Man of Steel Review
Jun. 16th, 2013 07:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaOverall - it was okay. There was a lot I enjoyed about it but at the same time it also had some serious flaws including one major one.
Liked
• Henry Cavill was a great Clark/Superman casting. (If a bit too serious/angsty.)
• I loved that last minute where he shows up at the Daily Planet, in glasses, as Clark Kent and Lois welcomes him to "the planet" and he gets this big grin on his face and in that moment he really felt like Clark Kent to me.
• I really liked this Lois. I disliked Kate Bosworth's Lois a lot and I was really worried about how Amy Adams would do. Overall, I think she was a pretty good Lois. I wish they'd darkened her hair but personality and behaviour-wise she worked well. I loved Lois following Clark even though it meant scaling a cliff. It felt like a completely Lois thing to do. I loved that we got to see her actually investigating something and her tracking Clark down. I liked that she backed off from the story after meeting him. I liked her agreeing to go onto the ship when Faora demanded it.
• The Lois/Clark relationship was well played. It's a very different beginning with her knowing that Clark and Superman are the same from the beginning but I actually liked that twist. I love that she figures it out by doing her job well and refusing to let go of the story. I liked how their relationship played out and found it very believable.
• I wasn't entirely sold on the suit from stills but in action it looked great. I really loved that it was exactly the type of clothing his people wore.
• Clark cells being infused with the genetic codex of his species was a great little twist. It's interesting that this movie seemed to go out of it's way to give potential for the return of the Kryptionian species - as long as Clark lives there will always be the possibility of his species returning. Plus all those abandoned outposts - sure, all the ones Zod found were failed but that doesn't mean all of them met ruin.
• I liked Superman turning himself over to the American military/humanity and letting them decide. The 'interrogation' scene was great. I also loved how when Superman broke the handcuffs apart he did it so casually, as if they weren't there or were made of paper. It's a small detail but great.
• I liked Faora a lot.
• For the most part, I liked Krypton and all the worldbuilding this movie did. I especially loved the stuff about how Kryptionian's explored and settled the stars.
• The reverend and the awe in his eyes during his talk with Clark was a nice little moment.
• There were a couple nice Clark/Martha moments. I really liked how she helped him at the school when he freaked out.
Issues
• The biggest issue: The death count, specifically Superman's complete disregard for bystanders during his fights. During the first fight with Zod Superman grabs him, goes through what looked like a nuclear reactor (but that would be really dumb, so I had to have been mistaken, right?) before landing in the middle of downtown Smallville. WTF, Superman? They whole area is surrounded by fields! And he takes the fight to the one heavily populated area?
Then during the final battle in Metropolis Superman doesn't appear to even try to move the fight out of the city and in fact numerous times knocks or pushes Zod through occupied buildings. Which then create debris that falls on occupied streets. I realise he's a bit busy at the time but he seems to give no thought to collateral damage - until it's five people directly in front of him and then he starts thinking of others.
It didn't feel Superman at all, it didn't even fit with his characterisation in this movie alone and I hated it so much.
• Superman shows up at the farm to rescue his mother... by grabbing Zod and dragging him away from the farm. Zod, who was only one of a handful of genocidal aliens that were right there. That he left with his defenseless mother. There was nothing to stop them from killing her or taking her hostage. It was possibly the dumbest moment of the movie for me. It left me feeling really annoyed.
Also I feel like beyond being a stupid move it just didn't fit Clark's character as we'd seen it up until that point. Clark has this deep empathy and need to save people. His first instinct is to save someone (even if it puts himself at risk of discovery.) But when he got to farm he acted with violence first - he attacked Zod instead of saving his mother first (which are not the same thing). It would have made far more sense for him to have kicked/punched Zod away, grabbed his mother and whisked her somewhere safe before returning to deal with the Kryptonians.
• The lessening of importance of Clark's mothers in comparison to his fathers. This movie was all about Clark's relationships with Jonathan and Jor-El and how they shape his life. Martha and Lara aren't given anywhere near as much screen-time or importance in the narrative. Lara got shafted more than Martha but I wasn't entirely pleased with either. The characters themselves I had no problems with. I liked both Martha and Lara and I thought the actresses did good in the roles. My issue was with their place in the story. Martha is super supportive of Clark, helps him with his abilities but it's Jonathon who shapes how Clark views the world, who guides him. Lara feels more like support for Jor-El's actions then his partner.
Two things that I think encapsulate my unhappiness and how Clark's mothers are given less importance: 1) It's Jonathan, and only Jonathan, who shows Clark his ship and reveals that he's an alien. 2) It's Jor-El, and only Jor-El, who sends a AI/hologram/his memories/whatever to Earth with baby Kal-El. There is no reason for Lara not to have done the same. There are many reasons why Martha should have been there when the truth was revealed to Clark.
