Man of Steel (Zack Snyder's Superman)

[Mister Gold]

To hell with them.  Superman was in dire need of a reboot and the movie delivers.  My dad, wife and I really loved it.  I loved both fathers and how Costner and Crowe played them.

Likewise. While I fully understand that the Donner/Reeves films were classics for their time, they have not aged well at all. Man of Steel did a terrific job at making the story more serious, but it's not the totally bleak TDK ripoff I keep hearing others describe it as. Despite the seriousness of it all, there's an undertone of hope too through out the film.

[tapsmiled]

Not since Attack of the Clones have I been so disappointed.  Like then, I had to resort to writing to feel better, so I wrote a review on my FB page.  I'll probably copy and paste it onto IMDB.

[Mister Gold]

Not since Attack of the Clones have I been so disappointed.  Like then, I had to resort to writing to feel better, so I wrote a review on my FB page.  I'll probably copy and paste it onto IMDB.

You mean you honestly had high hopes for AotC after Phantom Menace?

[tapsmiled]

At least TPM felt like a SW movie and had a few decent parts....Darth Maul for example. AOTC was simply horrid.

[Mister Gold]

At least TPM felt like a SW movie and had a few decent parts....Darth Maul for example. AOTC was simply horrid.

A fair enough statement, and one I actually share with you. But even still, how could you possibly go into AotC with high expectations after TPM had already happened?

[tapsmiled]

Actually, yes.  An older Anakin. Another Fett. Better technology to improve the visuals.  A CG Yoda rather than that horrid puppet.  All of those things, beforehand, sounded promising.  But I am a hardcore SW and an optimist. I didn't hate TPM; I just thought the direction if it (trade federation and Anakin as child) was wrong.

[HarlequinForest]

Man of Steel bored me as much as Watchmen did. The action was so redundant, and there was so much of it. Just superhumans throwing eachother around for 20 minutes at a time while destroying a bunch of property. Also, I thought there was a lot of hammy and contrived dialogue. The part with the world engine was pretty cool, but by that time, I was so sick of seeing rubble and crap blowing up that I didn't even care.

[MetalJunkie]

God, I loved this movie. It was super.

Edit: I did notice that Mr. Cavill has a severe case of "Brit-teeth."

[sueño]

My feelings are mixed about the film.   

It wasn't bad but I think my expectations were more than they should have been.   Must think on it some more...

[PetFish]

God, I loved this movie. It was super.

I thought to myself "finally, this is how super heroes throw-down in a fist fight."  The 2v1 fight was awesome.  My favourite "this is so cool" moment was in the final Zod fight when Superman punched him, flew at him, punched him, flew at him, repeat, repeat, all from Superman's PoV.

I love 3D and this was so wicked in 3D.

Cavill was a perfect choice for Superman.  And the kids they chose for Clark as child and adolescent looked JUST like him.  Awesome!

[MetalJunkie]

God, I loved this movie. It was super.

I thought to myself "finally, this is how super heroes throw-down in a fist fight."  The 2v1 fight was awesome.  My favourite "this is so cool" moment was in the final Zod fight when Superman punched him, flew at him, punched him, flew at him, repeat, repeat, all from Superman's PoV.

I love 3D and this was so wicked in 3D.

Cavill was a perfect choice for Superman.  And the kids they chose for Clark as child and adolescent looked JUST like him.  Awesome!

This all literally echoes my thoughts. I LOVED how they incorporated flight into the fights (now that they finally have the technology to do so). Some of the scenes where Superman was hovering in front of Zod, I just thought "Wow. Now that is Superman." Even the small things, like how Supes would recover from a blow in mid-air were a nice touch.

Guess I'll bullet my thoughts.


* I was worried the Krypton backstory would bore me. Nope. I loved Jor-El, his confrontation with Zod, and thought Krypton was well-paced.

* Nice humor moments. Loved how he mangled the trucker's rig. Also, my favorite line:
"That's a twelve million dollar surveillance drone."
"It was." I lol'd.

* I like how Lois came upon the ship and met Supes via her investigation. It felt like she was naturally a part of the plot and she wasn't shoe-horned in.

* They should have named him Perry Black?

* It was interesting how Superman was forced to break his own rule, but they showed the pain he endured because of it. I think that this incident will lead to him forming that rule for himself, actually.

