'Man of Steel' IS an Excellent Movie!! MoS Appreciation!

[dupersuper]

Absolutely. Costner was fantastic in this movie.

His acting was fantastic, his character arc was...not.

MOS was the best Superman movie; contemporary and mature.

Well, dark and violent...

[Billy Batson]

His acting was fantastic, his character arc was...not.

[R0NIN]

His acting was fantastic, his character arc was...not.



Well, dark and violent...

Agreed 100%.

I won't say I loved the movie. I didn't in fact like a lot of it. But like others have said I love that they did showcase how powerful and frightening Superman/Kryptonians are. I love that they didn't forget to use Super speed for the fighting. When Faora just takes down his men and starts approaching Col. Hardy you get a real sense of just how powerful these guys are and how weak we are, and Chris Meloni killed that scene because you can really see how he quickly realizes all this and decides to pull the knife anyway, knowing it's going to be a futile attempt.

[The Beast]

His acting was fantastic, his character arc was...not.

Cliched? You're right, his Pa Kent was the most relatable I've seen so far. My wife gets choked up at three distinct spots during his performance as do I.

Well, dark and violent...

It's a sign of the times we live in, look on the bright side, it could have been a lot worse.



It's going to be a long wait till 2016...

[HowitzerJoe]

I like this movie. I just wish someone else was found for Lois Lane. I think Amy Adams is too old for the role. Olivia Wilde would have been perfect.

[Qwathings]

His acting was fantastic, his character arc was...not.

Really? I found it difficult to figure out what he was supposed to be feeling at certain times. Not all the time, but enough that it distracted me.

Well, dark and violent...

No, the "S" stands for hope.

[Monkey Genius]

I don't know about excellent, but it was very good. And I enjoyed it even more the second time around.

I also caught a piece of dialog that I missed the first time about Clark. He wasn't hired by the Daily Planet. He's a stringer for the Daily Planet. A freelance reporter who they may or may not buy work from. So his lack of a journalism background doesn't make that scene as implausible as I thought.

[Buried Alien]

His acting was fantastic, his character arc was...not.

This was the single biggest problem of the movie for me: I didn't like Jonathan Kent's characterization at all.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[RobinFan4880]

The story could have used quite a bit of tightening up, the ending could have been different and the sheer scale of collateral damage should have been curtailed (or give us a scene where Metropolis is being evacuated). The graphics were stunning. I love Henry Cavill but the script and directing really gave him nothing to work with (watch the Tudors, the guy is a solid actor), in that way I associate his portrayal with that of Ewan McGregor in Star Wars (i.e. excellent actor given a piece of poop to act with). Michael Shanon and Amy Adams are in the same boat. I felt the most compelling characters were Clark's two fathers. They had some of tyhe best scenes in the whole film and were given much meatier parts than one would necessarily expect.

One more thing, I felt like they either did too much religious stuff or not enough. They went to all the trouble to add some random priest to the story and then said random priest does not tell Superman about the story of Gethsemane? Seriously? That is 100% applicable to the situation Clark was in. It would have given him the courage to do the right thing. It ties in really well with Jor-El's entire spiel about being a paragon, an ideal for the whole of humanity to live up to. Jerry the comedian would run away. Elaine the magazine editor would run away. George the mid-level manager would run away. Not Jesus/Superman. He would do the right thing for the good of everyone on the planet. If you are going to include religious themes, then use the best ones you can that help drive the plot forward.

Regardless, it was a good first outing, a solid B-.

[kane]

The biggest problem I have with the film is that alle the death and destruction is connected to Superman. If not for him Zod would have not arrived on earth. Of course Clark is not responsible because he was sent to earth as a baby, but still his existence caused hundreds of thousands of dead and injured and hundreds of billions dollars of damages. So why should people in the movie dcu cheer for him?

