RED (2010)

 "Wow, this is just like Love Savage's Secret."- Sarah Ross

What's Spider-Pig doing there?

Directed by German director, Robert Schwentke, RED tells the story of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a retired black ops CIA agent, trying to lead a normal life when he and other ex-agent members are being targeted due to their ties to a secret mission in Guatemala. Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker), a customer service agent who works for the GSA pension office in Kansas City, gets dragged along when Frank needs to find the other retired agents members involved in this mission; Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), Victoria Winters (Helen Mirren), while being pursued by CIA agent William Cooper (Karl Urban).

She brought a lot of class in this.

This is one of those movies where you just need to relax, don't do so much thinking and just enjoy the ride. With its tongue in cheek moments and action filled sequences, it's definitely an enjoyable film but as an audience, you begin to forget the peril and threat that these guys have to go through. I can only spot two scenes when there's some serious mood to it and felt that they're out of place in the whole film. The first being the part when one of the team member had to sacrifice himself in order for the rest to escape and the other one was when Cooper was on the phone with Frank and realized that his family is in danger. But those scene passed on and the consequences were dealt with very quickly, and we're back to more of the less serious moments and over the top action.

One of those cheesy over the top moments... Marvin facing a bazooka girl with only a revolver.

Guess the size of your gun doesn't matter.

As for its pacing, it's a lot slower in the beginning, taking time to build up the film and introduces Frank's character. It's perhaps I've watched this movie after watching the sequel, which was a lot more quicker in its pace. Also, unlike the second, the first half focuses on Frank and Sarah's story as the film then builds up to a more team focus movie, which makes up the second half. Bruce Willis' Frank Moses in this movie, feels a bit more serious compares to the second, there's less one liners during action sequences and he doesn't kid around very much. It's especially evident when he calls up Cooper and threatens to harm his family if the CIA ever does anything to Sarah. Not very John McClane in this one, but Bruce is still a great guy in his movies.

 Bruce has some solid Kung Fu moves for getting in and out of spinning cars.

As for the other cast members, they played their roles very well. John Malkovich's Marvin Boggs was really hilarious and goofy with his conspiracy paranoia character. Helen Mirren's Victoria Winters was really impressive, she carried herself in a very queenly manner and certainly stole the limelight when this lady gets behind a huge machine gun. Morgan Freeman's Joe Matheson doesn't have as much screen time as the rest and he doesn't do as much. But Morgan, as usual, has his charm and charisma and much of it would be from his voice. Apart from the background story being mention in his conversation with Frank, I find it hard to believe Joe is in the same league as the other team members. Morgan could possibly play as a retired jazz singer, but I find it less convincing that his character was once a superb CIA black ops agent. Now, maybe if you got him to fire a bazooka or a mini-gun...

Morgan Freeman is about to narrate this guy's torture.

Action wise, it's not bad. Some things were really over the top, especially the scene at the Mobile Terminal yard... Marvin got some crazy moves, but that's okay for this sort of film. I particularly like the fight between Cooper and Frank, both of them took plenty of beating from one another and it's good to see there's some blood on them after a nasty fight like that. There were also moments that was written really smart, the one that got me was how Frank got out of the CIA building by means of a fireman and how Sarah uses her wits after she clumsily dropped Frank's contact lens. I didn't see that one coming. As for the twist in the end, although I didn't expect it, there was no real shocker. For starters, I wasn't even concern over the mystery aspect of the plot. I just couldn't take that one seriously when so much of the action, lines and story was already light hearted and not taking itself seriously. So, the unveiling of the twist and who's the mastermind behind everything was just not as thrilling as expected.

Things get bloody between John McClane and Judge Dredd

What's to enjoy from this movie is really the action comedy of it, and to see our beloved actors and actresses on screen. The story is not compelling or engaging, but the action scenes are enjoyable and the characters were fun to watch. Compare to its sequel, I can't say which I like better. The slightly more serious Frank Moses came off a little better for this one, but I still love the tongue in cheek John McClane-y Frank Moses in the second one, and the second one has the action scenes and its comedy rammed up to the next level. But overall, both are enjoyable movies and the cast are a joy to watch. I would give this one a 7 out of 10 pink Pigs with grenade launchers in them.

Click below to watch the trailer

Guess the party's over now...

Imaginaerum (2012)

"I'll hope to hear the chords played again one day. Without them I'm lost in this nothingness."

