Man of Steel

[Dale]

So I saw Man of Steel in Sydney, on the worlds largest IMAX screen. And I have to say, I enjoyed the experience and IMAX etc. etc. more than the actual film. I've re-watched it now I'm back in England and liked it even less the second time around.

Warning, here be spoilers ... although I imagine you've all seen it already.

There were just some laughably silly lapses in logic. Like the western styled showdown in Smallville. supes tells people to go inside ... before literally destroying every fucking building in sight. He wipes out half of Metropolis, making 9/11 look like child play at best ... then has a little bit of a guttural scream and wounded look after killing Zod to save a family of four ... YOU JUST TOOK OUT HALF THE FUCKING CITY. YOU DIDN'T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT WHO YOU WERE KILLING THEN YOU SILLY ALIEN SCUM!

... My apologies.

Combined with the criminal treatment of Jonathan Kent and my distaste for the fact everybody and their mother saw Clark Kent use his powers before he became Superman ... not to mention the fact that he surrenders himself, kind of making himself look like the worlds biggest bitch before even making himself known to the world at large (would it have been asking too much for him to avert some disaster before causing one at the end of the film? ... seriously?).

Also, I can't help but be annoyed by the fact the whole first 2 hours of the film (the last 20 minutes were pretty much Zod and Superman hitting each other in the face) were spent harping on the world panicking once discovering that an alien wwalks among them, only to not panic at all really when a whole group of them arrives (also, did anyone else feel that whole scene with Zod taking over satellite communications was just like Independence Day?) intent on conquering the planet.

If this happened in the real world, Superman would hardly be embraced by the world, especially the people of Metropolis. He probably destroyed their homes, killed half their relatives and destroyed their city. There wasn't even a redeeming moment at the films conclusion where he was seen helping fix the city or something.

I won't even get into the silliness of Jor-El (even though Russel Crowe was a bad ass) on Earth, or the gaping flaw in logic of the Supes suit just happening to be on the Krypton Ship buried in the ice. They could have explained it away at the start, with a line about Jor-El's distant relative finding earth many years ago etc which is why the suit was there ... but even then it's a bloody leap.

I'm a cynical bastard at the best of times, but I didn't think I'd be saying "I enjoyed the Lone Ranger more than Man of Steel" this year.

That's enough of me. I'm interested to hear some of your thoughts .

[Jester]

I thought it was pretty awful actually. Some pretty decent performances mind you, but the break neck bullet speed of it all was so tiresome. I hate films that don't slow down to let moments breath and unfold.

Oh, and I honestly think Cavill was a great superman, but when he came storming in at the end into The Daily Planet building (which I thought was destroyed...)wearing glasses and a smart shirt and tie; I just couldn't buy the Clark Kent look. He's far too hunky. *drools*

Also, Superman is officially a mass murderer.

[Dale]

Also, when he walked out at the end, he looked no bloody different. Perry White and everybody else had just seen him rip the tonsils out of Lois Lane with his super tongue the week before ... and they didn't recognize him? Lois Lane managed to track him down from wherever the fuck the Krypton ship was buried to Smallville on nothing but rumour and conjecture. Yet these supposed top class reporters and editors couldn't tell it was him, having seen the fucker from ten feet away a week beforehand ... although that's my most minor of criticisms and it's all about suspension of disbelief blah blah blah.

I really didn't like it in the least. As you said, there was no room to breath. One of the few moments we had during all the major action to digest the severity of it all, was with two characters (Perry White and the chick whose name I don't remember ... Jenny?) who'd barely gotten five minutes of screen time.

I felt there could have been a good 20 minutes of action cut, and twenty minutes of character development and plot development put back in. I imagine there's gonna be a super extended cut seeing as its Zack Synder that'll probably address most of the issues but theatrical release was a major let down.

Like I said, I actually enjoyed the Lone Ranger more. At least that had a sense of fun about it, to make up for some of it's weaker moments. Unlike the bleakness of Man of Steel, which made me want to heckle it like I'm in the fucking Muppets.

[Jester]

Duh Daz, he was wearing super glasses! No one recognises me when I have my glasses on :-l

Of course I'm joking because that ending was retarded. I think the title "Man of Steel" coming up at the very end of the film says it all really. The entire thing felt like a stupid bloated badly paced epilogue.

Also, Zod was hardly evil. I felt sorry for the dude. Shannon is a great actor but not a patch on Stamps Zod.

[Dale]

shannon's zod makes not so subtle threats. stamp's zod, you kneel before.

[Taylor]

I actually finally caught the movie last night and really liked it. While it's certainly not the best paced movie, I honestly really liked all the characterizations. None of the changes to the dynamics bothered me. After the climax it's clear the film doesn't have much else to say (I imagine shit is being saved for the sequel, which doesn't bother me, I actually have gotten pretty tired of movies that overstay their welcome so this was a nice change). There's some stuff to nit-pick but nothing that bothers me really (like most super hero films). Gotta save I loved the hell out of the cast.

This said I've always been a fan of Snyder's work. I've noticed his films always have a strong mixed reception (if not downright negative) so the reception to Man of Steel doesn't surprise me. It's all good if you didn't care for it though I ended up really enjoying alot of it. I thought Snyder handled the scale & power of Superman in a rather nice way. While the character interaction & dialogue isn't all that great, I think there's enough thoughtful ideas to carry alot of the emotional weight.