when the world gets too heavy, put it on my back
Last night, L. and I went to see Man of Steel. Since it was in 3D - not even IMAX, just 3D - the tickets cost $18.50 and with the fandango service charge, they were $20. (unfortunately, non-3D times were thin on the ground, and didn't work for our schedules on a work night.)
I can think of few movies I would happily pay $20 to see, and let me tell you, Man of Steel is not one of them. There was a good movie in there somewhere (not necessarily a good Superman movie, but nonetheless, there was some salvageable stuff in there) but the version that's been released is not it.
First off, the 3D transfer was terrible - the movie was visually dark and kind of murky, and I'm not even talking about the unsaturated colors, which I actually kind of like in general (but not for SUPERMAN. COME ON GUYS. IT'S SUPERMAN. SHOW A LITTLE RESPECT.), but just... I kept slipping off the glasses because bright and a little fuzzy is better than murky and maybe having some depth of field. I am just saying.
When I heard they were making a new Superman movie, I wished they'd cast Daniel Henney as Superman, because 1. he looks like he could be, and 2. because Superman at heart is an immigrant story. (3. I don't know much about Henney's limitations as an actor, but it's not like a whole lot was asked of Henry Cavill in this movie.) And I really wanted Rashida Jones as Lois. Sigh.
On the plus side, Henry Cavill is really nice to look at. Especially with his shirt off. And he definitely has the right look to be a classic Superman.
other pluses:
+ Michael Shannon and everything about Zod. He made sense as a villain! I understood his motivations! He was there to chew scenery and kick ass, and by god, he chewed the scenery! He seemed like he knew he was in a superhero movie and played it accordingly. (see, here I would have accepted a KNEEL BEFORE ZOD as a nod to the original movies, because Terence Stamp and also this movie needed some levity like bread needs yeast. Without it, it's thick and heavy and unpalatable.)
+ Russell Crowe as Jor-El. Though my mind is a little blown at Russell Crowe playing Superman's dad. And also Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent - he was mostly fine though when he was like, "yeah, maybe you should have let those kids die," I actually said out loud in the theatre, "NO."
+ Diane Lane. Man, I remember when Diane Lane was Cherry in The Outsiders. But I thought she was lovely and just the right mix of fragile and steely as Martha.
+ I liked the writing for Lois a lot, but I never felt like I was watching Lois Lane, tough-as-nails, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter. I felt like I was watching Amy Adams pretending to be Lois Lane, so that didn't quite work out for me. Otoh, the fact that Lois knows, right from the get-go, pleases me a lot, because CLARK/LOIS=OTP 5EVA.
+ The supporting cast: Harry Lennix! Christopher Meloni! Tahmoh Penikett! Alessandro Juliani! TOBY ZIEGLER RICHARD SCHIFF!
+ I liked the nods to Smallville.
+ The ending, with Clark walking into the Daily Planet offices, though I think perhaps a little updating might have been necessary here, and maybe the Planet is just the print arm of a larger, more 24 hour news organization? I have some quibbles, because you can't just walk in off the street and be a reporter, you kind of have to have experience and schooling, and one of the things I really like about Clark is that he is a good reporter and even when he doesn't have his powers, he still tries to expose evil and have it rectified, and that's part of why Lois loves him - because he can keep up with her even when he's not Superman [I have to admit, I don't love the portrayal of Clark in other sources as a bumbler though I understand why it happens; I like it when he just seems very mild-mannered and gentle and kind of negligible as a physical presence (despite being, you know, obviously very tall and well-built)]. Anyway. I liked that he put on the glasses and ended up partners with Lois. I kind of wanted a final shot of him pulling his shirt open to reveal the S, but whatever. That is a minor issue in a movie that had a lot more stuff I didn't like in it.