A Finnish-Canadian film, directed and co-written by Storbe Harju as well as being developed and features the music band, Nightwish. Imaginaerum is a fantasy-musical film that tells the story of a 75 year old former musician, Thomas Whitman, who suffers from Dementia. After suffering a stroke and lying unconscious on the hospital bed, his estranged daughter begins to discover more about her father's life through series of written lyrics he kept in his safe. We also enter into Thomas' mind, a dream like fantasy world, as he tries to recall the events in his past as well as trying to recover memories most precious to him.

Follow the white rabbit?

This is perhaps the most interesting film I've seen. It's a rather unique film that blends art and music. It feels very much like a piece of an artwork or a poetry that's meant to bring out the aesthetic side of you and spur emotions and brings out a message to the audience. It has a theme reminiscence of the Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland, but it also conveys a message on life and death and holding on to what's most precious in life. There's also inspiration from Tim Burton's work, especially that of the design of the snowman, which is very similar to Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas. The cinematography is brilliant, the scene works out like an artist canvas with the artist using the variety of colours to bring meaning to the art he's painting. Full of symbolism and imagery, that I don't think I'll ever get to fully understand what's going on at times. But I must say, it's a beautiful piece of artwork that gives you something to contemplate on.

There's a lot of symbolism and imagery with hidden meaning throughout the film.

Even the colours used has a meaning behind them.

 Sometimes, it feels like the film plays out like a really long music video. It showcased the music from the symphonic metal band, Nightwish. The music is just as important as the cinematography. There's a lot of meaning behind the lyrics which brings depth to what's portraying on scene. I bet a musician or a Nightwish fan or even a film student can appreciate and understand the meaning behind all of it. But I for one is left very intrigue of its meaning but not really up to analyzing everything. However, I really enjoyed the music. It's not only beautiful, but emotional and really brings out a lot of character to the scene.

This film is dedicated solely for Nightwish fans

 As far as the acting goes, it's just sub-par. But it's not very bad that it's a distraction, it works just enough to tell the story. There were scenes that features the band singing and playing. And if you're a Nightwish fan, you'll be happy to see Tuomas Holopainen had a significant role in the film. However, he doesn't do much acting in it. He also co-written the story and I'm curious if the story of Thomas had borrow elements from Tuomas' life story. As for the visual effects, I'm impressed by it. It's not as elaborate as Tim Burton's world, and like the acting, it's good enough to carry out the story without being a distraction.

There's a lot more going on in this film. You have to watch it several times to get a better understanding.

This one is quite cool. It shows how something in Thomas' past affects the events later in his life...

Inception Style

Overall, it feels to me like a very interesting artwork that blends cinematography, art and music. It would really appeals the aesthetic side of some people. There's just so much more to it with its music, lyrics, imagery and story, that if you take the time to watch several times, listen to the music, you'll be able to appreciate the beauty of the film to the fullest. But on face value, I find this film confusing at times and but very much intrigue, but it's not something I would watch if I want to be entertain or relax after a difficult day. But this film reminded me of a time when movies were all about art and not just a means for a money making in the film industry. I would give this an 3 out of 10 princess Arabesque snowglobe.

When I heard this dude speak, I thought Steve Martin's Inspector Jacques Clouseau is behind the mask.

The Wolverine (2013)

"Eternity can be a curse. The losses you have had to suffer...

A man can run out of things to care for, lose his purpose."

Not when you're Wolverine...

Directed by James Mangold who previously directed Walk the Line, 3:10 To Yuma and Knight and Day, The Wolverine takes place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand and continues the story of  Logan (Hugh Jackman), famously known as Wolverine, the mutant with Adamantium claws and healing abilites, rendering him immortal. Trying to move on from his past and living in the wild, a Japanese girl named Yukio (Rila Fukushima) was sent to bring him back to Japan at the orders of an old friend, Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi) whom Logan save during his time in Japan back in World War II. Now, the head of a multinational technology corporation but old and closing on to death, Yashida gives Logan a chance to reverse his healing abilities and become mortal. When his friend Yashida finally dies, his corporation and his daughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto) and including Logan's life comes under threat from the Yakuza clan and even from within the corporation.

 I know she's a Japanese and all, but she still look a lot out of place in Japan as well.

