Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

What bothers me most about this is this happens ALL THE TIME in big budget summer blockbusters...from THE AVENGERS to TRANSFORMERS to every movie Roland Emmerich directs. But they do it in a SUPERMAN movie, and suddenly critics are offended by it.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS destroyed half of San Francisco in the final scenes, and most critics LOVED that movie.

SUPERMAN RETURNS showed that a passive, thoughtful SUPERMAN wasn't what audiences wanted, so I don't blame Warners for doubling up on the action during the second half of MAN OF STEEL.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Without having seen the movie, I believe the character you're talking about here has to be Steve Lombard. I don't know if he's been in the comics since the Byrne reboot, but he was a consistent supporting character during the late silver- bronze age. He was the newsroom stud/a-hole.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Aren't the stakes more along the lines of "How is Superman going to stop Zod before he destroys everything around?" Those were the same questions the audience asked in SUPERMAN II. I don't think not sensing the hero is in any danger is limited to Superman - it happens all the time to much more human characters like James Bond, Indiana Jones, and dozens of others.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

I just got back from the Walmart premiere, but I can't vote yet. I need to think about it a bit. Sadly, there is no way it deserves the "Up up and away!" rating, but I'm torn between the "Good but not great" and "Just OK". There were moments of greatness, but they were overshadowed by far too much dour bleakness. As many reviewers have said, this cinematic world feels far too devoid of color and joy. Not to mention that several of the plot contrivances were way too disjointed and unbelievable, and ended up taking me out of the moment.

Still, I hope there is a sequel, but I hope that it does just "poorly" enough to make TPTB breathe some happiness into the next film. Because there was almost none in this one.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

In the Avengers, Whedon specifically makes it a point to address scenes of the characters trying to save and protect groups of people at multiple points. And you also have the scene with CA where he tries to get the police to fall back and establish a perimeter.
I won't criticize MoS anymore on this point, at least until I see it for myself, but I had no problem with this aspect in Avengers.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Went to the Walmart premiere tonight. This was the movie I was looking forward to the most this summer. What a disappointment. I voted it "just ok."

Here's what I liked about it... the new design for Superman's suit (and the fact that some thought went into why he wears it); the fact that the S on his chest isn't an S at all and doesn't stand for Superman (that would be tooting his own horn); the fact that his signature curl on his forehead is absent from this movie; the fact that he was treated by most of humanity with fear rather than immediate acceptance; the performances; the lightning fast speed Superman and the other Kryptonians moved at when fighting; the Smallville battle; the fact that Superman didn't seem hell bent on keeping his identity a secret (although why he wore glasses at the Daily Planet puzzled me because by then the whole world knew Superman's face, so showing up with glasses on shouldn't have fooled anyone); the fact that the word "Superman" was only spoken twice in the film (although I wish it hadn't been used at all like the way "Catwoman" was never spoken in The Dark Knight Rises).

Here's what disappointed me... the score; the nearly nonstop action and little character development; the overuse of CG effects (some of the spaceships looked fake, especially the tentacles, as well as the scenes on Krypton and the tornado); the lack of chemistry between Lois and Clark (the kiss at the end felt forced); the new Zod (he isn't as impressive or memorable as Terence Stamp's Zod); the amount of screen time given to alien technology and sets; the image of a dead Jor-El coaching his son on Earth just like Marlon Brando's Jor-El did; the almost total lack of humor; the almost non-existent 3D effects.

As dated as 1978's Superman is, it remains a classic. It had a much better story, better interaction between the characters (especially Lois and Clark), better score, and a lot more humor. There was a ton of chemistry between them (the interview on the roof and their night flight together come to mind), so when he's unable to save her after the earthquake, the viewer feels his pain. Cavill and Adams did their best with the script they had to work with, but I never felt like they connected.