+ Also at the end, that hazy flashback of Clark and Krypto his dog playing with the cape was really lovely (though again, this was part of the Superman after Terence Malick vibe that half the movie had, which I'm not sure really worked, though it was lovely to look at), though given that this is a world in which Superman doesn't exist yet, would a little boy really put a red towel around his neck like a cape and pose in Superman's most famous hands on hips pose? Should I just pretend he's playing at being Thor and stop wondering about details like this?
And now the negatives.
- Could this movie have been any less lighthearted/funny/hopeful? It was way too SOLEMN and PORTENTOUS. Where is Clark's sly sense of humor? There was a little bit of his joy in flying, but there wasn't enough for me. The movie sank like a stone under its unfortunate (and unnecessary) solemnity. The S may stand for hope on Krypton, but everyone in the movie walked around like they were in some kind of weird mumblecore/apocalypse mashup.
- Oh my god, can we stop with the Jesus parallels? (no pun intended.) He's Moses in the basket, not Jesus on the cross.
- While I liked the flashbacks to his childhood (and the brief glimpse of Lana we saw), I'm not sure the wandering in the wilderness until he's 33 thing (see what they did there? huh? huh? get it? sigh.) really worked, because it means he's basically a cipher. He wants to help people but he's torn by the fact that people hate and fear the unknown/what's different etc. etc. so he doesn't come out publicly as a hero until he's forced to? I kind of don't love that. (Otoh, if they really wanted this to be a shared universe, there could have been some mention of that Bat guy over in Gotham and isn't that just nuts? etc. etc. And that could have been some kind of catalyst too - if a weird guy in a batsuit can fight bad guys, can't he go around saving people? Maybe with a mask on, since he doesn't get the suit until he finds the scout ship.) I mean, I get that he needs to have flaws, but I also get that choosing to do the right thing (and figuring out what exactly that is) and choosing to help are hard things to do consistently and repeatedly, especially in the face of someone you love/respect telling you maybe you shouldn't expose yourself like that, because the consequences won't just redound on you. And especially when you're powerful enough to flatten anyone who gets in your way.
Part of what makes Superman so fascinating is that he's the exception to "power corrupts." (Please take it as read that with great power comes great responsibility.) But not because he's some shining god who can't make mistakes or feel fear or whatever. The movie got at this a little when wee!Clark is being bullied and Jonathan asks, "Did they hurt you?" and Clark says, "You know they can't." and Jonathan replies, "I meant, are you all right?" Because even if he can't be hurt physically, he can be emotionally. his fear is of being different, being rejected, which is different from the fear Lois faces and fights through as she badasses her way around the Kryptonian ship and then later with preparing the pod to be launched, but is still hurtful and has to be dealt with/overcome.
- I basically tuned out as soon as the big fighting at the end started. I could barely stop yawning. There was too much in those scenes that was a rehash of other superhero movies. While I thought the whole "terraforming the Earth to be more like Krypton" thing was pretty cool as supervillain plots go (though you think they would have stopped it once they realized they could be as, um, supermen once they got used to the earth's atmosphere), the visual of it was too like STXI, with the giant drill ships. Superman facing off against the Kryptonians on the main street of Smallville was too like Thor facing the Destroyer in Thor. Lois falling away from the black hole as it closed in on itself was too much like Iron Man falling through the portal in Avengers. Also, it all looked like a video game; too much CGI and not real at all.
- YOU ARE SUPERMAN. TAKE THE FIGHT UP INTO SPACE INSTEAD OF DESTROYING METROPOLIS AROUND YOU. Oh my god, when that woman stood up and said, "You saved us!" in the middle of the flattened city, I was like, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Guys, I am really tired of seeing cities leveled for entertainment.
- Lastly, so Faora gets sent to the Phantom Zone in a frozen pod as punishment, but she gets to bring her lipstick? (Her lipstick was awesome, but once L. pointed that out, I was like, So...she took that to the Phantom Zone with her? SORRY.)