Too often a comic book movie requires the hero to stop worldwide calamity, the smaller scope and the personal story works really well with this film. There's certainly a good story to tell when he's not only being an outsider as a mutant, but as a stranger in a very different world. What's more, he is made vulnerable when he loses his healing abilities and may actually have the potential to meet death. The story is conveyed rather well but not to its fullest potential. When the news of the next Wolverine sequel will take place in Japan and talks about him having to fight Samurai and ninjas, especially as showcased in the trailers that he will lose his healing abilities. I was thinking we could actually have a Wolverine movie that will truly unleashed him, but sad to say he still tamed and very much emotionally attach to his women and still very much a gentleman as in Origins: Wolverine. But compare to Origins, this is a much better movie and a story to tell. When I mentioned of not hitting to the fullest potential, I was referring to the character development of Logan, there's really not much there. I guess that's fine for Wolverine since he had lived for a long time and I think his character should be fully formed by now. But then again, don't you think there's something for him to learn or think about after being for the first time, vulnerable. Well, bub... apparently not.

I've always wanted Hugh Jackman to put on the yellow/brown and black spandex.

I thought this is a good opportunity to put him in a Samurai armor of brown and black.

But I'm guessing him going topless is not only cheap but marketable.

I'm actually glad they showcased Japan culture rather well, especially the mention of the ill-mannered act of Logan stabbing his chopsticks into his rice bowl. Japan is so full of culture and honour that having an uncultured and disrespectful person like Wolverine there, you expect more than blades to clash. It comes of a little humourous at times, especially seeing him being violated by the bath maids or him struggling with manners at a funeral. Despite showcasing the Japan culture, I think it's a little over the top when they start bringing in ninjas into the picture, especially when you bring them in overwhelming numbers and do unnecessary flips now and then. But having Wolverine come face to face with the warriors in black was really cool especially when they had to overkill him in order to bring him down.

I love it when they showcased Japanese culture properly.

I think the last time they did something like this was in The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise.

Hugh Jackman once again, played his version of Wolverine excellently. I don't think I can carry on life if they ever recast Wolverine with another actor. As for the other cast, they played their roles well, including Rika Fukushima as Yokio. Although a little over the top, but I'm impressed that she gets all teary eyed when foretelling Logan of his doom. I must say the Japanese cast did a superb job in their roles, even their delivery of their English lines didn't come off too bad either. Not perfect, but not bad. I'm glad James Mangold retained the Japanese language in the film and uses English subtitles for the audience. It brought not only authenticity to the scenes but I can clearly tell the Japanese cast were so much more natural in their performance using their mother tongue. Now, I'm surprise at the significant role and screen time of the deceased Jean Grey had to be in, played by returning cast member, Famke Janssen. I thought she's going to be in one or two flashbacks, but apparently she's haunting Logan much like the way Mal intercepts Cobb's dream in Inception. But ultimately, I'm very well pleased with a former X-Men star returning to their roles on screen... I'm especially excited that at the end of the film, she's not the only one reprising her role...

As of now, I can't think of anyone who can play Wolverine other than Hugh Jackman.

Like Robert Downey Jr to Iron Man, he certainly owns this role.

As for the action scenes, the spotlight goes to the fight on top of the bullet train going 300mph. That was really exciting and humorous at one point when Wolverine had to use his wits to dispatch his enemy. As for his duel with Shingen Yashida in his Samurai armor, the Samurai blade and Wolverine's claws clashing were really impressive to watch but failed to engage me as an audience, primarily because Wolverine is no longer facing a threat. But as for the final fight with the Silver Samurai, he is clearly facing a threat, that for once his Adamantium steel is no match. The scene was really cool to watch but then again came off a little short and a little cliche. The final reveal of who is behind the Silver Samurai mask was actually predictable, especially since when Yukio mentioned a certain foresight that didn't come true. I was half-expecting the "predictability" would not come true when I saw the Samurai's head lobed off and I almost thought it was a robot, but it's good to know that the size of the armor is way bigger for a man to be in. If that didn't come true, I would end up scratching my head over the initially mysterious and confusing plot. The first two third of the movie does feel really unique on its own, but when Logan is brought into the lab it begins to feel a lot more like a generic comic book movie. It almost reminded me of the lab in the final scene of Origins, including the unleashing of the Silver Samurai is somewhat mirrors the unleashing of Deadpool as a final boss fight.

At least it ain't Deadpool

If you're into the comic book movies, you should know by now to STAY BACK for the POST-CREDIT scene. This is perhaps the best Post-credit scene I have ever seen, and should be modeled after by other comic book movies. It teased the upcoming movie, X-Men: Days of Future's Past. We've got enough of Wolverine's solo outings and it's about time he got back into the original team. I would give this an 8.5 out of 10 Adamantium Claws.

