I’ve given you a week to see the movie and I can’t wait
anymore
I’ll go into further detail after I get the Blu-ray but for
now, it’s time for my SPOILER-FILLED review after the break.
You’ve been warned.
Let’s start at the beginning…
The Good:
KRYPTON
Kal-El’s home planet isn’t Hoth anymore. It’s established
right away that this is a different take on the mythos and that’s a good
thing. The floating robots reminded me of John Byrne’s The Man of Steel miniseries that jump started the Post-Crisis DC
Universe. Then there’s Kal-El’s parents. Ayelet Zurer is by far the most
beautiful Lara I’ve ever seen, and she stands up to Zod with a dignity and
grace that I’ve never seen before. She’s not the weepy widow who runs from her
planet’s destruction in fear. She’s the proud Kryptonian who faces her end
after sacrificing her son to the stars and condemning her husband’s killer to
justice. As for Russel Crowe’s Jor-El, one word: Cool. He’s a fighter as well
as a scientist, and I hope we see more of Jor-El’s “program”.
SMALLVILLE
I liked how Clark ’s
upbringing was told in flashback. His powers developed over time, and yet there
was no Superboy – which opens the door for a future Superboy character. As for the Kents ,
they did their jobs preparing Clark for his
future. Martha dealt with his developing abilities while Jonathan gave him his
sense of morality. I also liked how Jonathan’s death served a purpose. He saved
some lives from the impending tornado while convincing Clark
that it wasn’t yet time for him to “reveal himself to the world”.
THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE
Instead of a crystalline house, Kal-El got a Kryptonian
Scout Ship that landed on Earth a while ago (was it over 100 million years? I
can’t remember…).
THE VILLAINS
General Zod was a good choice for the first movie, but it took
me a while to realize his motivation for doing what he was doing: He was
genetically made to defend the Kryptonian way of life…at all costs. And having
Kal-El kill Zod in order to put an end to it all made sense…even though having
him kill anyone has never been done
on film before.
KAL-EL’S POWERS
Kal-El has the ability to level mountains, alter climates
and pulverize humans with one punch. Do you know what that means? He can never vent. He can’t cut loose.
He can’t just “SMASH” like the Hulk can, and I’ve never seen that addressed until now.
He defends a waitress in a bar...gets beer poured on his head and something thrown at him…and he just
walks away. Yeah, he ends up beating the crap out of the guy’s logging truck,
but Clark can’t just punch the guy like the rest of us would…even though he
clearly wanted to…because he’d kill the guy. It’s only against Zod and the
other Kryptonians that Kal-El can really use his powers.
I admit, Alexis Bledel will always be Lois to me, but Amy
Adams did a great job. The character was well written, smart and the fact that
she figured out who Clark Kent
really was made the ending all the better. Having some on-screen chemistry with
Cavill didn’t hurt either.
CLARK KENT
Going with what I said before, Henry Cavill does a great job
playing Clark as a guy with all this crazy
stuff happening to him without any idea what to do with it. I also liked how we only see Cavill in the glasses for like two seconds.
LEX LUTHOR
No, he’s not in the film…but his presence is. Think Roxxon
Oil in the Marvel films.
The Bad:
THE VILLAINS
Yup, there’s too many of them. Having Zod’s fine. Having two or three other Kryptonians is okay. But Zod’s got a crew of like twenty…all with Clark ’s powers. Throw in the
U.S. Military, and there’s just too many enemies.
THE BATTLES
I actually liked the first confrontation in Smallville, with
the military’s involvement and Kal-El upset that Zod’s people went after her
mother. There were explosions, destruction, chaos…and by the end of it the
military accepted Kal-El as their ally despite the obvious danger he can cause. They could have let Kal-El look around at his mighty works and
despair, eventually coming to terms with the inherent damage he can create…
…but then there was Metropolis.
Between the “World-Changer” machine (or whatever they called
it) and the ongoing battle between Kal-El, Zod and his minions there were
simply too many explosions, too much destruction and more chaos than I could
follow. Plus – after seeing The Avengers fight the Chitauri invasion in New York , watching
building after building come crashing down in Metropolis was just plain annoying.
The WTF?:
SUPERMAN’S LOOK
To be fair, we first saw the new costume before DC unveiled
their ‘New 52’, so the overall look had all of us scratching our heads. But
looking past that, I thought that Cavill looked better with the beard, on the
scout ship, than he did clean-shaven in the suit. Am I the only one who thinks
he’s just a little too pretty? WTF?
THE DC MOVIE UNIVERSE
Specifically, the lack thereof. Aside from the Lexcorp
stuff, I couldn’t find any reference to any other characters in the DCMU…unless
the female soldier at the end of the film (the one who said he’s “kinda hot”)
was meant to be Carol Ferris, but the name may have been misspelled. WTF?
EMIL HAMILTON
Adorkette was thrilled to recognize Toby Ziegler from The West Wing as the good doctor, but what happened to him?
He pushed the key into the ship, which triggered the opening of the Phantom
Zone right? Did he get sucked into it? He must have or else he died in the crash,
because only Lois escaped that fate. WTF?
KAL-EL’S BEARD
WTF?
SEQUEL POTENTIAL
Here’s where people are going to have the most to talk about
since MoS2 has been greenlit already.
I noticed the empty pod in the scout ship, and I think rumor’s already started
about The Eradicator showing up in 2. I’m okay with this, since Zod’s dead and
Kal-El will need another villain he can really tear into.
But here’s my treatment for the sequel…
We meet Luthor, who’s understandably concerned about getting
control over Superman after the destruction in Metropolis. He stumbles upon The
Eradicator…who’s already had a run-in with Supes…and takes him to either
S.T.A.R. Labs, or one of Lexcorp’s facilities. After some “genetic
manipulation”, The Eradicator becomes
Bizarro, who faces Superman in the final battle of the film.
Overall, I thought Man
of Steel was a 4 out of 5. Hopefully, DC and WB will get on the ball and
give us some more DCMU goodness.
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