Sunday, June 16, 2013

Man of Steel Review (Spoiler Free)


It's taken me longer to write this than I expected. I've been mulling over the film since I saw it on Friday night. The trouble is that I'm really having a difficult time pinning down exactly what it was that didn't work for me.

Perhaps the easiest way to sort out my feelings on this feel is to break it down into Pros and Cons.

The Pros
- I really enjoyed the depiction of Krypton as I felt it really pulled in Byrne's 1980s vision of the doomed planet.
- The Kryptonian subplot was clever and had a great sci-fi theme to it
- The casting was superb, dead-on look and feel for Superman's supporting cast and villains.
- Michael Shannon was amazing as General Zod; surpassing Terrance Stamp's classic portrayal in Superman II.
- Henry Cavill was great as Superman
- Loved the way the film leveraged the father-son relationship to anchor the audience to the characters



The Cons
- The flashbacks were disjointed and really interrupted the emotional flow of the film. Sadly, the flashbacks were quite good, but were artificially introduced making it painfully obvious as to what they were trying to do.
- The movie was easily 20 minutes too long
- The climax with Zod was laborious and the ending of their battle was forced
- The musical score wasn't really all that inspiring; the original Superman movie's score has become so iconic that it was nearly an impossible challenge.
- Superman was used as too much of a blunt instrument, he needed to be a more clever.
- The relationship between Superman and Lois was rushed and awkward.
- The lack of a teaser/trailer at the end of the film was disappointing. How hard would it have been to have Perry White drop a Gotham City newspaper on Clark's desk showing a blurry photo of the Batman. You didn't need to have a cameo, just something clever to hint at a future rather than it seem like an awkward one-shot film. C'mon DC Comics, show us that you have a plan!



Overall, it's worth seeing in the theatre, but you don't expect that rush after it.

6.5 out of 10


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