Longer Thoughts on Man of Steel
After seeing Man of Steel a second time, I stand by my original assessment: I liked it, but didn't love it.
So the biggest thing that bothers me about it is not, actually, that he killed Zod at the end. I could see where he felt like he had no choice, that there was no other way to stop Zod. If I followed the action correctly (a big if) the option to toss Zod back in the Phantom Zone was gone. Faora and the other Kryptonians were already there, and it looked like all the other ships/engines/whatever capable of it had been destroyed. So he felt like he had no choice, and he clearly utterly hated that he had to do it.
The thing that bothered me the most was the one main thing I wish they'd picked up from the Christopher Reeve movies. In Superman II, when Superman, Zod and the others are tearing apart Metropolis in their battle (which is extremely minor damage in comparison to MoS), at some point Clark looks up and realizes he has to get them the fuck out of Metropolis before there's nothing left of the city. Clark cares so much for the people of Metropolis that he allows himself to look cowardly in an effort to draw the Kryptonians away to someplace it won't matter if they tear part.
In MoS, there was a point after Zod shed his armor that Clark is punching him through the air that I really, really hoped that would end with Clark getting Zod out of town somehow, but no. So that's the only reason I can buy Clark killing Zod at the end: that was the only way he could see to get Zod "out of town" and stop destroying Metropolis.
The minor thing I wish they'd taken from SII was the humor. Not quite as much humor as SII had; MoS is a more serious movie, and that's fine as far as it goes. But a little more humor to lighten it would not have gone amiss; it's fine as far as it goes. But this isn't the Dark Knight trilogy, this is Superman. What humor there was was great, but there needed to be more.
Finally, there was all that smashy smashy punchy punchy action. Ugh. I have limits for that kind of thing, and this movie went way past them. I can't help but compare the destruction of Metropolis in this to the destruction of New York in The Avengers, and I think the reason I love the latter while am bored silly by the former is that Joss frequently (though not always) used the action to help us get to know the characters better, and/or give us nice moments between the characters. In MoS, it's just Kryptonians pounding the crap out of each other. *yawn*
All of the above sounds like I disliked the movie, right? Well, no. All of the above was helped by how awesome the characters were, although I feel like a lot of that was down to the actors, not the director. Henry Cavill was a great Clark Kent/Superman. And I don't just mean his looks, although I will admit to wishing for just a few more shirtless scenes. *cough* But he really felt right as Superman. I totally believed in him as the Man of Steel. And at the end when we see him in glasses for the first time? Oh man. I really hope there is a sequel (although without Snyder and Nolan, pretty please), just so we can see Clark Kent, Reporter, interacting with everyone at the Planet. Especially Lois.
I loved Amy Adams as Lois. She was strong and gentle, tough and compassionate. She never gave up on a story, and I loved that line toward the beginning of the movie about her getting writer's block without a flack jacket. That's my Lois. She was awesome, and I adore that she knows about Clark from the beginning. I desperately want to see them working together at the Planet, her showing him the ropes, covering for him when he goes off to be Superman, all of it.
We didn't get to see too much of the other Planet characters, but I thought Laurence Fishburne was great as Perry. It looks like there's some contradictory information about whether Jenny is really Jenny Olson (IMDB doesn't list a last name for the character, but apparently there's a different name on her badge?), but I haven't given up hope that they'll make her Jenny Olsen.
As for Clark's parents, I loved them all, even Jonathan, although I was not best pleased with what he made Clark do at the end. Still, this is the first time in a long while I've liked Kevin Costner in anything (actually, I can't remember when I ever liked him in anything, but whatever), and I definitely liked him better than John Schneider's version, although that's not saying much.
I thought Diane Lane was absolutely superb as Martha, and completely forgot it was her until I was squinting at her face late in the movie thinking I recognized her. She was so good as Clark's mom. I loved her talking wee!Clark out of the closet, and how completely strong and supportive she was.
This is the first time I've ever liked Jor-El, let alone found him interesting. I was very curious about his motivations and his plans, and that he went against generations of Kryptonian tradition to have Clark. I am still very confused about how exactly he thought Krypton was going to be reborn, however. So... it's in Clark's cells. Was he planning for Clark to extract them and rebuild Krypton on Earth? That's sort of what it sounded like, but it doesn't make sense because the only way to do that, surely, was to keep on the way Kryptonian society had been for generations. Just not on Krypton. Or was he planning on Clark having a bunch of babies? Or what?
I also really liked Ayelet Zurer, who played Lara. She was really good. I wish we could have seen some of her as a "ghost" interacting with Clark on Earth.
Zod was really great, too, although I feared at times he was going to start foaming at the mouth and chewing the carpet. But, I did have some minor empathy for the guy who couldn't bend, who was born, raised and trained all of his life for one purpose only, and so he broke. Not enough empathy to be sorry he's gone, mind, but I can see how he got where he was.
And Faora was AWESOME. I loved her. I hope she survived the trip to the Phantom Zone so there's a chance we might see her again.
So, yeah. The characters made up for some of the awefulness of the plot, and I really want to see these versions of the characters again. Just please, please, please let Zack Snyder and Chrisopher Nolan have better things to do with their time. Please?
This entry was originally posted at http://beck-liz.dreamwidth.org/1011842.html. You may comment there using OpenID, or you may comment here.
have commented there.