[Kensei]

I agree- "Man of Steel" is an excellent movie. I love it, it's awesome, I've rewatched it many times. And I love the first two Christopher Reeve films too, but they have to be taken in perspective. It was the 70s and special effects were what they were then. The shark in "Jaws," though clearly fake, looked just real enough to be scary and it was a great classic movie. If that were to be remade now the shark would look terrifyingly real, yet the movie probably wouldn't be as good as the original. Similarly, we had Superman battling Zod, Ursa, and Non- all beings with unimaginable strength. Yet just think back to how those fights played out. Underwhelming to say the least, considering the potential. Superman and Zod grapple with each other on top of a car like two ordinary humans. Superman grabs Zod by one arm and one leg and throws him into a Coca-Cola sign. Big shower of sparks. Ursa and Non lift a bus and throw it at fairly slow speed at Superman. That was the level of spectacle we got back then. Don't get me wrong- in the end whenever I watch Supes fake Zod out and crush his hand and toss him into the ice pit I still think it's awesome and it makes a big old grin appear on my face. But "Man of Steel," with its modern FX, shows the true extent of what it would look like if beings with that level of strength were to come to blows. The earth would tremble.

The Krypton sequences in both the old and new versions are similarly compared. I'm not about to put down Marlon Brando, one of the finest actors of all time. But in "Man of Steel" the sending forth of Kal-El was so much more developed, both practically and emotionally. Jor-El got to fight in MOS and really kicked butt before he died, and whereas in the earlier films Lara just kind of stood by, in MOS she was a fascinatingly compelling character who can make you shed tears if you really get invested in the way she emotes her feelings. I have a special liking for how the destruction of Krypton looked back in the 70s because it is a red fireball that slowly turns green, showing the creation of kyptonite. But I think the way it looked in "Man of Steel"- more of an implosion than an explosion because the core was collapsing- was more realistic.

That said, I know the movie is not perfect but I think the flaws are all fairly slight. Whenever I watch Jonathan's death by tornado scene, when he holds up his hand to tell Clark no, do not use your super speed to rescue me- couldn't Clark have at least run out there at regular human speed and made an attempt to rescue him that way? He knew he had nothing to fear from the twister. Also, the way it's been set up I think Clark not being outed as being Superman requires a huge suspension of disbelief, but it's a movieverse so I am willing to do that. The little exchange he and Lois have when they have their first kiss- "I think that only counts when you're kissing a human"- reminds me of the line in "Speed" when Sandra Bullock said to Keanu Reeves "Oh, ok, we'll have to base it on sex then." And so many people complain about the level of destruction to Metropolis caused by Superman fighting Zod. But that's not really what happened. They did do a small amount of damage to a few buildings in the big picture while they were fighting, but the vast majority of what caused that dusty wasteland you see at the end was the fault of the Black Zero/World Engine teraforming attack that literally shook the city to its foundations.

Superman killing Zod- Well, Zod made it pretty clear when he said "There's only one way this ends, Kal- either you die or I do." Showing that he was ready and willing to die. And Superman's anguished scream after he did it was an extremely powerful moment. The jump to the next scene after that where Supes destroys the drone being too abrupt has been pointed out and I don't think that's an unfair criticism, but I also don't think it's bad enough to get worked up over.

I'm surprised that Clark is 33 years old before he becomes Superman, and that is a clear Jesus metaphor. But I am so excited for what comes next, and I think ending "Man of Steel" by having Lois say "Welcome to the Planet"- total double meaning- was perfect.

[Vidocq]

They were all bringing their A-Game, even if the script really wasn't worth the acting they gave at times, they carried the movie through out all the Goyer, right until the Snyder kicked in.

[LoneNecromancer]

They were all bringing their A-Game, even if the script really wasn't worth the acting they gave at times

Agreed. Casting and acting was all spot-on for me.

[Alan2099]

This was the single biggest problem of the movie for me: I didn't like Jonathan Kent's characterization at all.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

The thing that got me most was his death scene. I just couldn't help but think "It's a darn shame there's nobody that can move at superspeed here who could rush in and save before anybody notices what's going on."

[Guy1]

The thing that got me most was his death scene. I just couldn't help but think "It's a darn shame there's nobody that can move at superspeed here who could rush in and save before anybody notices what's going on."

Smallville Clark totally could of, MoS Clark is nowhere near that fast.