Man Of Steel (2013)

"You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards.
They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall.
But in time, they will join you in the sun, Kal.
In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."-Jor-El

Man of Steel is a retelling of Superman's history and a reboot to Superman's cinema history. Directed by Zack Synder, starring Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. The story (as pretty much everybody knows by now) tells of how on a doomed planet Krypton, a wise scientist, Jor-El saved his son from destruction by sending him on a spaceship to planet Earth where he is adopted by a Kansas farmer, Jonathan Kent and his wife, Martha Kent. Named Clark Kent, the boy grows up and starts to manifest powers and abilities that made him a "freak" in school. Learning from his adopted father that he is an extra-terrestrial that came from the sky, Clark goes on a journey to find out who he was and what was his purpose to be here. Saving people here and there as he goes, getting various odd jobs and pretty much hiding himself from the world as advice by his dad. He soon finds a spaceship that could give him the answers that he's looking for. As he just discovered his origin, he soon learn that he is not the only one who had survived Krypton destruction, and they are not only coming for him but to establish a new krypton on Earth. Clark must don the super-cape and finally step out into the world and use his superpowers to save the people of this planet.

 WOOOOSHH!!

Spoilers from here on out!

I enjoyed the movie a lot! But as much as I enjoyed it, I was also somewhat disappointed with it. I'm a big Superman fan and this movie is NOT the definitive Superman's movie I was hoping it would be. I loved the idea of a reboot. I and many fans have been waiting too long for a next Superman movie after Superman Returns, especially when it has just returned from a long movie developmental hell, it went right back into another developmental hell. I personally like Superman Returns. It brought back my love for Superman that's hidden deep inside my inner child. But after we got two sequels of Batman Begins, Superman was nowhere to be found. It's only after The Dark Knight made a lot of money to the studio, did they decide to green lit a reboot to Superman movie history. So, yes, I was so happy that they were finally moving forward with a Superman movie...but what happened was that the studio started to" Dark-Knighten" Superman, make it dark, gritty... like Batman! Because, well... Batman made a lot of money. They also paid attention to what the critics and the audiences were complaining about in Superman Returns, which was pretty much "We want action! We want Superman to punch someone." So, the studio listened... and they rammed up the action to 300%  in the expense of good drama and story. Hence, we got this very battle fatigue film.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

What I did enjoy from this Superman's movie? Well, the beginning scenes on planet Krypton scene really roped me in. Krypton was just so much more alive and full of details, and I'm glad the movie invest a lot of time in Jor-El story and the destruction of Krypton. It reminded me of the first few episodes of Superman: The animated series where Jor-El took center stage in all of the action. It reminded me a lot of the beginning of  the original Superman movie, where we had Marlo Brando as Jor-El and the scene where he sents General Zod and his henchman...and hench-woman to the Phantom Zone which ultimately set them up as villains for the sequel. In Man of Steel, we also get General Zod and his henchmen and henchwoman pretty much being set up to be the villain for this movie in the same manner. I absolutely love the background story being written for these characters before Clark gets send off to Earth. But, I have one issue... What's with the Codex?! I don't know what's the big deal with that, was it to give a reason for Zod to go after Superman and kill him? I mean, Superman being an obstacle to Zod's plan to reestablish Krypton is a good enough reason. How does it serve a purpose for Jor-El? The whole thing about Clark being a bridge between two worlds? I like the fact that they give more background story to Jor-El, Zod and Krypton...but I would love it to be a lot simpler. There's just too much exposition for this fanboy to comprehend, much less the general audiences. Half way through the movie, when Jor-El's ghost appear to speak to Clark, everything to me is just became...blah blah blah blah blah...

"Kal-El, you won't understand this now.. you probably won't understand any of what I said later either..."

I understand a lot of people and writers have said that Superman is a difficult character to relate to, especially when he's not human and pretty much possesses God-like abilities. But I personally think that's not true. An origin story of Superman holds a lot of potential for character development, drama and good story telling. One of the things I really am disappointed with Man of Steel is how they failed to utilize Supes origin story to bring out good character development, drama and story-telling. Let the audience journey with Clark as he discovers who he is, properly flesh out how his adopted father and mother instill his moral values, let him make certain choices in his life from the relationship he had with the people around him and from his understanding that the world is in dire need for hope and in need of a protector. Let him choose to wear the cape and decide to use his powers for good... instead of being told by Jor-El what he must do. Instead, what I get from this movie is plainly just one thing happening after another. You know, he starts off going on a fishing trip, does a save at the oil rig inferno along the way, washed up on the beach and decides to work in a bar, then quits when he gets bullied. It's like "I'm just passing through here". They all came off rather flat. Only the flashbacks of his childhood tell a good story and how it factors heavily in his life.