• Jenny Olson. When I read about them gender-switching Jimmy I was fine with it. I'm not particularly attached to the character and anything that adds more women is, generally, good. Plus I was interested to see how she interacted with Lois. Except she didn't really. In fact she was barely more than an extra. She hangs around in the background at the beginning and then when the attack happens she gets to be a damsel-in-distress. She stands in shock/horror as the building falls and has to be pulled to safety by Perry White and then somehow ends up being the only one trapped under fallen debris. Where she's then freaked out, crying and begs them not to leave her. WTF, movie? This is not a step in the right direction!
Her freaking out was completely understandable (though it would have been nice if once it seemed obvious that they couldn't get her out she had told them to go on and save themselves, they still could have refused to leave). I also don't mind her being only in the background - Jimmy Olson has always been a supporting character.
The problem is that they took a male character, made him female, and then made her basically, as I said, a damsel-in-distress. Of course it's her who has to be pulled into running away. Of course when the building collapses it's on her (even though the other reporter was ahead of them). Of the three characters it's the gender-switched female who has to be the victim while the two men get to be active.
I would have vastly preferred if they had made the other reporter - who I believe is original to the movie - female (and kept at the same age as the actor, so 40s) and left Jimmy male. Then kept everything else the same and it would have been far less aggravating.
• This is kind of a small thing but it bothered me: during Jonathan's death Martha gets to mention the dog is stuck but after that says nothing more. That whole discussion, though very short, was entirely between Clark and Jonathan. It was them deciding what would happen. When it was obvious Jonathan wasn't going to get away again the moment of communication is only between Clark and Jonathon. Martha is only an observer and we don't get her point of view - either holding Clark back or urging him to save his father.
• After the attempted coup the council had to know that Krypton was facing destruction but instead of trying to save anyone they instead decided to take the time to send Zod and his people into the Phantom Zone? How does that make any sense?
• It's not so much that I hate this like the above points but rather this one makes no sense: the whole Krypton's atmosphere causing Kryptonian's to lose their yellow sun powers. The power/lack of power is about the sun. Not the atmospheres. Which the movie even states - the yellow sun makes Clark powerful. So how exactly does atmosphere of Krypton remove those effects? I'm thinking less of Superman on the ship or dealing with the world engine - he was out of the sun's rays, whatever - but Zod and his troops being unaffected while wearing the clear face masks doesn't make sense to me.
• I know Superman began all "... and the American way" but I don't really feel like that's what he is now? He's a much more global superhero than just an American one. So I wasn't fond of his bit with the general at the end where the general wants to be sure that Superman will "look out for American interests" and all Superman says is to reassure him that he is American. Look, I realise this is an American movie but the whole movie was about Superman helping and saving humanity. And American interests ≠ humanity/the world's interests.
• I wish Krypton had some colour and had looked a little more alien.
Other
• Jonathan's death - I'm really not sure how I feel about how that happened. Superman letting his father die to protect his secret, even with his father's urging, is something I'm having a hard time dealing with. I like where it takes the character - his scene with Lois at the grave is excellent and it makes his wandering ways make absolute sense - but at the same time Superman let his father die to protect his secret. WHAT?
- I do wish that they had set it up a bit better regardless of my feelings about it. Instead of Jonathan giving Clark the little boy it should have been Clark who got him out of the car and thus had his hands full when Jonathan went back for their dog. It made no sense to me that Jonathan would hand over the kid to Clark (and so close to the overpass) and head back towards the tornado, or even more so that Clark would let him. One of them can't be killed. One of them can move just a little faster. The way it was set up had me going "why are you all being so dumb"?
• Wait. Does this mean there's no Fortress of Solitude?
• You know, there are probably a number of people in Smallville who know exactly who Superman is.
• Why exactly did all those outposts fail if the planets were terraformed? And why couldn't Zod have wandered over to Mars and terraformed it instead of Earth? I don't remember if there was an explanation for why it had to be Earth other than Zod being evil (which I feel like the movie did it's best to show he wasn't just an evil bad guy).
• I really would have liked a moment between Lois being grabbed and Superman turning himself over to the military where we see various news shows talking about the alien among them. We get a bit of it with the guy who fingers Lois as knowing Superman's identity on TV but it would have been nice to see other people, especially those he saved talking. Throw in a couple crackpots but also the oil-well workers who's lives he saved. Other people he saved. All people know about him is that he is an alien who has being living among them. That's it. Lois knows about him saving people and I think it would have added a nice layer if it was out there to humanity that he isn't just a nameless alien but is someone who helps people.
