Just watched Man of Steel again...

[Mark 1]

I give this film a 6/10. I came away from viewing it knowing I was entertained, but I was disappointed in the writing. Here is what I had issues with.

 

An invulnerable guy punches another invulnerable guy who goes flying through several buildings that collapse. A grand spectacle that was done extremely well. The problem is that I don't care at all for any of the characters. That I don't care about any of the characters takes me out of the story and then I feel like I am watching someone play a video game.

 

Superman needs to find a way to defeat Zod in a way that is true to the character we all know. His writers let him down tremendously.

 

The death of father Kent lost the meaning of having him die to natural causes which is that there will be moments that Clark can do nothing about. Having his Father die to a tornado is ridiculous, Clark can move so fast he could easily have run over and grabbed his father and saved him and no one would have seen a thing.

 

Clark and Lois have zero chemistry and other than she is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person that is constantly in peril for the sake of convenience/ proximity to Superman I didn't see any reason at all why he would have any interest in the foolish earth woman.

 

So how about this in the style of this "new edgier Superman": Since Superman is able to take the life of Zod, and is willing to sacrifice his Father to protect his secret, why not simply let this Lois character die in any number of the silly circumstances she gets herself into to protect the secret she knows? She is a news reporter for gosh sake. Makes sense to me.

 

 

 

 

You wrote a lot of what bothered me about MoS.

 

I agree

[davidpg]

Held out great hopes for the MoS and approached it with an open mind in spite of some negative pre-release publicity. In fact, I liked Zack Snyder's earlier DC superhero effort, Watchman, much better than most critics and would highly recommend giving the extended Director's cut edition a look.

 

That said, I absolutely loathed Zack's take on Superman and have no stomach to ever watch it again. In all candor, my impression was that this is the worst piece of manipulative filmmaking I've ever seen: blatently misogynistic, dehumanizing, lacking subtlety, a movie coldly calculated to pander to pew sitters like an updated biblical soap opera with more apocryphal FX than good sense.

 

For moral righteousness and cheesy fun I'd rather watch George Reeve's tongue-in-cheek 50's era TV portrayal of Superman any day than the latest attempt to tarnish the Man of Steel. My

 

I couldn't have put it better myself and echoes my thoughts exactly.

 

I also realized a while ago, and was again reminded, that I ALWAYS disagree 100% with anything SOT says.

[Ken Aldred]

I shut my brain off and was thoroughly entertained. I loved the spectacle of it all.

 

+1

 

That's my default setting when I go watching a super-hero blockbuster film.

[MedicAR]

In the end, what really made the story for me though, was when someone posted that this wasn't about the Superman we all know and love. It was about Clark becoming the Superman we all know and love.

 

 

This is the part that I liked, the building up to becoming a hero and even being a hero long before the costume came along. It was always simply who Clark was and I thought this movie showed that really well….except for letting Pa die. I understand the need to keep "the secret" but not at that cost. I felt like it went off the rails a bit there and was killing the character for the emotional impact rather than advancing any part of the story or the lead character.

 

I also disliked the killing of Zod. In the interest of full disclosure, I am also one of those people that were angry when Cap kicked Bruce Banner at the end of the first issue (?) of the Ultimates. In both cases, it was so far out of the character's behavior, it was jarring. In Man of Steel, I get it. Where could he keep Zod? How would Superman ever contain him over time? I'm not sure there is a realistic ending other than the one we were given. And before it gets pointed out, I fully realize that I just used the word "realistic" in relation to a movie about a man from another planet wrecking large segments of a city while fighting another man from another planet. The ending worked, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

[bb8]

I also disliked the killing of Zod. In the interest of full disclosure, I am also one of those people that were angry when Cap kicked Bruce Banner at the end of the first issue (?) of the Ultimates.

 

I take a bit of nerd umbrage at your anger at the actions of Ultimate Cap. That's like being upset that they made Supes a commie in Red Son. That was kinda the idea, wasn't it? He wasn't regular Cap. He was cooler. Did you not like Hank beating Janet and sicking his ants on her? That was one of the most brutal issues I've read of a mainstream hero book, but I think that was part of the appeal: these aren't your poppa's Avengers.