* Like you mentioned, I was impressed by how spot-on the young Clarks were.

* When Clark first discovered X-ray vision, that was pretty trippy. I think that is exactly how it would have gone down if a kid suddenly starting seeing someone's innards.


I enjoyed the hell out of it. Finally we utilize current tech to show on screen what Superman is actually capable of. Will be seeing again.

[sueño]

^^^ I agree with all that; love your assessment about Supes 'no killing' rule and Zod..  The film was very well done and I generally liked it.  Not sure why I wasn't blown away.   

Maybe I need to see it again.

[MetalJunkie]

^^^ I agree with all that; love your assessment about Supes 'no killing' rule and Zod..  The film was very well done and I generally liked it.  Not sure why I wasn't blown away.   

Maybe I need to see it again.

I know why I wasn't completely blown away, and it wasn't the movie's fault. Nothing surprised me. Why? Because the trailers showed something from almost every scene in the movie. The aggressive marketing was fine, but they just revealed too damn much via small snippets. I have a feeling the second viewing will be a LOT better because the enjoyability would be like watching any other movie that I've already seen, rather than a first-time viewing.

[tapsmiled]

I just think it lacked heart. I never felt that he was truly heroic. He discovered his powers along the way, but he didn't show any or enough regard for human life. There were elements that were not developed, such as when Jonathan said "Maybe" in regards to letting people die.  That was an emotional scene, but there was never a payoff. Did Superman at the end agree with this sentiment?  We don't know.  Hell, in Superman Returns, we see Superman turn, mid-flight, to destroy the falling glass---protecting the innocents below.  Where was any of that?  Where was the regard for all the people in those collapsing buildings?  Not to get mushy here, but how many people, really, would have died during that?  Yet, it wasn't even an emotional footnote to anyone, including Superman. That is why this movie failed.

[tapsmiled]

^^^ I agree with all that; love your assessment about Supes 'no killing' rule and Zod..  The film was very well done and I generally liked it.  Not sure why I wasn't blown away.   

Maybe I need to see it again.

I know why I wasn't completely blown away, and it wasn't the movie's fault. Nothing surprised me. Why? Because the trailers showed something from almost every scene in the movie. The aggressive marketing was fine, but they just revealed too damn much via small snippets. I have a feeling the second viewing will be a LOT better because the enjoyability would be like watching any other movie that I've already seen, rather than a first-time viewing.

And that is why I have completely boycotted movie trailers now. They ruin movies.  Nearly every single scene, save for what was shown in the original trailer, was fresh for me.  It has really worked out well for IM3, STID, and TDKR.

[Lucien]

When Lois said "Welcome to The Planet" I burst out laughing. If I see it again, I will probably crack up again.

I've never laughed so much at a sneaky pun.

I thought the movie was amazing, but I found Zod's deathwish "Either you die, or I die!" REALLY corny.

[Accelerando]

To the note of the collateral in the film, I don't think Superman had a choice. His ass was being handed to by Zod while his World Engine was leveling downtown Metropolis. The World Engine, by definition of its purpose, would destroy all infrastructure and human life on Earth to terraform it to the needs of Kryptonians. How else would they portray that?

[tapsmiled]

By not using a plot device like the World Machine.  It was unnecessary to the story.

[MetalJunkie]

That is why this movie failed.

Jumpin' the gun there, you think?

[tapsmiled]

Nope. You will see.  There will be a significant drop-off, and the B.O. Numbers will reflect that because I seriously doubt there will be repeated viewings.  The first 90+ minutes were almost a complete borefest and the action sequences became tedious.

Also, it fails because it never, IMO, inspires.  There was no sense of wonder.

[zepp-head]

And my particular opinion must have an exact correlation to future box office numbers, whether other people agree with it or not.

[King Postwhore]

Nope. You will see.  There will be a significant drop-off, and the B.O. Numbers will reflect that because I seriously doubt there will be repeated viewings.  The first 90+ minutes were almost a complete borefest and the action sequences became tedious.

Also, it fails because it never, IMO, inspires.  There was no sense of wonder.

Jesus.  No sense of wonder?  Let's play a game, who doesn't here know the story of Superman and his origins?!  I wonder how hard you are to please?  Listen, it's a superhero movie.  We all go in knowing full well what to expect.  I wasn't looking for an In Burges or Memento.  I go into it knowing full well they will mold how this Superman from a child to to his grown up man and how he feels for humanity and how it made him who he was. Then plenty of action.  Not that hard.