Liked
• Henry Cavill was a great Clark/Superman casting. (If a bit too serious/angsty.)
• I loved that last minute where he shows up at the Daily Planet, in glasses, as Clark Kent and Lois welcomes him to "the planet" and he gets this big grin on his face and in that moment he really felt like Clark Kent to me.
• I really liked this Lois. I disliked Kate Bosworth's Lois a lot and I was really worried about how Amy Adams would do. Overall, I think she was a pretty good Lois. I wish they'd darkened her hair but personality and behaviour-wise she worked well. I loved Lois following Clark even though it meant scaling a cliff. It felt like a completely Lois thing to do. I loved that we got to see her actually investigating something and her tracking Clark down. I liked that she backed off from the story after meeting him. I liked her agreeing to go onto the ship when Faora demanded it.
• The Lois/Clark relationship was well played. It's a very different beginning with her knowing that Clark and Superman are the same from the beginning but I actually liked that twist. I love that she figures it out by doing her job well and refusing to let go of the story. I liked how their relationship played out and found it very believable.
• I wasn't entirely sold on the suit from stills but in action it looked great. I really loved that it was exactly the type of clothing his people wore.
• Clark cells being infused with the genetic codex of his species was a great little twist. It's interesting that this movie seemed to go out of it's way to give potential for the return of the Kryptionian species - as long as Clark lives there will always be the possibility of his species returning. Plus all those abandoned outposts - sure, all the ones Zod found were failed but that doesn't mean all of them met ruin.
• I liked Superman turning himself over to the American military/humanity and letting them decide. The 'interrogation' scene was great. I also loved how when Superman broke the handcuffs apart he did it so casually, as if they weren't there or were made of paper. It's a small detail but great.
• I liked Faora a lot.
• For the most part, I liked Krypton and all the worldbuilding this movie did. I especially loved the stuff about how Kryptionian's explored and settled the stars.
• The reverend and the awe in his eyes during his talk with Clark was a nice little moment.
• There were a couple nice Clark/Martha moments. I really liked how she helped him at the school when he freaked out.
Issues
• The biggest issue: The death count, specifically Superman's complete disregard for bystanders during his fights. During the first fight with Zod Superman grabs him, goes through what looked like a nuclear reactor (but that would be really dumb, so I had to have been mistaken, right?) before landing in the middle of downtown Smallville. WTF, Superman? They whole area is surrounded by fields! And he takes the fight to the one heavily populated area?
Then during the final battle in Metropolis Superman doesn't appear to even try to move the fight out of the city and in fact numerous times knocks or pushes Zod through occupied buildings. Which then create debris that falls on occupied streets. I realise he's a bit busy at the time but he seems to give no thought to collateral damage - until it's five people directly in front of him and then he starts thinking of others.
It didn't feel Superman at all, it didn't even fit with his characterisation in this movie alone and I hated it so much.
• Superman shows up at the farm to rescue his mother... by grabbing Zod and dragging him away from the farm. Zod, who was only one of a handful of genocidal aliens that were right there. That he left with his defenseless mother. There was nothing to stop them from killing her or taking her hostage. It was possibly the dumbest moment of the movie for me. It left me feeling really annoyed.
Also I feel like beyond being a stupid move it just didn't fit Clark's character as we'd seen it up until that point. Clark has this deep empathy and need to save people. His first instinct is to save someone (even if it puts himself at risk of discovery.) But when he got to farm he acted with violence first - he attacked Zod instead of saving his mother first (which are not the same thing). It would have made far more sense for him to have kicked/punched Zod away, grabbed his mother and whisked her somewhere safe before returning to deal with the Kryptonians.
• The lessening of importance of Clark's mothers in comparison to his fathers. This movie was all about Clark's relationships with Jonathan and Jor-El and how they shape his life. Martha and Lara aren't given anywhere near as much screen-time or importance in the narrative. Lara got shafted more than Martha but I wasn't entirely pleased with either. The characters themselves I had no problems with. I liked both Martha and Lara and I thought the actresses did good in the roles. My issue was with their place in the story. Martha is super supportive of Clark, helps him with his abilities but it's Jonathon who shapes how Clark views the world, who guides him. Lara feels more like support for Jor-El's actions then his partner.
Two things that I think encapsulate my unhappiness and how Clark's mothers are given less importance: 1) It's Jonathan, and only Jonathan, who shows Clark his ship and reveals that he's an alien. 2) It's Jor-El, and only Jor-El, who sends a AI/hologram/his memories/whatever to Earth with baby Kal-El. There is no reason for Lara not to have done the same. There are many reasons why Martha should have been there when the truth was revealed to Clark.