Click below to view the trailer.

Hugh Jackman as Jesus in the near future, maybe?

UPDATE: You know how I've always wanted Hugh Jackman to don the classic yellow/brown and black suit before he retires from this role. Well, there was a scene that completely cut which actually shows Yokio giving Logan a suit case with the iconic suit inside. Why would they cut this out?! Why?! Click below to view the alternate closing scene.

Turbo (2013)

 "Everybody’s got that one thing that makes them happy. For me, it’s terrifying blazing speed."- Theo

There's more to life than these, right?

From DreamWorks Animation studio that brought you Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon, comes a story about an ordinary garden snail named Theo (Ryan Reynolds), who had an extraordinary dream of becoming the fastest snail in the world. He had his dream finally comes true when a freak accident occur after he gets sucked into a racing car engine that uses Nitric Oxide. Now, super-powered with an amazing speed and renaming himself, Turbo, he tries to enter into the IndianaPolis 500 Racing tournament despite his brother Chet (Paul Giamatti) warning Theo that he could be killed. He finally finds help from a Taco truck driver, Tito (Michael Pena) and his friends at a run down strip mall, which includes a group of racing snails led by Whiplash (Samuel L Jackson), to enter him into the race which allows Turbo a chance to compete with his idol, Guy Gagne (Bill Harder).

I feel the need... the need for SPEED!

This movie uses the same premise as Pixar's Ratatouille where we have a certain theme going; in Ratatouille, it's all about cooking, and in Turbo, it's about racing, and we have our main character be in a completely disadvantage and unlikely to be in; Ratatouille: a rat, the disease carrying creature you wouldn't want to be preparing your food, and Turbo: a snail, the slowest animal on the planet that you wouldn't expect to be racing Formula one style. I mean, you even got Ratatouille's Remy and Turbo's Theo getting inspiration from their TV idols. The tables are then turned when events around our main character gives them a chance to fulfill their unlikely dream. There's also an element of the development in the relationship between the brother Theo and Chet which reminded me of the two gay shrimps from Happy Feet 2, where you got both of them going against each other and then have them dragged on into an adventure which later convinces the partner to realize there's more to their mundane and boring species' life, be it snails or shrimps.

Going all hyper-drive and warp speed

It's a no brainer that the snails stole the limelight. The snail characters were really hilarious and fun to watch. They even seem to know what they're doing compared to the humans and felt more like a SWAT team at times. Particularly, Samuel L Jackson's snail, Whiplash the leader of the crew. I loved his line about pretending not to hear what he just heard. It reminded me a lot of Sam's popular line from Pulp Fiction, "Say what again.. I dare you! I double dare you!"  The voice acting ain't that bad either. Ryan Reynolds did a brilliant job. His character had some charm to him. I really felt for Theo with his job at rotten tomatoes and his dream to race. Ryan nailed the snail perfectly. Design wise, the snails are really cute with their somewhat simplistic design and their big googly eyes and cute little whirly curly shells. I particularly like the cute snail animation, their snail movement through contracting and expanding their slimy muscular body and using their eyes like hands, banging on stuff, is quite cute and humorous. The design on the snail's racing shells were not that bad either. I quite like when they finally got the bill paid and they got higher ends parts and goes all transformers.

Don't you think it's a little racist to have Samuel L Jackson's snail all black? He's still cool by the way.

However, I can't say the same to the human characters. They weren't given as much attention as the snails. Not only their design were boring and less developed, with the exception for Guy Gagne, he did look like a caricature of stereotype Formula One racer. Many of the human characters do come off as somewhat annoying, especially Tito. Even the kid who recorded Turbo's race on the track was really annoying with his footage being repeated played and then autotuned. Not sure if the studio is expecting it to be a viral video by doing that, but it's downright annoying and nowhere close to being a double rainbow or Bed intruder. At the end of the film, the success of our human characters having the strip mall become a major attraction and had major success in their business was somewhat predictable and cliche. I was much happier with Theo achieving his dream than for our human characters having successful business.

Wait.. there's humans in this film?