I know Warner Bros. wanted a darker version of Superman this time around, hence the limited amount of humor, but it didn't work for me. It worked for Batman in the Dark Knight trilogy, but maybe that approach is better suited for a story about a billionaire vigilante who's out for justice because it's a bit more plausible than an alien invasion story. (Last summer's The Avengers had superheroes fighting off an alien invasion, but Joss Whedon had the good sense to keep the script lighthearted, making the movie a lot more fun than this one was.) Before I saw Man of Steel, I read a review that called it joyless, and unfortunately, I would agree with that description.

I had hopes that I would enjoy the score in this film because it was done by Hans Zimmer, and I had previously enjoyed his work in Gladiator and The Dark Knight. That wasn't the case, though, as I didn't find any piece of music in this film to be stirring or memorable. Certainly, none of it rivaled John Williams' music from Superman.

I didn't hate the movie, but it didn't excite me like I had expected it to. I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I enjoyed Superman Returns more than this film.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Also just got back from the Walmart premiere. My worries about seeing a movie with a Walmart audience were sadly justified, but that's another story. Surprised at least no one was wearing pajamas.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did, but as said earlier, this is just a depressing world that Supes lives in. Henry Cavill was a great Superman and I liked Amy Adams, Michael Shannon and pretty much the entire cast, but the film really needed to lighten up a bit. It started to toward the end and that's when it started to click with me. I hope if there is a 2nd installment that it continues the tone of the end scenes.

I know a lot of their budget was covered by product placement but after a while it just started getting a bit silly. Smallville was Productplacementville as battles in front of 7-11 and Sears occurred. After a while the audience was laughing as each new product or company was prominently displayed with logos perfectly facing the cameras. It kept taking me out of the film again and again.

As for the mass destruction and deaths, I thought it was odd how it wasn't really addressed. There had to have been 100,000s of thousands of casualties of humans during the last 45-minutes or so and a kabillion dollars in property damage, but its not even referenced after the fact. The mass destruction was too over-the-top for my taste. I kept expecting Superman to draw Zod away from the city to save lives, but nope...they just continued to keep destroying the place and killing more people in the process.

Overall, I thought the movie was good, but not great. Great performances, but too much product placement and unnecessary death and destruction. I'll probably give it another shot with an audience who won't make stupid comments throughout the movie though. That could've colored my feelings too a bit...

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

The product placement didn't bother me. To be honest I've never understood why people get so upset over it anyways. It takes me out of a movie or show more to not see products that exist in the real world or to see stuff that is just made up.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Just got home from a midnight showing, and my feelings are similar to the last couple reviews by Roybq and Joe Shmoe, falling somewhere in between. It was decent, but it wasn't as great as I hoped.

The "dark" tone of the movie didn't bother me so much as every scene felt heavy handed as though there needed to be some weighted message with every line. Whether it was all the flashbacks to Clark's youth, his interaction with both his parents, Jor-El's lines on Krypton, Clark's interaction with Lois... everything felt like it was scripted to make the audience feel Clark's plight, and in doing so never really gives the characters a chance to interact normally. And when the movie finally tries to add the lighter moments at the end, such as the kiss with Lois or the "he's hot" line, it just felt cheesy and out of place.

The action was a bit over done, and by the end I started to get flashbacks to Sucker Punch, which was just so much visual overload that it loses its impact. I wanted to love Superman and Zod beating the shit out of each other, and I did initially... but by the end it felt anticlimactic. And how the heck did Lois find them after they knock each other all over the city?

That said, I loved all the actors in their roles. I thought everyone did a great job, despite the limitations in developing their characters. I also liked the depiction of Krypton, although the entire introduction ran a bit long and they spent too much time showing alien technology doing fancy things just for cool visuals; and I do wish they just left that codex stuff out altogether. I also liked the first hour of Clark's story and all the flashbacks are genuinely interesting, as far as how people react to him, the lessons from his dad (Costner and Crowe were both very good in this), and I liked his search for his place in the world. I thought Michael Shannon was more terrifying as Zod then Stamp, so I liked him quite a bit in the role as well, although the other Kryptonians weren't as well established.