[kav]

Cap was a bully

[MedicAR]

I give this film a 6/10. I came away from viewing it knowing I was entertained, but I was disappointed in the writing. Here is what I had issues with.

 

An invulnerable guy punches another invulnerable guy who goes flying through several buildings that collapse. A grand spectacle that was done extremely well. The problem is that I don't care at all for any of the characters. That I don't care about any of the characters takes me out of the story and then I feel like I am watching someone play a video game.

 

Superman needs to find a way to defeat Zod in a way that is true to the character we all know. His writers let him down tremendously.

 

The death of father Kent lost the meaning of having him die to natural causes which is that there will be moments that Clark can do nothing about. Having his Father die to a tornado is ridiculous, Clark can move so fast he could easily have run over and grabbed his father and saved him and no one would have seen a thing.

 

Clark and Lois have zero chemistry and other than she is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person that is constantly in peril for the sake of convenience/ proximity to Superman I didn't see any reason at all why he would have any interest in the foolish earth woman.

 

So how about this in the style of this "new edgier Superman": Since Superman is able to take the life of Zod, and is willing to sacrifice his Father to protect his secret, why not simply let this Lois character die in any number of the silly circumstances she gets herself into to protect the secret she knows? She is a news reporter for gosh sake. Makes sense to me.

 

 

 

 

Good points. It's been a few months since I saw it but now that you mention it, there was a definite lack of chemistry between Lois and Clark.

 

At the risk of trying to expand this conversation far too much, I think what we see with these new versions of old characters is the same thing we have been seeing in their printed counterparts for years. We keep making our heroes less heroic in the interest of trying to cater to a particular audience…namely, us. On the one hand, it's nice to have someone cater to me, God knows it doesn't happen anywhere else, but on the other hand it means our kids lose the heroes we loved at their age. My son knows about super heroes but he knows the more "gritty" and "realistic" versions, not the *gasp!* "choke* wholesome smiling and waving heroes that many of us had to introduce us to the world of comics.

 

There is nothing wrong with loving these books and these characters, but maybe we need to loosen our grip a bit and make them fun and accessible to a new generation. Less "grim" and more grins. Less "international intrigue" and more intentionally short stories. Less"angst" and more accessibility.

 

It's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Wall-Crawler]

I really liked the music/score in Man of Steel...

 

Did not like how they offed Pa and that Supes stood by and let it happen. That was the worst part of the movie for me.

 

The utter destruction and loss of MILLIONS of lives also a bit too much...That fight and scale of destruction should have been reserved for Doomsday...

[MedicAR]

You know, I watched Man Of Steel a couple times now and really enjoy it (except for the noisy ending) and commented on here about how the torch was finally passed from Christopher Reeve.

 

But, I'll be damned if when Superman: The Movie played on IONhd, I didn't get sucked back in loving it again. It's dated and flawed, but it has this "spirit" I though Man of Steel lacked. Went through all the Christopher Reeve ones right after (including the special edition of III and the 135 minute Quest for Peace).

 

Yeah, when I stumble on the original Christopher Reeve version, I get sucked in every time. Ain't nostalgia great?

 

"Spirit" goes a long way!

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

Ps 'Chronicle' sucked but what did you think of that super fight scene? I thought it was incredibly realistic.

I enjoyed CHRONICLE much more than MAN OF STEEL.

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

It definitely was spirit-crushing and had none of the wonder of the original movie.....

So tired of Hollywood's obsession with angst....

 

The originals were absolute trash.

 

I was a stupid kid to think those campy POS movies were actually entertaining back in the day.

 

I don't blame Reeve it wasn't his fault for giving the golly G loser dork audience what they wanted.

 

Thankfully my generation produced a realistic Superman that makes sense. (thumbs u

The first Reeves SUPERMAN movie is my favourite all-time superhero movie. It's always so interesting to see how people's opinion's can be widely different. I for one, will never watch MAN OF STEEL again. I was bored to death by the incessant 'action' during the second half. And that's just one aspect I disliked.