The story was somewhat predictable. Apart from the racing scenes which felt a little bit more exciting, I was actually a little bored in the first 3/4 of the movie. I think this is because the concept had been used before as explained above. I just knew he was going to use his new superspeed powers to win the race and get his dream to come true. So, I wasn't really engage to the whole story until he loses his powers in the race. That's when you really begin to root for him when he's vulnerable and back to his snail limitation. Overall, this predictable plot has good character development and had some heart to it. I think this film would appeal more for children than adults, particularly boys. I would give this movie a 6 out of 10 Big Reds!

Click below to go TURBO drive into the trailer!

 Don't you think that energy drink has some salt content that could kill him?

RED 2 (2013)

"It's important to enjoy life while you still can." - Victoria

Directed by Dean Parisot who previously directed Fun with Dick and Jane, and Galaxy Quest, RED 2 continues on the story of Ex CIA Black ops agent, Frank Moses (Bruce Willis). Frank is trying to lead a normal life with his girlfriend, Sarah Ross (Mary Louise-Parker) when he is called back into action by his friend Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich). Due to his Frank ties with the Cold War operation known as Operation Nightshade, Frank is being chased after by his ex-girlfriend and russian aggent, Katya (Catherine Zeta Jones) and by an American agent, Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) who hired contract killer, Han Jo-Bae (Lee Byung Hun). Frank had to reunite his old team to track down Dr. Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant physicist and the creator of the bomb involved with the operation in order to find out what it's all about and put a stop to it.

Whoa! Spoilers ahead!

Well, I haven't yet watch the first one, RED released in 2010, so I'm going to review this as a standalone movie with no comparison to the first. Similar premise to the A-Team, The Losers and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, you got a team of professionally trained mercenaries/killer/soldiers/secret agents and for some whatever reason, gets a target on their head by their own country and then had to go out to save the world, and erase their name from the wanted list. In this case, these guys are Ex-CIA black ops agents. So there's really no originality in terms of the premises. What I've learned and understand is that this movie is adapted from a DC comic book, and like "The Losers", Hollywood manage to mess up its adaptation, because it's nothing like the original comic book. However, compared to ill-adapted "The Losers", this one is way cooler and I think, it could very well be on par with the A-Team in terms of its action comedy genre. So, I guess that's a plus point.

 Ah... it's good to see John McClane doing his thing.

I enjoy the relationship between the characters. Even this odd moment.

Well, seeing Bruce Willis does his John McClane thing never fail to impress me. Like McClane, he has his charm in delivering his one liners and it's always nice to see him use his wits to get out of trouble, no matter how outrageous and impossible it turns out. The action is good and there were plenty of hilarious moments, especially seeing Sarah and Frank trying to get even with one another, as well as try to get their relationship to work in the midst of gun-firing action, car chase and a bomb threat going. As for the others, each character is essentially crafted well and unique on its own and their relationship, including their banter with one another were well written and really enjoyable to watch, which is a good thing for a team based movie. Apart from Bruce Willis, I particularly like the way Anthony Hopkins played his character really well and referring to the twist of his villainy side, to quote his character line, "I didn't see that one coming," but I certainly saw his demise coming. Somehow that trick to leave the enemy's weapon with the enemy and trying to fool the audience into thinking that our hero failed to save the day, it has been done plenty of times before. I mean, James Bond foiled the airplane terrorist plot with the same trick in Casino Royale.

 I didn't see that one coming...

Well, this film doesn't take itself seriously, and should be enjoyed as such. Sometimes, I feel there were moments that are downright silly. Because I was going "what?!" when our ruthless Korean contract killer, Han Jo-Bae had a change of heart in a jiffy. I would think if you're good in this assassination game and had years of experience, you would have developed a cold heart, because Han certainly showcased it when he quickly assassinated the dude in the beginning without a second thought. But then again, for a guy like him who's kills his target swiftly, silently and deadly with a piece of origami, I'm surprised he degraded to a typical Hollywood killer when he appeared next with a big mini gun. I think he would have gotten his job done with either a sniper rifle in the distance or even an origami up close or even he can also use his killer body to do some kung fu and take down Frank (Puns intended. His killer body certainly made some girls hyperventilate in the cinema). Then again, it's just a movie. Nobody would ask how in the world our characters got the time and money to shop in Paris when there's a deadly bomb plot going on, or how can they easily go globe trotting without being notice by the immigration that they're wanted people. I mean, weren't they deemed something like a group of nuclear terrorists by the Interpol?

 Big guns do not proportionate to the how deadly an assassin is.

