Man of Steel (2013)

n

nTitle: Man of Steel (2013)

n

nDirector: Zack Snyder

n

nCast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, RussellnCrowe, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Antje Traue, Laurence Fishburne

n

nReview:

n

nWithout a doubt Man of Steel is the hottest ticket in town;nthe quintessential ‘movie of the summer’, it’s the “gotta see” of the summernseason; so of course I was excited as hell to see it. I had my ticket a wholenweek before it was released, nothing was gonna stop me from seeing this one!nThe anticipation was a turn on as they say. The last cinematic incarnationnof Superman was Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (2006). Those of you who saw itnknow it was disappointing in the sense that we rarely saw Superman doingnanything very super; unless you count being a super stalker, a super power. Henspent too much of his time brooding over Louis Lane rather than kicking somenass. So naturally, the big question on everyone’s mind is will this newnSuperman finally kick some ass? The answer to that question is a resoundingnyes! There’s so much ass kicking on this movie that you won’t know if Supermannis saving or destroying Metropolis!

n

n

nSince this is the first film in a new chapter of Supermannfilms, Man of Steel has to go through the rite of passage of telling, oncenagain, Superman’s origin story which we’d already seen in Superman (1978) andnSuperman Returns. But don’t worry, the good thing is that Man of Steel does itnthrough a series of flashbacks, we don’t really dwell too much in Superman’snteenage years. Like the story of Jesus in the bible, Clark goes from being a childnto being 33 years old in the blink of an eye, which by the way is also Jesus’snage in the bible. Same as Jesus; Kal-El is sent by his father to earth to “saventhem all”, so the parallels with Jesus Christ are pretty blunt on this one, actually there’s more of them: Clark ends up being a fisherman, just like Jesus was a fisherman. Hell,nSuperman’s father tells him “you’ll be a God to them”, so yeah, there’s tons ofnbiblical references on Man of Steel. Superman is even portrayed as havingnCatholic beliefs, which for me is one of the weak points in the film becausenthis was never a part of who Superman is, its one of the reason why I lowered the score a bit. But unfortunately, according to thisnfilm, Clark is brought up in a Christian family. Clarks earth mother MarthanKent (played by Diane Lane) even wears a crucifix on her neck throughout thenmovie, so yeah, Superman’s a catholic on this one. Why did the filmmakersnchoose to go this route with the character?  

n

n

nThe thing about Superman is that he is supposed to representnthe best in humanity, our best qualities, our highest morals, so I’m guessingnthis is why they gave him a Christian background, because Christianity portraysnitself as a belief system with high moral values, never mind the pedophilia andnthe mass murders they’ve committed throughout history, Catholicism is supposednto be wholesome, keywords here being “supposed to be”. So then we have Clarknsort of trying to hide the fact that he’s Superman because his earthly father, JonathannKent tells him the people of earth simply wouldn’t be able to deal with it, onenlady who witnesses Superman’s strength starts saying that he is a God send. SonClark is always walking that dubious line between maintaining his secret, or comingnout to the world as a super powered alien being. I enjoyed how they explorednthat angle of Superman changing people’s perceptions of why we are here. Theyngo a bit into how Superman’s existence finally answers the question “are we alonenin the universe?” I wish they’d gone a bit deeper into that, I personally thinkna whole new religion would pop up that would worship Superman, but they don’tngo that far into it. So as you can see, this Superman movie gets quite existential. 

n

n

nSuperman has always been portrayed as an American icon. Hisnvery suit is made up of two of the colors of the American flag. In the oldntelevision shows he was portrayed as a character who stood up for “truth, justicenand the American way”. So I guess that’s why there’s so much product placementnon this film! I counted Sears, 7-Eleven and IHOP amongst the companies thatnpaid moola for their name to appear on this movie. I personally hate that wholen“American Way” aspect of Superman, because really, a guy that powerful would bena citizen of the world, not of the United States. If Superman is that noble,nthat wholesome, he would see past borders and nationalities, he wouldn’t be “asnAmerican as they come”. But that’s the way they want to portray Superman onnthis film and with this movie they’ve really gone all the way with that wholenidea. I mean, right before the movie started, they gave a commercial for thenU.S. Army in which they compare the American military to Superman as if sayingnthat American soldiers are real life heroes, never mind that most of them dienin the line of battle for their countries egotistical reasons, sometimes fornreasons that the soldiers themselves don’t even understand. Never mind that thenAmerican military is used to invade and conquer other countries simply becausenthey have lots of oil, never mind all the atrocities they’ve committed, likenbombing schools and hospitals, never mind that they are the nation that hasnkilled the most people in one single swoop; they are heroes! So, this is anmovie that takes Superman, the most powerful being on earth and puts a ‘Made innAmerica’ stamp on it. The most powerful being on the planet is an American, andnhe’s working side by side with the U.S. Army! Barf. Personally, I hated thatnabout this movie, but no worries, this didn’t hinder my enjoyment of thisnmassive summer movie blockbuster.

