suppose it's worth watching if it's free on the tube and you have nothing else to do, but I would not pay for it unless you are a die hard fan of the genre or character. I'm not a huge Superman fan, for what it's worth.

[AxeMental]

I've heard the same complaint from everyone thats seen Superman, good first half over the top action nonsensical bad second half. Seems like its mandatory in Hollywood.

[rogatny]

Resurrecting an old thread, but I finally saw this last night after it had been sitting in my DVR for a month.

Likes:

I liked that they made Superman a little scary. Particularly the glowing eye thing. He is other-worldly and should seem so.
I liked Amy Adams and the fresh take on Lois Lane. Strong but not spunky for the sake of spunk. Admittedly, there is probably nothing Amy Adams could do that I wouldn't like.
I liked Costner as Clark's dad, which is saying something as I never like Costner in anything. Then again, playing a Kansas farmer isn't exactly a stretch for him.
I liked that the Earth humans weren't portrayed as helpless victims or idiots, but rather took an active role in defending the Earth.

Dislikes:
I didn't like how Zodd's character went from reasonable-misguided to utter madman over the course of a few scenes with pretty much no explanation. They never explained why Earth had to be destroyed for his plan to work. Why, for example, the world engine wouldn't have worked on Mars or anywhere else in the universe. They never explained if they needed anything else from Superman for the Codex once they had taken his blood, or if Zodd's further attempts to kill Superman were just him being homicidal.
I didn't like "Jor-El, Action Hero!" although I thought Crowe did a good job with what he'd been given. They also never explained what, exactly, Superman was supposed to do with the Codex that had been made a part of him and what Jor's motivations were for implanting it in him. In the end, the Codex was nothing but a meaningless MacGuffin.
I didn't like the ceaseless action sequence that took up the last hour of the movie. It just kept going. They didn't visually explain very well what Superman did to destroy the world engine. The villain-is-not-really-dead-yet! scene was so cliche, it was laughable.
Considering the rampant destruction that reigned down over a great swathe of the world during the fighting, I thought the non-Lois earthlings put aside their distrust of Superman pretty quickly.

Neutral observation:
Superman as a science fiction Christ figure has been a major theme of the Superman story since the beginning. I thought they hammered home that theme hard during the first half of the movie, with the General playing the role of Pontius Pilot being one of my favorite scenes. The fact that the second half of the movie completely abandoned any semblance of that theme is one of the reasons the second half seemed so incongruous with the first. What would our primary-color-clad-space-savior do? Get into a world-spanning fist fight, apparently.

[Kersus]

My gf was embarrassed by me during Man of Steel. I couldn't stop laughing through the whole movie. It was comedy gold. The superchick was about the only solid character but man, I almost fell out of my chair. Costner? Hahahahaha... "No, don't..."

I guess if looked at seriously, they did what they could to grey up Superman so he wasn't, well Superman anymore. In some ways it seemed like someone wrote a movie and after it was rejected time and time again, they threw the Superman title on it. It plays like a children's book with one end goal and little substantiation.

You may think I'm kidding, but I was holding my belly it hurt so much from laughing.

I even leaned in to the gf and said, "Here's where they'll do the Cross imagery," and poof he jumped out with the cross imagery - it didn't even make sense or have any impact. It was just silly and puffy-light funny.

[thedungeondelver]

Man, for me the '78 Superman will forever be THE Superman film.

/grumpyoldman

[Kersus]

I enjoyed Superman Returns as well as Lois & Clark. I did not like The Man of Steel: 3/10 or so. There just wasn't much of a plot, and what there was had holes through that were being covered over with special effects and action sequences so that you'd miss them (not unlike

Clark saving Lois' life early in the film with is heat vision....

).

Superman Returns took the spirit of Donner's Superman and continued it. Routh was eerie. He looked the part and even sounded just like Reeves. It sent a shiver up my spine the first time he spoke. I absolutely loved the movie except the epilogue. This is Superman to me. Since that movie I've been following Routh's work and been highly impressed.

There seems to be a split, people liked one or the other; MoS or SR. The modern remaking of an alien who is dark, overly contrived (read drama for the sake of drama with no real reasoning), and relatable vs a goodie two-shoes who lights the way for what is right against all odds and makes people feel guilty?

[Falconer]

Man, for me the '78 Superman will forever be THE Superman film.

/grumpyoldman

For me it’s the black-and-white seasons of the ’50s Adventures of Superman TV show. I like Superman fundamentally as detective stories with only occasional sci-fi elements. (Other than Superman’s own powers.)