Plenty of cool action and hilarious moments, the relationship and banter between the characters, especially that of Frank and Sarah, were really fun and enjoyable. Despite the silliness at times, it's a good summer, light-hearted, action comedy, team based movie. Am not disappointed at all. I would give this movie a 7.5 out of 10 deadly nerve gas. Guess I better start picking up the first movie and watch.

(click below to watch the trailer)

"What happens in Kremlin, stays in the Kremlin."

This whole sequence reminds me a lot of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

How to Fix Man of Steel (Part 2)

A better story arc for Lois Lane
Man of Steel's Lois Lane may be one of the most boring Lois Lane in Superman's history. She played very little role in the film and in some scenes, I believe, she is forcibly put into them to give her more screen time. There was no reason for her to be taken captive into Zod's ship and no reason for her to be on board the military plane during the mission to crash Superman's baby ship into Zod's ship, especially when she had already told the general and Supes; how to already carry out the plan. She just met Clark within 24 hours and their kissing scene and relationship felt way too rushed. I am particularly disappointed with the way Superman first met Lois Lane. In the past, it has always been an iconic moment of how Superman first meets Lois Lane. Much of the time, this happens when Superman is doing a big heroic save. In the original movie, his heroic save at the Daily Planet is not only his first public appearance to the world but also his first meeting with Lois Lane as Superman. In Superman Returns, it was the airplane save that reintroduces Superman to the world and to Lois Lane. If anything, let it be iconic! I don't see how the first meeting of Clark and Lois, with her being injured and Clark had to cauterize her wound is any epic or remotely interesting.

 "Hey, I just met you... Here's my number, so- Screw it! Kiss me already!"

Lois and Clark's relationship felt more rushed than the Smallville's version.

Being an iconic and important character in Superman's comic book history, Lois Lane deserves a way better story arc than what she has in Man of Steel. She felt more like a side character in Man of Steel than actually being part of the main line up of characters. In previous incarnation, I always felt she is particularly useful in introducing Clark around the Daily Planet and in their line of news reporting, and maybe even more interesting would be to have a bit of rivalry between them. Even a love triangle between Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Superman would be an interesting story to tell. It almost worked in the Smallville TV series and in the movie, Superman 4. However, that only works if you have Lois Lane not realizing that Supes and Clark are one and the same. And this would work only if you have Clark disguised and working in the Daily Planet early on in the movie. So, what can you do with Lois Lane in Man of Steel before Clark begins to work in the Daily Planet? I guess only her reporting skills can be of good use for her and for the audience to find out more about Superman's background and powers. I guess the only part I did like with Man of Steel's Lois Lane was when she does her digging to look out for her mystery man. "How, do you find someone who has
spent a lifetime covering his tracks... For some he was a guardian angel... For others a cypher, a ghost who never quite fit in."

A reporter with no military training on a mission that's potentially suicidal. That's real smart, Lois.

Superman's First Public Appearance

Superman's First Public appearance is a key moment in Superman's Year One story. Once again, in most incarnation of Superman's origin story. Once you dealt with Clark discovering who he is and what's his purpose here on Earth, all eyes are now turned to how he's going to step out and present himself to the world. In the past, we've got him saving Lois Lane from plummeting down to her doom and stopped a helicopter from crashing to the crowd below, and all eyes, camera and media are on him as he makes the heroic save. In Superman Returns, he is reintroduced to the world when he rescued an airplane from crashing, and got a lot of spotlight when he brought it down in a stadium full of people, and the Smallville TV series finale, he finally stepped out into the world and pushed back an entire planet from bringing certain doom to the world. In Man of Steel however, he lacklusterly showed up to surrender.

In the original movie, he got to the chopper.

 In Returns, he rescued an airliner.

In Smallville, he saves the Air Force One and pushed an entire planet away.

In Man of Steel, he... surrenders...

What can you do instead? Give Superman his big heroic save! Ram up the scale and make it even more epic than the one seen in Superman Returns! If you want to continue down the theme used in Man of Steel of whether the world is ready for a super-powered alien like him. Have the public reaction to his save a mixed bag. After all, this is something that the world have never seen before. Realistically, some would react with fear of the discovery of the likes like him and some would be cheering for a hero. Have the military then try to contain him in fear that he will act "against America's interest", and make Superman realized that maybe his adopted dad is right all along, the world isn't ready for him. You can then have Lois Lane interviewing him and publishing an article to try to put the public's fear at rest ("Why the world needs Superman" article, anyone?) and have her to continue rooting for him and supporting him even when the world is very much against him. This makes more sense in building up a good relationship between them and make this conversation a whole lot more sense:

 

 

 Superman: Thank you.
Lois Lane: For what?
Superman: For believing in me.
Lois Lane: Didn't make much difference in the end.
Superman: It did to me.

