Movie Review: Man of Steel
Hello new Superman. It's very nice to meet you. Like the suit!
I made a fairly big effort with Man of Steel, something I haven't done in awhile. I badgered a few friends I knew were keen to see it and we booked tickets for opening night and about 7 of us went to see Man of Steel on Friday. There were crowds and excited fans and it was quite engaging. I last experienced that with the Hobbit last year.
I must say I was incredible impressed with the world building, special effects and incredible story telling of the film. A re-envisioned Krypton (from the old movies) which was utterly beautiful and alien, right to a more indepth backstory and culture. The special effects were mindblowing and I am so glad I didn't see it in 3D because as it was the grandeur and scope of it all was awesome in 2D. It felt like a serious, honest artistic type film with flashbacks that built on the story and added meaning to everything, filling in the lives of the Kents and Clarks journey to this point in time. Everything about this movie as a film, appealed to me. The parallels between Jor-el and Jonathan Kent, Agency vs Destiny/Purpose. Just wow.
I personally didn't mind the changes the plot made to the Superman story itself i.e. Lois Lane finding out who he is even before officially meeting him. It felt right - that a smart investigative reporter would figure it all out and not be fooled by a pair of glasses. I sort of liked the more realistic feel of the story, how a modern society would react to the presence of aliens and Clark's worries about that. All of it felt 'real' from that perspective, especially for a comic that is so antiquated and well known.
But I had to really think about whether I liked it - as a comic book movie. People have asked me what I thought and I've said with real truth that it was great and I enjoyed it. But did I like it... as a comic book movie. I could see Christopher Nolan's hands all over it, whether that's fair to him or not, as he gave Clark Kent the same treatment he did for Bruce Wayne. Gave it the 'What if it was all real?'
So on that note, I don't think it ticked all my fan boxes. I enjoyed Avengers far more because that was a comic book movie to die for and awesome in everyway possible. Man of Steel is a great movie and I really liked it - but it felt more like an alien invasion movie than a comic book movie, which is maybe not a bad thing, but as a result I think it lost some of joy inherent in comic movies... the lightness of suspended reality. There were moments of humour, but they were far and few between, which is why it felt so Batmany. Batman is a dark, gritty comic, with elements of dark humour. Superman is the opposite - all light and truth and honour, the bright side of Batman's coin. There was just too much destruction, too much angst, too much 'eeek, the aliens are invading' for me to really say: Yeah, that was a great comic book movie.
It's just a great movie - LOL. *fangirl!shrug*
I made a fairly big effort with Man of Steel, something I haven't done in awhile. I badgered a few friends I knew were keen to see it and we booked tickets for opening night and about 7 of us went to see Man of Steel on Friday. There were crowds and excited fans and it was quite engaging. I last experienced that with the Hobbit last year.
I must say I was incredible impressed with the world building, special effects and incredible story telling of the film. A re-envisioned Krypton (from the old movies) which was utterly beautiful and alien, right to a more indepth backstory and culture. The special effects were mindblowing and I am so glad I didn't see it in 3D because as it was the grandeur and scope of it all was awesome in 2D. It felt like a serious, honest artistic type film with flashbacks that built on the story and added meaning to everything, filling in the lives of the Kents and Clarks journey to this point in time. Everything about this movie as a film, appealed to me. The parallels between Jor-el and Jonathan Kent, Agency vs Destiny/Purpose. Just wow.
I personally didn't mind the changes the plot made to the Superman story itself i.e. Lois Lane finding out who he is even before officially meeting him. It felt right - that a smart investigative reporter would figure it all out and not be fooled by a pair of glasses. I sort of liked the more realistic feel of the story, how a modern society would react to the presence of aliens and Clark's worries about that. All of it felt 'real' from that perspective, especially for a comic that is so antiquated and well known.
But I had to really think about whether I liked it - as a comic book movie. People have asked me what I thought and I've said with real truth that it was great and I enjoyed it. But did I like it... as a comic book movie. I could see Christopher Nolan's hands all over it, whether that's fair to him or not, as he gave Clark Kent the same treatment he did for Bruce Wayne. Gave it the 'What if it was all real?'
So on that note, I don't think it ticked all my fan boxes. I enjoyed Avengers far more because that was a comic book movie to die for and awesome in everyway possible. Man of Steel is a great movie and I really liked it - but it felt more like an alien invasion movie than a comic book movie, which is maybe not a bad thing, but as a result I think it lost some of joy inherent in comic movies... the lightness of suspended reality. There were moments of humour, but they were far and few between, which is why it felt so Batmany. Batman is a dark, gritty comic, with elements of dark humour. Superman is the opposite - all light and truth and honour, the bright side of Batman's coin. There was just too much destruction, too much angst, too much 'eeek, the aliens are invading' for me to really say: Yeah, that was a great comic book movie.
It's just a great movie - LOL. *fangirl!shrug*