• Jenny Olson. When I read about them gender-switching Jimmy I was fine with it. I'm not particularly attached to the character and anything that adds more women is, generally, good. Plus I was interested to see how she interacted with Lois. Except she didn't really. In fact she was barely more than an extra. She hangs around in the background at the beginning and then when the attack happens she gets to be a damsel-in-distress. She stands in shock/horror as the building falls and has to be pulled to safety by Perry White and then somehow ends up being the only one trapped under fallen debris. Where she's then freaked out, crying and begs them not to leave her. WTF, movie? This is not a step in the right direction!
Her freaking out was completely understandable (though it would have been nice if once it seemed obvious that they couldn't get her out she had told them to go on and save themselves, they still could have refused to leave). I also don't mind her being only in the background - Jimmy Olson has always been a supporting character.
The problem is that they took a male character, made him female, and then made her basically, as I said, a damsel-in-distress. Of course it's her who has to be pulled into running away. Of course when the building collapses it's on her (even though the other reporter was ahead of them). Of the three characters it's the gender-switched female who has to be the victim while the two men get to be active.
I would have vastly preferred if they had made the other reporter - who I believe is original to the movie - female (and kept at the same age as the actor, so 40s) and left Jimmy male. Then kept everything else the same and it would have been far less aggravating.
• This is kind of a small thing but it bothered me: during Jonathan's death Martha gets to mention the dog is stuck but after that says nothing more. That whole discussion, though very short, was entirely between Clark and Jonathan. It was them deciding what would happen. When it was obvious Jonathan wasn't going to get away again the moment of communication is only between Clark and Jonathon. Martha is only an observer and we don't get her point of view - either holding Clark back or urging him to save his father.
• After the attempted coup the council had to know that Krypton was facing destruction but instead of trying to save anyone they instead decided to take the time to send Zod and his people into the Phantom Zone? How does that make any sense?
• It's not so much that I hate this like the above points but rather this one makes no sense: the whole Krypton's atmosphere causing Kryptonian's to lose their yellow sun powers. The power/lack of power is about the sun. Not the atmospheres. Which the movie even states - the yellow sun makes Clark powerful. So how exactly does atmosphere of Krypton remove those effects? I'm thinking less of Superman on the ship or dealing with the world engine - he was out of the sun's rays, whatever - but Zod and his troops being unaffected while wearing the clear face masks doesn't make sense to me.
• I know Superman began all "... and the American way" but I don't really feel like that's what he is now? He's a much more global superhero than just an American one. So I wasn't fond of his bit with the general at the end where the general wants to be sure that Superman will "look out for American interests" and all Superman says is to reassure him that he is American. Look, I realise this is an American movie but the whole movie was about Superman helping and saving humanity. And American interests ≠ humanity/the world's interests.
• I wish Krypton had some colour and had looked a little more alien.
Other
• Jonathan's death - I'm really not sure how I feel about how that happened. Superman letting his father die to protect his secret, even with his father's urging, is something I'm having a hard time dealing with. I like where it takes the character - his scene with Lois at the grave is excellent and it makes his wandering ways make absolute sense - but at the same time Superman let his father die to protect his secret. WHAT?
- I do wish that they had set it up a bit better regardless of my feelings about it. Instead of Jonathan giving Clark the little boy it should have been Clark who got him out of the car and thus had his hands full when Jonathan went back for their dog. It made no sense to me that Jonathan would hand over the kid to Clark (and so close to the overpass) and head back towards the tornado, or even more so that Clark would let him. One of them can't be killed. One of them can move just a little faster. The way it was set up had me going "why are you all being so dumb"?
• Wait. Does this mean there's no Fortress of Solitude?
• You know, there are probably a number of people in Smallville who know exactly who Superman is.
• Why exactly did all those outposts fail if the planets were terraformed? And why couldn't Zod have wandered over to Mars and terraformed it instead of Earth? I don't remember if there was an explanation for why it had to be Earth other than Zod being evil (which I feel like the movie did it's best to show he wasn't just an evil bad guy).
• I really would have liked a moment between Lois being grabbed and Superman turning himself over to the military where we see various news shows talking about the alien among them. We get a bit of it with the guy who fingers Lois as knowing Superman's identity on TV but it would have been nice to see other people, especially those he saved talking. Throw in a couple crackpots but also the oil-well workers who's lives he saved. Other people he saved. All people know about him is that he is an alien who has being living among them. That's it. Lois knows about him saving people and I think it would have added a nice layer if it was out there to humanity that he isn't just a nameless alien but is someone who helps people.