Simplify the plot

I actually love it that the film showed us more of Krypton and more of its background is told in Man of Steel compared to the Richard Donner's film. But there's just too much detail for this fan boy to follow and too many figure of speech for me to comprehend. I don't get what it means for the Codex as being the hope and future of Krypton. I didn't get it as to why Jor-El wanted that to survive with Clark.. not with.. IN CLARK! What's with the whole establishment of artificial population control and Kryptonian's birth being in a pod and having their role in society predetermine? How does that factors in to Clark being different, being born of a natural birth and his attributes not predetermined by the Codex. The Codex, if i understood it correctly, is something like a registry of sorts, that plays out more like a genetic store which help creates those Kryptonian babies and somehow it will also work out which role they'll play in the society. Did a bit of researching, it's also known as the Growth Codex or Registry of Citizens Codex. So, how is that Krypton's hope and future? Why does Jor-El wanted the survival of the Codex by putting it in Clark's living cells? Why even tell Clark much later about it, explaining him that he first wanted Clark to know what it means to be human first, that one day he'll be the bridge between two worlds. Blah.. Blah.. Blah.. Say what?! I don't know how all these factor into the main storyline, and even if  it does... say, you wanted the purpose of the Codex to give Zod a reason to go after Superman in order to get his hands on it. Well, Superman is already a stumbling block to Zod's plan to establish a New Krypton which will result in the destruction of planet Earth, that's a good enough reason to have Zod squash Superman. So, just KISS (Keep It Simple and Stupid). If they want to build a background for the fans to enjoy, why not use the ones established in the comics? Fans would enjoy a little tease here and there, than to try to crack their heads to understand what's going on.

Really Bring Hope
When you hear Clark tell Lois, "It's not an S. In my world, it stands for Hope," and Jor-El telling Clark that, "You will give the people 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. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders" as well as "You can save her. You can save them all." You have to ask yourself in what way is Clark a beacon of hope, an ideal to strive for or even a saviour to the world, when he had nothing to show for providing hope, only saved a handful of people when he had allowed thousands to die and what sort of an ideal example of a violent person who brutally punches villains before finally snapping Zod's neck. It all sounds good in words and lines but our Man of Steel failed in keeping them. If I could change things differently in Man Of Steel, let him does a big save as his first public reveal to the world but let the world react negatively to his actions, and prefers to be left alone and doesn't require any help. Superman respects their decision and leaves. When Zod and his army come to bring certain doom to the planet and the military failed at stopping him, when all hope seems lost, Supes comes to the rescue.

Have Superman do the smart thing to save the civilians before engaging Zod. Much of the fight in Man of Steel had him causing so much destruction and lives at the expense of bringing down the baddies. I would think he would be smart and take the fight to some place else or at least make some effort to save people during the destruction. Superman 2 had him trying to rescue people while at the same time trying to deal with Zod and his henchmen. In the movie itself, the villains realising that harming the civilians could be a potential weakness for Superman and exploit it. This would force Superman to bring the fight to someplace else where there would be no collateral damage or casualties. And it would save the movie from a lot of haters bickering over the destruction caused and lives cost in the film. I understand that if you take the fight to a desert or to the ocean, the fight scenes would be boring. If that's the case, have the fight in Metropolis but have the civilians flee from the place as would a potential bombing or a terrorist attack were to occur there. In Man Of Steel, I didn't understand why the civilians have not evacuated at the sight of Zod's ship hovering over the city, especially when you already got a televised warning from Zod before hand and I had no idea why people are still seen hanging around during Superman and Zod one on one fight. One can argue that the people evacuated off screen but on my second viewing, yes, we were shown that civilians in the middle of a road traffic when Supes n Zod were brawling.

 "Let's save the day and not destroy the city."- said no Superhero ever

Reduce The Action

I felt the entire action scenes were too long and too dragged out. Especially when you thought it was all over after they got rid of the world engine, we were treated with a long showdown between Zod and Supes. Beginning with the Battle of Smallville, when Superman comes flying to Zod in full speed, grabbing his collar and repeatedly punching him in his face, while dragging him on the ground, into some buildings and finally into the Gas station, I was like all "YEA! WHOA! That's for messing with Superman!", but when we finally get him facing a final showdown with Zod... it was getting too tiring. I didn't feel the threat of having Zod finally mastering his senses, and ripping off his armor (he looks way better with his armor on). When he and Supes flying around, punching each other into buildings, it begins to feel like the face off between Neo and Smith in Matrix Revolutions. You just know, no matter how many punches they throw at each other, neither one of them is going to be remotely injured. So it really got boring after awhile and back to its resounding flat note of "meh". Trimming it down or pacing them out well would help a lot for the audience to take a breather.