So, uh, yeah. I was disappointed. I kind of knew that I would be going in, but it still makes me sad. As always, I'm surprised by how many feelings I have about Superman. #DC LOOK AT YOUR LIFE. LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/577906.html.
people have commented there.
I can think of few movies I would happily pay $20 to see, and let me tell you, Man of Steel is not one of them. There was a good movie in there somewhere (not necessarily a good Superman movie, but nonetheless, there was some salvageable stuff in there) but the version that's been released is not it.
First off, the 3D transfer was terrible - the movie was visually dark and kind of murky, and I'm not even talking about the unsaturated colors, which I actually kind of like in general (but not for SUPERMAN. COME ON GUYS. IT'S SUPERMAN. SHOW A LITTLE RESPECT.), but just... I kept slipping off the glasses because bright and a little fuzzy is better than murky and maybe having some depth of field. I am just saying.
When I heard they were making a new Superman movie, I wished they'd cast Daniel Henney as Superman, because 1. he looks like he could be, and 2. because Superman at heart is an immigrant story. (3. I don't know much about Henney's limitations as an actor, but it's not like a whole lot was asked of Henry Cavill in this movie.) And I really wanted Rashida Jones as Lois. Sigh.
On the plus side, Henry Cavill is really nice to look at. Especially with his shirt off. And he definitely has the right look to be a classic Superman.
other pluses:
+ Michael Shannon and everything about Zod. He made sense as a villain! I understood his motivations! He was there to chew scenery and kick ass, and by god, he chewed the scenery! He seemed like he knew he was in a superhero movie and played it accordingly. (see, here I would have accepted a KNEEL BEFORE ZOD as a nod to the original movies, because Terence Stamp and also this movie needed some levity like bread needs yeast. Without it, it's thick and heavy and unpalatable.)
+ Russell Crowe as Jor-El. Though my mind is a little blown at Russell Crowe playing Superman's dad. And also Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent - he was mostly fine though when he was like, "yeah, maybe you should have let those kids die," I actually said out loud in the theatre, "NO."
+ Diane Lane. Man, I remember when Diane Lane was Cherry in The Outsiders. But I thought she was lovely and just the right mix of fragile and steely as Martha.
+ I liked the writing for Lois a lot, but I never felt like I was watching Lois Lane, tough-as-nails, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter. I felt like I was watching Amy Adams pretending to be Lois Lane, so that didn't quite work out for me. Otoh, the fact that Lois knows, right from the get-go, pleases me a lot, because CLARK/LOIS=OTP 5EVA.
+ The supporting cast: Harry Lennix! Christopher Meloni! Tahmoh Penikett! Alessandro Juliani! TOBY ZIEGLER RICHARD SCHIFF!
+ I liked the nods to Smallville.
+ The ending, with Clark walking into the Daily Planet offices, though I think perhaps a little updating might have been necessary here, and maybe the Planet is just the print arm of a larger, more 24 hour news organization? I have some quibbles, because you can't just walk in off the street and be a reporter, you kind of have to have experience and schooling, and one of the things I really like about Clark is that he is a good reporter and even when he doesn't have his powers, he still tries to expose evil and have it rectified, and that's part of why Lois loves him - because he can keep up with her even when he's not Superman [I have to admit, I don't love the portrayal of Clark in other sources as a bumbler though I understand why it happens; I like it when he just seems very mild-mannered and gentle and kind of negligible as a physical presence (despite being, you know, obviously very tall and well-built)]. Anyway. I liked that he put on the glasses and ended up partners with Lois. I kind of wanted a final shot of him pulling his shirt open to reveal the S, but whatever. That is a minor issue in a movie that had a lot more stuff I didn't like in it.
+ Also at the end, that hazy flashback of Clark and Krypto his dog playing with the cape was really lovely (though again, this was part of the Superman after Terence Malick vibe that half the movie had, which I'm not sure really worked, though it was lovely to look at), though given that this is a world in which Superman doesn't exist yet, would a little boy really put a red towel around his neck like a cape and pose in Superman's most famous hands on hips pose? Should I just pretend he's playing at being Thor and stop wondering about details like this?