n

n

nAnd when I say massive, I mean massive! When Supes andnGeneral Zod go at each other it is a dangerous affair which puts the citizensnof Metropolis in true peril. On this one you won’t get people eating Ice Creamnand talking on the phone as Gods are fighting each other destroying the citynlike in Superman II (1980). Nope, on this one the citizens of Metropolis havento run for their lives or get killed in Zod’s wake! Buildings are toppled, carsnfly up in the air and massive amounts of concrete is destroyed when these guysngo at each other. The battles are epic and certainly surpass the fight betweennGeneral Zod and Superman in Superman II; a film which I still enjoy very much. Beforenthis whole superhero revival thing that started with X-Men (2000), Superman IInwas the best of the superhero movies for me. But of course, it was quicklynsurpassed by many of the superhero films that are so common today, like say fornexample The Avengers (2012), which set a new standard for superhero films. Andnthere’s no denying that this new Superman movie is influenced immensely by ThenAvengers, we get dimensional portals, an alien invasion in a major city and superheroesndueling in the skies; sound familiar? It’s because that’s exactly what The Avengersnwas all about too. But don’t fret, this isn’t a Xerox copy of The Avengers, yetnthere’s no denying the influence that film has over this one. I would go on tonsay that it’s the first official film to be influenced by The Avengers in thatnit’s trying to reach the same levels of destruction and epic scope.

n

n

nYet, the film goes its own way offering us many originalnelements. For example ‘Krypton ‘, Superman’s home world is a wonder to behold;nI loved how they portrayed the different levels of political hierarchy. Thentechnology of the planet mixes the organic with the technological in a reallyninteresting way. The whole deal with Superman’s father, and who he was on hisnplanet, loved that whole bit. We get to see why the suit, why the ‘S’, why thensuper powers, basically, all the ‘why’s’ about superman are answered. This filmnsimply explains things better. But what we really wanted to see with this newnfilm is Superman kicking ass right? So don’t worry my friends, there’s tons ofnthat! This movie delivers on the spectacle arena, you won’t be disappointed. Asna summer blockbuster, this movie functions to perfection, without a hitch.nCasting wise the film is perfect, Henry Cavill as Kal-El was perfect casting,nhe looks the part. There was a moment where I thought I saw Christopher Reevesnface, but it could have been my nostalgia goggles messing with me. Amy Adams asnLouis was great, she isn’t bitchy or cartoony, she’s just a smart reporter, thoughnI do feel that Louis and Clark’s love on this movie comes out of left fieldnbecause there’s nothing to really validate it or spark it, it simply happens,nit feels like they fall for each other simply because that’s what happensnbetween Louis and Clark, not because they genuinely fell in love. MichaelnShannon is great as Zod, but I was expecting a more intense portrayal of thencharacter coming from Shannon, who is used to playing intensely nuttyncharacters. Still, he doesn’t mess things up, it’s just that I thought he’d donsomething just a little more over the top.

n

n  

nBottom line is this movie didn’t disappoint with itsnspectacle and massive amounts of destruction, the only reason why the filmnlooses a couple of points for me is for using Superman to spread patriotismn(which to me is simply another form of fanatism) and for making him a catholic,nwhich just sucks, Catholicism was never a part of the equation; but the rest ofnthe movie? Freaking awesome! A great summer blockbuster that won’t disappoint innterms of constantly showing you cool stuff. I mean, how cool was it thatnSuperman finally used his heat vision and his super speed? Trust me on this onenyou’ll see Superman doing stuff you’ve never seen him do on any other movie,nlike for example, seeking the council of a Catholic priest. After the filmnfinished, the audience stayed behind expecting one of those cliffhanger endingsnthat the Marvel and Fast and the Furious films have popularized so much, butndon’t waste your time, you’re not going to get it here. The filmmakers opted not to give us a cliffhanger as if saying: “this is a DC movie notna Marvel movie and don’t you forget it!” I’m positive that this movie will make obscene amounts of money, and I’m sure a sequel is certain, actually, both David Goyer the films writer, and Zack Snyder, the films director are signed to return. The success of Man of Steal will determine if we will ever see a Justice League movie, so if you want to see that movie happen, go on and see Man of Steel. If Man of Steel is any indication, we should be in for something  special, DC style. 

n   

n

n