Two superpowered men fighting...

It's Matrix Revolution all over again...

If Zack Synder kept his trademark slowmo, we could have seen Supes pull a punch like this.

Kill Zod?
I definitely am not the one who would advocate Superman killing Zod. Superman DOES not kill. Yes, he sometimes does so in previous incarnation.. rarely and it is never looked upon well on him. Some have argues that he had no choice, but I disagree. He could have easily burst into the speed of sound carrying Zod with him to space and deals with him there. He resorted to something like that in the animated movie, Superman: Doomsday, when he couldn't hold back Doomsday from killing civilians, with his last might, he brought him out to space and brought him down like a meteor impacting Earth. Now, I don't expect Supes to kill Zod that way, but I prefer him alive and somehow, one or another, lock him back into the Phantom Zone.

But.... if you must make Superman kill, at least build up to that moment. Have Zod tease Superman that he must break his "no-kill" rule before Superman realize he had no choice. Although, I still think that's not a good idea because if there's a hero that had been place in a position that should have resorted to killing, it would be Batman, because that's the whole scheme of Joker to Batman in the Dark Knight. It was Batman's no-kill rule that Joker wanted Batman to break and when the Joker thought he'd won when Batman tossed him down to his doom, he laughed with victory before realizing he got roped around his foot and pulled back up by Batman. Batman won by not killing. So, when you think Superman had a bad day and had no choice but to deal a bad hand, well.. I think Batman could laugh at him.

 Batman: I have one rule!

Joker: And that's the rule you're gonna have to break.

Superman: I did it! I broke the rule!

Brighten up the colour palette
Ever since the first publicity still photo was revealed, I was really unhappy with the dark and mute colours for Superman. More so when it comes to the stills from the film, the publicity shots for magazine and posters were actually not too bad. I understand this is Zack Synder's trademark. He does this to all of his comic book film. But Superman should stand proud with his red, blue and yellow. I didn't like the turquoise blue they used for Superman Returns. I felt that the animated series nailed his colour shades perfectly. In Man of Steel however, they've darken the blue so much that it's almost black, they muted the yellow so much it comes off looking looking like lighter shade of grey and the red is probably the only one surviving the filter. Even Superman and Lois' skin looks pale in most scenes. I actually love one particular fan edit/fan art where the fan not only brighten up the colours, but he also put back his red underwear, give him his curl and corrected the shield. That would have been the perfect Superman to me.

I still very much prefer the original look. It takes a Superman to wear his underwear on the outside.

Look how amazing Lois is before having the blood sucked out of her...

(you can compare these two photos)

Give Superman back his charm

If there's one thing I miss from Christopher Reeve's Superman is his charm. Man of Steel's Superman takes himself too seriously. He broods a lot! I think the only scene when things start to lighten up a bit is when he crashes the drone in front of the general and talk to him about convincing Washington about accepting him, and I believe the only light hearted moment would be the fan girl's line; "I think he's kinda hot." Facepalm...

I miss it when Superman could still smile and smirk, he gives friendly waves and is a perfect gentleman. He had so much confidence then. For goodness sake, give Superman back his heart and leave the brooding and emo-ing to Batman.

Dum.. dum.. dum...
Dum.. dee dee dee Dum...

I believe that's the lyrics to John William's Superman score.

Well, this is all wishful thinking. Man of Steel may not be the definitive and perfect Superman movie I've longed for but it still have its moments. The visual effects were great, some of the action were enjoyable, Krypton scenes were beautiful, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon and Russel Crowe felt perfect for their roles, Superman's flight scenes were brilliant and Hans Zimmer score was epic! I guess I'll just have to embrace with what we've got. It'll be a long time before a Superman reboot were to ever happen and I don't think the red underwear will ever come back. Let's hope Man of Steel 2 will be the definitive Superman movie we all been waiting for.

Oh wait... the follow up movie to this is going to be...

(Click on the photo below to watch How Man of Steel Should Have Ended)