Overall, it was a bit better then ok. I enjoyed Iron Man 3 and Star Trek more this summer, even though I had lots issues with IM3. It's funny, as I'm not a very big fan of the original Superman; I hate the depiction of Lex and the use of Otis and his antics. And yet, I do feel it told a far better story then Man of Steel. I liked the direction they tried to go for here, I just don't think it all worked.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Fuck that fucking movie. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. I really REALLY wanted this movie to be good. And the advance word was that it was good. But it's not. It's really not. Lois Lane is the only character I cared about in the whole movie, although her characterization, like every characterization in the film, was far too thin. The movie was populated with characters I didn't give two shits about, and in the case of Superman and Zod, couldn't be harmed.

I felt this movie was completely mindless. Who lets Goyer write scripts on his own? That should be stopped immediately. If he doesn't have a Nolan or two rewriting his crap, we get lines like "History has taught us that evolution wins" (for me, that's almost as stupid as the toad getting struck by lightning line in X-Men). The collateral damage in this movie was absolutely staggering, but we see almost no consideration of the impact of it, except for Perry White (why is he in this movie?) trying to help Jenny Olsen out of a destroyed building.

Zack Snyder shouldn't be allowed near a film camera anymore. The action was basically two CGI people punching each other into buildings for half an hour. It was exhausting and not fun or enjoyable or even interesting. This was such a mess from beginning to end. The only thing I liked was Jor-El helping Lois escape from Zod's ship. That was well done, interesting, and involved a character I gave a shit about.

We all said we wanted a movie where Superman punched things, and this is it. Superman punches the shit out of everything in this movie, but it couldn't have been more boring.

I will say this, though. If they dump the entire creative team, but keep the cast, and get in a smart screenwriter, they could make a decent sequel that wouldn't feel so boneheaded.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Damn. Really, Supermallet? I just want an entertaining film.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Supermallet is usually my movie review Bizarro, so his hatred gives me hope that I will love it.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Same here. That was the first ray of hope I've had.

On another note, Mark Waid hated it, even though half the story comes from his Superman story.

http://thrillbent.com/blog/man-of-st...nce-you-asked/

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Regarding the Wal*Mart showing I went to, I have never seen so many obese people in one place before. I actually counted and on the entire row in front of me only two of the people in it weren't obese. The woman two seats over from me was so fucking huge that when she got to her seat she was breathing as though she had run to the theater.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Wal*Mart.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Funny, the midnight showing I went to made me notice how EVERY person there were in really great shape. Very thin and looking good, to the point I was wondering it people that come to the midnight showings are the adventurous and motivated group.

What a contrast to you set of people you watched the movie with.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

From the Wrap:

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

That's an excellent start. Sounds like the opening weekend number will be triple digits.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

I haven't seen this yet, but the plot angle of General Zod confronting Kal-El and demanding something of him and/or questioning why he hasn't done something or other reminds me of "Dragon Ball Z," when Raditz came to Earth and demanded to know why his brother, Goku, hadn't destroyed the planet yet. I somehow I doubt any critic has made this connection yet.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

* means you can fill it with any description you want

Wal"Fuckthesefuckers"Mart

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

As someone familiar with Dragon Ball, there's nothing really similar there :p

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Yea crazy as I have seen box office estimates range from 85-140 million or so.

I will judge the movie for myself this weekend.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

This must be where Solid Snake shops.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

So it sounds like Nolan's lack of character crossed with Zack Snyder's lack of storytelling capabilities with dialog by David Goyer.

That sounds like a disaster :lol: I was hoping it'd be Nolan's storytelling with Goyer's characterizations and Snyder's visuals.

Re: Man of Steel - The Reviews Thread
 

Toy Story 3 has the June opening weekend record with $110 million. With such an impressive start last night, I think MoS has a great chance of being the new record holder.