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

And this movie gave us a female villain that could even give Superman a beating while looking good doing it.

 

 

'A good death is its own reward'

 

What a line!

 

I don't say things like this very often, but yeah, she's hot. Her eyes were my favourite part of the movie!

[kav]

Superman's debut was definitely more thrilling in the original....THAT MAN CAN FLY!!!!

In MOS it was that dude flies-yawn.

[MedicAR]

I also disliked the killing of Zod. In the interest of full disclosure, I am also one of those people that were angry when Cap kicked Bruce Banner at the end of the first issue (?) of the Ultimates.

 

I take a bit of nerd umbrage at your anger at the actions of Ultimate Cap. That's like being upset that they made Supes a commie in Red Son. That was kinda the idea, wasn't it? He wasn't regular Cap. He was cooler. Did you not like Hank beating Janet and sicking his ants on her? That was one of the most brutal issues I've read of a mainstream hero book, but I think that was part of the appeal: these aren't your poppa's Avengers.

 

I think I've got the first half of the first series. It felt forced to me, like Millar just wanted to offend for the sheer hell of it rather than telling a good story. He managed to do both with Kick- and did it well, but I didn't care for Ultimates.

 

Unfortunately, I think many people agree with you that it was a "cooler" Cap. Frankly, anyone kicking a man when he's down is never cool and I don't want to see a "hero" doing it.

[Domo Arigato]

Clark and Lois have zero chemistry and other than she is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person that is constantly in peril for the sake of convenience/ proximity to Superman I didn't see any reason at all why he would have any interest in the foolish earth woman.

That was supposed to be Lois?

 

I thought one of the high school actresses from the Twilight series got lost and wandered onto the wrong set.

 

 

[kav]

Clark and Lois have zero chemistry and other than she is an insufficiently_thoughtful_person that is constantly in peril for the sake of convenience/ proximity to Superman I didn't see any reason at all why he would have any interest in the foolish earth woman.

That was supposed to be Lois?

 

I thought one of the high school actresses from the Twilight series got lost and wandered onto the wrong set.

 

BAZINGA!

[bb8]

I shut my brain off and was thoroughly entertained. I loved the spectacle of it all.

 

+1

 

That's my default setting when I go watching a super-hero blockbuster film.

 

Feel the same. Some people take this mess waaay too seriously.

[Bosco685]

Superman's debut was definitely more thrilling in the original....THAT MAN CAN FLY!!!!

In MOS it was that dude flies-yawn.

 

That's interesting. As for me, I thought Man of Steel put a lot into Superman's flying abilities. But in a way, it appeared to be natural what you are seeing.

 

 

Even the scenes where Superman punches Zod to keep him off-balance while he figures out what to do with him, Zod flying backwards after every punch came across like a massive strike against a strong object. It demonstrated what 'immovable object meets unstoppable force' means, and the energy that would come from the two objects colliding.

 

 

When Zod makes it clear to Superman there can be only one winner between them, even that scene shows two unbelievably strong characters coming at one another. Zod's 'bounding charge' demonstrated how his body was changing to the point he was taking chunks out of the building while keeping his momentum going. I'd never seen special effects like that before.

 

Not everyone is going to like the same movies or certain scenes in movies. I was bothered by the Jonathan Kent death scene. I realized it was done to demonstrate how Pa Kent had instilled in Clark not to allow his emotions to drive an action, but rather to know when the time is right to reveal himself to the world. It could have been done differently. I guess Millar's 'Birthright' is what influenced the level of angst between Clark and his adopted father. But once I took it that this was one last life lesson Jonathan wanted to pass along (even if it is me - don't do it), I was less at odds with his death.

[Bosco685]

And the fight with Faora and Nam-Ek was another high point in the movie when it came to cable special effects.

 

 

When Nam-Ek jumps up onto that A-10 and tears the cockpit glass off so as to get to the pilot, that was one crazy scene to demonstrate they would do anything to win. Even kill if they had to without a thought. As Faora ends up telling Superman.

[bane]

I loved it when I saw it in the cinema and have enjoyed it the other 3 times I've seen it on blu-ray. (thumbs u