And now the negatives.
- Could this movie have been any less lighthearted/funny/hopeful? It was way too SOLEMN and PORTENTOUS. Where is Clark's sly sense of humor? There was a little bit of his joy in flying, but there wasn't enough for me. The movie sank like a stone under its unfortunate (and unnecessary) solemnity. The S may stand for hope on Krypton, but everyone in the movie walked around like they were in some kind of weird mumblecore/apocalypse mashup.
- Oh my god, can we stop with the Jesus parallels? (no pun intended.) He's Moses in the basket, not Jesus on the cross.
- While I liked the flashbacks to his childhood (and the brief glimpse of Lana we saw), I'm not sure the wandering in the wilderness until he's 33 thing (see what they did there? huh? huh? get it? sigh.) really worked, because it means he's basically a cipher. He wants to help people but he's torn by the fact that people hate and fear the unknown/what's different etc. etc. so he doesn't come out publicly as a hero until he's forced to? I kind of don't love that. (Otoh, if they really wanted this to be a shared universe, there could have been some mention of that Bat guy over in Gotham and isn't that just nuts? etc. etc. And that could have been some kind of catalyst too - if a weird guy in a batsuit can fight bad guys, can't he go around saving people? Maybe with a mask on, since he doesn't get the suit until he finds the scout ship.) I mean, I get that he needs to have flaws, but I also get that choosing to do the right thing (and figuring out what exactly that is) and choosing to help are hard things to do consistently and repeatedly, especially in the face of someone you love/respect telling you maybe you shouldn't expose yourself like that, because the consequences won't just redound on you. And especially when you're powerful enough to flatten anyone who gets in your way.
Part of what makes Superman so fascinating is that he's the exception to "power corrupts." (Please take it as read that with great power comes great responsibility.) But not because he's some shining god who can't make mistakes or feel fear or whatever. The movie got at this a little when wee!Clark is being bullied and Jonathan asks, "Did they hurt you?" and Clark says, "You know they can't." and Jonathan replies, "I meant, are you all right?" Because even if he can't be hurt physically, he can be emotionally. his fear is of being different, being rejected, which is different from the fear Lois faces and fights through as she badasses her way around the Kryptonian ship and then later with preparing the pod to be launched, but is still hurtful and has to be dealt with/overcome.
- I basically tuned out as soon as the big fighting at the end started. I could barely stop yawning. There was too much in those scenes that was a rehash of other superhero movies. While I thought the whole "terraforming the Earth to be more like Krypton" thing was pretty cool as supervillain plots go (though you think they would have stopped it once they realized they could be as, um, supermen once they got used to the earth's atmosphere), the visual of it was too like STXI, with the giant drill ships. Superman facing off against the Kryptonians on the main street of Smallville was too like Thor facing the Destroyer in Thor. Lois falling away from the black hole as it closed in on itself was too much like Iron Man falling through the portal in Avengers. Also, it all looked like a video game; too much CGI and not real at all.
- YOU ARE SUPERMAN. TAKE THE FIGHT UP INTO SPACE INSTEAD OF DESTROYING METROPOLIS AROUND YOU. Oh my god, when that woman stood up and said, "You saved us!" in the middle of the flattened city, I was like, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Guys, I am really tired of seeing cities leveled for entertainment.
- Lastly, so Faora gets sent to the Phantom Zone in a frozen pod as punishment, but she gets to bring her lipstick? (Her lipstick was awesome, but once L. pointed that out, I was like, So...she took that to the Phantom Zone with her? SORRY.)
So, uh, yeah. I was disappointed. I kind of knew that I would be going in, but it still makes me sad. As always, I'm surprised by how many feelings I have about Superman. #DC LOOK AT YOUR LIFE. LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/577906.html.
people have commented there.