DiceX, a child of the '70s, reviews Man of Steel...Spoilers Inside!

[DiceX]

First of all, you're probably asking yourself, "self, why does DiceX get his own thread for reviewing Man of Steel?"

The answer is simple. You suck. I do not suck.

 

A little background. I was born in 1968. My childhood friends always made fun of me because they were Marvelheads. I liked both Marvel and DC, but I was WAY more of a DC fan. Superman was my favorite. I was a Legion of Superheroes junky and would wait outside the drugstore for the local magazine distributor to drop off the new comics every week.

 

I was 10 years old when Christopher Reeve debuted in the first Superman movie and was in complete awe. I didn't believe a movie could be more perfect, then came Superman II and I was given the gift that all other superhero movies would be judged against for the rest of my life.

 

I stayed completely away from all spoilers on this movie. Other than knowing Zod would be the villain, I was completely in the dark about all other aspects of the film walking in to see it.

 

What I liked about this movie...

1) The performances by the actors. All of them. Well, except for Kevin Costner, who I think is highly overrated and is completely forgettable. The rest of the cast was nothing less than superb. I don't just mean the lead actors, I mean the whole mess and shebang of them. Down to the most insignificant part.

 

2) The fight scenes. Though it was pushing the envelope of being excessive, it is exactly what I would picture an actual fight between Kryptonians would be like. The powers, speed and strength were completely believable. I've heard it being compared to a Transformer movie but I beg to differ...the action was completely over the top, but there's not a moment when you can't tell what's happening on the screen.

 

3) A tag-along to the prior point, there was no 3 minute fight scene here and a 10 minute one at the end. The action in this movie is long winded and kicking. I found myself wondering how much longer they could possibly beat on each other, but loved every second of it. You may walk out of the theater being disappointed by something, but you certainly won't find yourself wishing there had been more action.

 

4) The special effects. Absolutely mind-blowing. Especially Krypton.

 

5) The changes in the base story. Many things in the story of Superman were completely thrown out and redone. I must say that most of them made more sense and helped the story be more believable. I liked it all.

 

6) The actress playing Lois Lane is a brick house. 'Nuff said.

 

7) The conflict within Superman himself. His boyscout do-gooder image from my childhood had to be checked at the door, and I think I like what they did here. I don't think I trust Superman to be Superman yet, but that's the charm of this movie. It's about the character not knowing who he is yet and the conflict within him. In the end he makes a choice and I think it was important, for me anyway, to see him make this choice. I feel it makes him more human than he has ever been in all movies from the past.

 

What I DIDN'T like about the movie...

 

1) Kevin Costner. I know I've already mentioned it, but I really can't stand him. Almost to the point of hatred. Not a Jack Black kind of hatred. More of a Lady Gag-Ah hatred.

 

2) The destruction of Metropolis was WAY overdone. I found myself being frustrated every time another highrise building would topple over. There's a fine line between action-packed and overkill, and at times it was pushing it to the edge.

 

Overall, I am in love with this movie. The original Superman II seems like a dated broadway presentation now. If you want to know what Superman would really be like, Man of Steel takes you there.

 

I think I may have a new all-time favorite superhero movie, but I'll need to see it a few more times before I'm willing to give it that title.

This movie rocked my socks off.

 

 

[JazzMan]

'68?!

 

Get off my lawn you punk.

[Logan510]

Pfft, I was right...like shooting fish in a barrel

 

 

[thehumantorch]

[oakman29]

Well if you liked it,then I must see this movie.

[oakman29]

'68?!

 

Get off my lawn you punk.

Damn kids,am I right!

[Prince Namor]

Looking forward to seeing it!

[Jiminy_Cricket-migration]

Marvel > DC

 

[Maccai3]

damn old timer. 68?

 

switch 'em round

 

great film, great review though i didn't mind Costner

 

Michael Shannon should be knighted though, can't show enough love for his performance

[Mark 1]

I keep asking myself why I walked out disappointed when I read reviews like this. I really didn't like it.

 

I saw it at the end of a long day in the sun fishing with my kids....and the theatre was a little old and small.

 

I'm going to see it again and see if I can feel differently.

 

I was born in 68 also.

[DiceX]

Pfft, I was right...like shooting fish in a barrel

 

 

 

Have you seen it yet?

 

 

[Kevin76]

I saw it in IMAX. It was a pretty serious movie, hardly any humor. The action was amazing and I don't think the destruction of Metropolis was overkill, because that's how it is in real life, you can't sit there and say well only X number of buildings should fall during a superman fight, cause anymore than X would look ugly...come on! It's a fight and the coming of the end of the world...who's counting how many buildings fall?

 

I didn't walk out saying "Wow I loved it" I walked out saying to myself, I need to see the sequel!

[DiceX]

I saw it in IMAX. It was a pretty serious movie, hardly any humor. The action was amazing and I don't think the destruction of Metropolis was overkill, because that's how it is in real life, you can't sit there and say well only X number of buildings should fall during a superman fight, cause anymore than X would look ugly...come on! It's a fight and the coming of the end of the world...who's counting how many buildings fall?

 

I didn't walk out saying "Wow I loved it" I walked out saying to myself, I need to see the sequel!

 

I agree with this. I feel like the sequel can begin to push him into the boyscout direction but this movie was needed to set it up. I don't think today's audience would have bought into Superman if it had been more like the 1978 movie.

He needed to prove himself and he did.

 

I can't wait to see the sequel to this movie.

 

 

[zosocane]

I'm a '68 dude too. Superman The Movie (1978) is my gold-standard to measure all super hero films against. MOS was very good. My biggest problem with it was the lack of establishing shots, too many close-ups/extreme close ups and the never-ending hand-held camera work, particularly in the first half of the film. A tripod would have worked wonders. When i think of the cinematography of MOS compared to STM, well, there's no comparison with STM in the cinematography department.

 

Not sure why Costner was so disappointing to you; I thought he was very good as were all the other supporting (and lead) actors.

[mkman123]

guys, action not overdone because imagine if he fights Doomsday.....that villain could destroy entire continents. It was believable

[zosocane]

guys, action not overdone because imagine if he fights Doomsday.....that villain could destroy entire continents. It was believable

 

I thought the same watching MOS ... this is what a JLA-type picture would look like. Or the FF fighting Galactus.

[bane]

[Marvelfangirl]

Awesome review Dice

[Bosco685]

I saw it in IMAX. It was a pretty serious movie, hardly any humor. The action was amazing and I don't think the destruction of Metropolis was overkill, because that's how it is in real life, you can't sit there and say well only X number of buildings should fall during a superman fight, cause anymore than X would look ugly...come on! It's a fight and the coming of the end of the world...who's counting how many buildings fall?

 

I didn't walk out saying "Wow I loved it" I walked out saying to myself, I need to see the sequel!

 

I agree with this. I feel like the sequel can begin to push him into the boyscout direction but this movie was needed to set it up. I don't think today's audience would have bought into Superman if it had been more like the 1978 movie.

He needed to prove himself and he did.

 

I can't wait to see the sequel to this movie.

 

I loved your review and both your comments on this movie. And I would think if two beings with the power of gods got into a fight, the world would be like ants in their way. It reminds me of a place in Colorado called "Garden of the Gods".

 

 

 

Supposedly, the Ute Indians felt the area had been formed when the gods went to war, throwing large mountains at one another which were left where they landed. I can only imagine what two super-powered beings would do if they were trying to stop one another.

[chromium]

Too much 68'ing in this thread.