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Originally Posted by Guru
aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnd?
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So, "Man Of Steel"... Not a great film. A good film? I'm undecided. I had the same feeling I did after seeing "Iron Man 3"; I'm not sure if I liked it. I think I liked it better than "Iron Man 3". But it's not without its flaws. I'm not sure anyone can do justice to Superman at this point in time; the character is so simple it's complex, if that makes any sense. You can't portray him with the "aw shucks"ness of Christopher Reeve; that worked in the innocent 80s but wouldn't fly nowadays. But you also can't portray him as "The Dark Knight From Outer Space"; we already have Batman, we don't need another one. So this film is sort of floundering in the middle, not sure where it wants to be.
Some of the flaws are directorial and editorial. I think it's one of those films where every scene is just a bit too short. It makes the film move along too quickly and doesn't give the viewer enough time to attach emotionally to the dialogue or characters. It could've benefited from another half-hour earlier on, before the big fight finale. Also, the film takes a quirky approach which will immediately put many people off; this seems to be a Snyder trademark, as his other films like "Watchmen" and "Sucker Punch" had the general public go from "oh boy!" to "what the ****?!?" in around 10 minutes. But, like those two films, those who appreciate the comic-book medium and the almost unfilmability of the stories he's attacking will probably like this film better than John Q. Public will.
The biggest problem--or maybe not "problem", but the biggest issue people will have with the film--is that it's very sci-fi. Much more sci-fi than people will be expecting. You've got phaser guns, space ships, a sciency backplot closer to "Prometheus" than Superman... it gives the whole film a bit of a "War Of The Worlds", "Independence Day" feeling. At first I didn't like it at all. But after the film, I got to thinking: in today's world, the alien-ness of the storyline deserves to have more airtime. As does humanity's reaction to it. In the comics, people just sort of shrug it off; this film does a much more realistic interpretation of how humanity would react to finding out there's life in the universe, and some of that life is right here on Earth, and sort of all-powerful.
Snyder does a good job with the backstory, weaving it into flashbacks instead of telling it in a straight time narrative. It works. It shows Supes in all his ages--child, teen, adult--dealing with the issues of having to hide who he is, and having to resist the urge to kick the shit out of every bully who messes with him. I don't think the film goes far enough with it; it doesn't delve into the darkness that even "Smallville" did in terms of showing Clark Kent waffling about good vs. evil or how he should act. Cavill's Supes is closer to Reeve's than I expected. On the other hand, while Cavill shows some nuances of personality, he's shackled by the cape and tights, as you can only portray Superman within certain limits. You can't have him driving a Harley, drinking Jack Daniels, and slapping women around. You have to stay somewhat within the boundaries of the way the character has been created and portrayed.
The fight scenes are very well done. They show in a much more realistic way what a fight between powerful beings would look like--and what it would do to a metropolis. There's no floating around chitchatting and tossing people into neon signs like in "Superman II"; this film is violent, fast-moving, and literally destructive.
Amy Adams does as much with her role as she can. Lois actually gets little backstory. The film mainly spends time building her relationship with Clark. And while she's not centerfold-pretty, and no longer a young girl, there's something about Amy Adams that I find delicious, so I had no problems with her in this film at all.
The more I think about it, the more I like the film, but there's just something wrong with the whole tone. I'm not sure what. Maybe it's the fact that the film starts on Krypton and goes totally sci-fi right out of the gate, I don't know. When you combine the sci-fi with the choppy quick editing... I just think the film could've been improved with another half-hour of exposition at the front end. Maybe it's just me.
This film will make a good amount of money in the opening weekend but I think it'll put off a lot of casual fans and won't make nearly the money people are expecting. Parents will take their kids to this and both the parents and kids will find out this isn't their grandfather's Superman. But, again, Snyder was almost in an unwinnable, unfilmable situation.
I'm ridiculously overtired and rambling. Maybe I'll have clearer thoughts tomorrow. (Today. Whatever.)