So the biggest thing that bothers me about it is not, actually, that he killed Zod at the end. I could see where he felt like he had no choice, that there was no other way to stop Zod. If I followed the action correctly (a big if) the option to toss Zod back in the Phantom Zone was gone. Faora and the other Kryptonians were already there, and it looked like all the other ships/engines/whatever capable of it had been destroyed. So he felt like he had no choice, and he clearly utterly hated that he had to do it.
The thing that bothered me the most was the one main thing I wish they'd picked up from the Christopher Reeve movies. In Superman II, when Superman, Zod and the others are tearing apart Metropolis in their battle (which is extremely minor damage in comparison to MoS), at some point Clark looks up and realizes he has to get them the fuck out of Metropolis before there's nothing left of the city. Clark cares so much for the people of Metropolis that he allows himself to look cowardly in an effort to draw the Kryptonians away to someplace it won't matter if they tear part.
In MoS, there was a point after Zod shed his armor that Clark is punching him through the air that I really, really hoped that would end with Clark getting Zod out of town somehow, but no. So that's the only reason I can buy Clark killing Zod at the end: that was the only way he could see to get Zod "out of town" and stop destroying Metropolis.
The minor thing I wish they'd taken from SII was the humor. Not quite as much humor as SII had; MoS is a more serious movie, and that's fine as far as it goes. But a little more humor to lighten it would not have gone amiss; it's fine as far as it goes. But this isn't the Dark Knight trilogy, this is Superman. What humor there was was great, but there needed to be more.
Finally, there was all that smashy smashy punchy punchy action. Ugh. I have limits for that kind of thing, and this movie went way past them. I can't help but compare the destruction of Metropolis in this to the destruction of New York in The Avengers, and I think the reason I love the latter while am bored silly by the former is that Joss frequently (though not always) used the action to help us get to know the characters better, and/or give us nice moments between the characters. In MoS, it's just Kryptonians pounding the crap out of each other. *yawn*
All of the above sounds like I disliked the movie, right? Well, no. All of the above was helped by how awesome the characters were, although I feel like a lot of that was down to the actors, not the director. Henry Cavill was a great Clark Kent/Superman. And I don't just mean his looks, although I will admit to wishing for just a few more shirtless scenes. *cough* But he really felt right as Superman. I totally believed in him as the Man of Steel. And at the end when we see him in glasses for the first time? Oh man. I really hope there is a sequel (although without Snyder and Nolan, pretty please), just so we can see Clark Kent, Reporter, interacting with everyone at the Planet. Especially Lois.
I loved Amy Adams as Lois. She was strong and gentle, tough and compassionate. She never gave up on a story, and I loved that line toward the beginning of the movie about her getting writer's block without a flack jacket. That's my Lois. She was awesome, and I adore that she knows about Clark from the beginning. I desperately want to see them working together at the Planet, her showing him the ropes, covering for him when he goes off to be Superman, all of it.
We didn't get to see too much of the other Planet characters, but I thought Laurence Fishburne was great as Perry. It looks like there's some contradictory information about whether Jenny is really Jenny Olson (IMDB doesn't list a last name for the character, but apparently there's a different name on her badge?), but I haven't given up hope that they'll make her Jenny Olsen.
As for Clark's parents, I loved them all, even Jonathan, although I was not best pleased with what he made Clark do at the end. Still, this is the first time in a long while I've liked Kevin Costner in anything (actually, I can't remember when I ever liked him in anything, but whatever), and I definitely liked him better than John Schneider's version, although that's not saying much.
I thought Diane Lane was absolutely superb as Martha, and completely forgot it was her until I was squinting at her face late in the movie thinking I recognized her. She was so good as Clark's mom. I loved her talking wee!Clark out of the closet, and how completely strong and supportive she was.
This is the first time I've ever liked Jor-El, let alone found him interesting. I was very curious about his motivations and his plans, and that he went against generations of Kryptonian tradition to have Clark. I am still very confused about how exactly he thought Krypton was going to be reborn, however. So... it's in Clark's cells. Was he planning for Clark to extract them and rebuild Krypton on Earth? That's sort of what it sounded like, but it doesn't make sense because the only way to do that, surely, was to keep on the way Kryptonian society had been for generations. Just not on Krypton. Or was he planning on Clark having a bunch of babies? Or what?
I also really liked Ayelet Zurer, who played Lara. She was really good. I wish we could have seen some of her as a "ghost" interacting with Clark on Earth.
Zod was really great, too, although I feared at times he was going to start foaming at the mouth and chewing the carpet. But, I did have some minor empathy for the guy who couldn't bend, who was born, raised and trained all of his life for one purpose only, and so he broke. Not enough empathy to be sorry he's gone, mind, but I can see how he got where he was.
And Faora was AWESOME. I loved her. I hope she survived the trip to the Phantom Zone so there's a chance we might see her again.
So, yeah. The characters made up for some of the awefulness of the plot, and I really want to see these versions of the characters again. Just please, please, please let Zack Snyder and Chrisopher Nolan have better things to do with their time. Please?
This entry was originally posted at http://beck-liz.dreamwidth.org/1011842.html. You may comment there using OpenID, or you may comment here.
have commented there.