Just passing through...

When fleshing out the origin story as well as the Year One story of Superman, I do expect to see several things: How he discovered his powers and how he reacted to them. How he reacted when he discovered that he's adopted and that he's an alien. How he gets the Superman suit and why he wears it. Why he gets his job in the Daily Planet and how and why he puts on the glasses. How he first met Lois Lane. How he first reveal himself to the world as Superman. What is his first heroic save? Who would be the first villain he will fight. How he meets his arch enemy, Lex Luthor. These questions/topics are answered variously from different origin story and year one stories when told repeatedly in the comic, TV shows and movies. So when I watched Man of Steel, these are some of the things I want to see being explored. I was rather disappointed with how they were written in Man of Steel...Not, rather.. I was very disappointed that I started tweaking and re-writting the whole origin story in my head. In the original movie, we had Superman revealing himself to the world and meeting Lois Lane for the first time when saving Lois Lane in the helicopter sequence on the Daily Planter building. In Superman Returns, the world is reintroduced to Superman when he saves an entire airplane and meets Lois Lane in the process. I think he even save an airliner in the animated series as well or was it stopping Lex's robotech suit in the hands of evil men? Both are still cool.... In the finale of the Smallville TV show, Supes reveals himself to the world by saving the Air Force One from plummeting down from the atmosohere and then he pushed away an entire freaking planet from demolishing Earth.. In Man of Steel, he is introduced to the world by surrendering himself to the military?! We get him meeting Lois Lane for the first time when Lois Lane needs to cauterize a wound inflicted from an accident caused by Lois Lane herself ?!. How is that remotely iconic or epic for a Superman movie or a Superhero movie for that matter? I mean, even Batman first showed up by taking down Carmine Falcone and his entire gang, and then tying Falcone up to a spotlight for the police to see. We even got Spiderman saving a bunch of cars from Lizard's destruction on the bridge, and finally rescuing a kid from plunging to his death from a falling car. What are you doing, Superman? Surrendering yourself?!! and getting handcuffed? Sigh.. With that being said and vented out... As for the introduction of the Clark Kent disguise, I love how movie ended on that note and it teased the bumbling daily Clark Kent with his specs on.

 If Superman had a seizure, they'll all be dead.

What do I think of this new Superman? I was really excited when he finally don the suit and stepped outside the "Fortress Of Solitude" to take his first flight. It was like... "Yeah! The moment we've all been waiting for! Superman!" But that's just me accepting and getting what the movie provides. I really miss his red underwear outside. That's what made him so iconic as Superman. Even if they do without any underwear, at least splash some red at his groin area to break up the blue. From an artist point of view, too much of the same shade of blue there, just felt like something is missing. Maybe even consider a darker shade of blue from waist down. I also missed the classic S symbol, although the new design ain't that bad. But we never really got a perfect classic S symbol in the movie. Each new actor that portrayed Superman had a different variation of the S symbol. But I particularly like how big the symbol across his chest, unlike the small one we had in Superman Returns. Colour wise, I hate it. Superman should wear his red, blue and yellow proudly. His blue has been dulled and darken so much, it's closed to looking like dark grey. His red and yellow has been muted that his yellow beginning to look like white and his red is barely surviving the colour filter. Even Superman's face looks pale in some scenes. I blame this on Zack Synder who love to use mute colours out of all his movie. How is Henry Cavill as Superman? Just so-so to me. I really miss the classic Superman where he still have a lot of charm and charisma, portrayed wonderfully by Christopher Reeve, and barely hitting it there when portrayed by Brandon Routh. Henry Cavill's Superman has zero charisma and zero charm, and maybe due to this dark, gritty, realistic direction, his Superman is mostly brooding, angry and too serious. The only moment where he's pretty much calm and a little more Supermanly was when he delivers his line during the conversation with the general after he crashed the expensive military drone. "I grew on Kansas, general. I'm as American as I can get...Well, general, I guess we'll just have to trust you." Now, all the fan girls go,"I think he's kinda hot."

I do miss John Williams' Superman theme. It's still perhaps the best Superman theme in history. However, as for Man of Steel, I personally love the soundtrack. Hans Zimmer did a great job in scoring this film. It felt so different from the previous themes we've heard in movies, animated series or TV series, yet you can tell it that it still does scream "Superman" but it's still very much unique in its way. He tastefully used simplistic notes to bring out the emotional elements of Clark's childhood flashbacks. His build up to his Superman's theme really brings out the excitement and a sense of power. I also feel there's an organic element to it. His "Arcade" theme played out in the background of Krypton really brings out the threat and suspense in the scene. Very creative and very well done. However, I only feel the music only stands out in the Krypton scene, his flashbacks, his flight scene and then finally the ending.

Lois and Clark...The forcibly written relationship in the midst of action and explosion.

And... ACTION! The second half of the movie is packed loads of actions. I was all "WOW" when he starts flying towards Zod, grabbing him, dragging him on the ground and repeatedly punching Zod's helmet before throwing him into several buildings and finally a gas station which emits a BIG EXPLOSION! That was the start of the non-stop action that not only leveled the small town of Smallville but also the city of Metropolis later in the movie. This is where I wholly agree with many critics out there. There's just so much destruction that we begin to wonder, why isn't Superman making effort to save the people around or take the fight to a place where there's no collateral damage. I still cannot forget a scene where Zod kicks an oil truck (bearing Lex Corp on it) towards Supes, and Supes just flew up and back down to avoid it, leaving the truck to crash into a building emitting a huge explosion behind him, and he doesn't even look back to see if that injured anyone along the way or in the building. Thousands and probably millions of people died off screen throughout the entire World Engine sequence and the final fight between Zod and Supes. Supes just kept on fighting Zod... I mean, after several punches to Zod's face and body, and Zod still comes back up to return the blows, doesn't Supes know that repeatedly punching Zod just isn't enough to bring him down? I, for one, gets bored after awhile. Even flying up to the Satellite (belonging to Wayne's) and trashing towards each other, what are the chances it even flies back down to Metropolis where they just came? Just when the supermen punches were beginning to bore me and i just wanted to get the story going... something happen, that just sparked my full attention..

 

Supes: If you love Chris Reeve's Superman so much, you can mourn for it!

Zod: Don't do this! STOP!

Supes: NEVER!

When Supes had Zod in a gridlock in his arm and Zod blasting his heat vision at a trapped civilians, I knew Supes in a position to decide if he was going to kill Zod or not. I was screaming in my heart, "Don't do it! Don't do it!" Superman never kills! Then, SNAP! Zod's neck get twisted... and he's dead. What was the writers thinking? What was Zack thinking? What was Goyer thinking?! Why do you even have to write Superman in that position? I mean even Batman gets to do his thing with his moral code of not killing people, and not even using guns. A lot of people have justified that Superman had no choice. I for one think that Superman should have mustered all his energy to sonic boom fly up and bring Zod up to space in order to bring them both away from civilians, then decide how to deal with Zod from up there. But sadly, the true fact and what is seen on screen is a dead body of Zod with his head on backwards, all from the handiwork of Superman. Yes, he let out a scream and felt some remorse over what he has done... but that's not good enough, Goyer... I think Supes' feeling the remorse over you writing him to do that.

 The ghost of all who died in Metropolis...That's right, Supes, you're responsible!

Before we get to the beautiful ending where we get a wonderful flashback of how his father got to actually catch a glimpse of the man Clark's going to grow up to be with the final closing scene where we get teased with the Daily Planet Clark Kent, the movie ultimately fails to recognize the damage and the destruction of the city and all the people that have died in the process. All was swept under the rug and was pretty much forgotten. At least, the Avengers had a series of television broadcasts reflecting on the aftermath of the alien invasion. Instead, in Man of Steel, we get him crashing a drone and then being told that "he's kinda hot" by a military personnel (Face-palm in effect...) Like fan girls need to be reminded of that. Is that the only light hearted moment in the entire movie? That's rather sad.

As with any comic book movies, the last thing that I was for, was THE AFTER CREDIT SCENE! I was so sure there's going to be one. Because... Marvel has done that in all its movie. Even Spiderman is doing that! It's like a little treat to loyal fans who stayed back and suffer through the long credits. I would think the Warner would have seen how fans loved it by now and incorporate something in this one. Have Batman show up? Teased a Justice League? But what did we get at the end? Nothing...

I'm the hero that Metropolis needs, but not the one it deserves.

Like I said in the beginning, I enjoyed the movie... Loved the Krypton scenes, loved the action, the visual effects... I especially love the flight scene... I personally love the soundtrack. But ultimately, I am disappointed with this movie overall because it failed in its story driven aspect and character development and the potential it had for an origin story. It just borrowed too many elements from Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, that it lost its potential to be a great and unique epic Superman movie or a comic book movie. Not the definitive Superman movie to me, but I'm keeping my finger cross for a good sequel. I give this movie a 7 out of 10 Wayne satellites falling out of orbit. Up, up and away!

So, what does the "S" stands for? Superman?

It's not an "S". In my world, it stands for hope... In my world, I am Hopeman!