[jingle.boy]

If DTF is a sample at all, I see far users liking it than not.  Not sure if this is a sizable enough statistical sampling, but I suspect it is enough to show a trend. 

Over all... liked it.  The one thing I often shake my head at (in all movies like this) is the amount of damage that gets done to a major city.  Like, who's gonna clean and rebuild all this shit?  Avengers and Transformers 3 also come to mind as movies that go super overkill with the destruction.  Lots of action, and it's got to be a contractors dream!

[Mister Gold]

If DTF is a sample at all, I see far users liking it than not.  Not sure if this is a sizable enough statistical sampling, but I suspect it is enough to show a trend.

It is. I'm at a lot of other websites, and I keep hearing a resounding positive response to the film from most people. I also read an article earlier today that mentioned that Man of Steel managed to make more money in its opening day than Superman Returns did in its entire opening weekend.

Nope. You will see.  There will be a significant drop-off, and the B.O. Numbers will reflect that because I seriously doubt there will be repeated viewings.  The first 90+ minutes were almost a complete borefest and the action sequences became tedious.

Also, it fails because it never, IMO, inspires.  There was no sense of wonder.

Like I said, I'm at a bunch of other websites and lurk around even more. While the film does have its controversies, it's gotten a pretty damn positive response from most people.

And there's another thing I keep seeing everywhere too; people wanting to see it again. Not only people that liked it, but also the people that weren't sure how they felt about it. Hell, I know for a fact that I personally want to see it at least two more times while it's still in theaters. There's a lot to this movie, and I think that while you're perfectly entitled to your opinion about the movie itself, your judgement on how it will do financially is dead wrong.

[PetFish]

If DTF is a sample at all, I see far users liking it than not.

Over at mp.com people automatically hate movies if they are 3D.

[tapsmiled]

Nope. You will see.  There will be a significant drop-off, and the B.O. Numbers will reflect that because I seriously doubt there will be repeated viewings.  The first 90+ minutes were almost a complete borefest and the action sequences became tedious.

Also, it fails because it never, IMO, inspires.  There was no sense of wonder.

Jesus.  No sense of wonder?  Let's play a game, who doesn't here know the story of Superman and his origins?!  I wonder how hard you are to please?  Listen, it's a superhero movie.  We all go in knowing full well what to expect.  I wasn't looking for an In Burges or Memento.  I go into it knowing full well they will mold how this Superman from a child to to his grown up man and how he feels for humanity and how it made him who he was. Then plenty of action.  Not that hard.

When I say no sense of wonder, I mean that it doesn't inspire people. The 1978 film made every kid want to tie a towel around his neck and go jumping off the roof. It gave kids that feeling of amazement, and like its tag line, it made you believe that a man could fly. This didn't have that.  Except for the school bus scene, for which he was chastised by Pa, there were few scenes that made you sit back and say, "what a nice man" (like the old lady in the Superman II).  It wouldn't take a master stroke to accomplish what I'm saying.

And the score was shit. Dull. Boring. I couldn't even him a single bar of it.

[sueño]

The score was lame.  Zimmer can do better.

No one beats Williams for inspirational scoring.

[Mister Gold]

Nope. You will see.  There will be a significant drop-off, and the B.O. Numbers will reflect that because I seriously doubt there will be repeated viewings.  The first 90+ minutes were almost a complete borefest and the action sequences became tedious.

Also, it fails because it never, IMO, inspires.  There was no sense of wonder.

Jesus.  No sense of wonder?  Let's play a game, who doesn't here know the story of Superman and his origins?!  I wonder how hard you are to please?  Listen, it's a superhero movie.  We all go in knowing full well what to expect.  I wasn't looking for an In Burges or Memento.  I go into it knowing full well they will mold how this Superman from a child to to his grown up man and how he feels for humanity and how it made him who he was. Then plenty of action.  Not that hard.

When I say no sense of wonder, I mean that it doesn't inspire people. The 1978 film made every kid want to tie a towel around his neck and go jumping off the roof. It gave kids that feeling of amazement, and like its tag line, it made you believe that a man could fly. This didn't have that.  Except for the school bus scene, for which he was chastised by Pa, there were few scenes that made you sit back and say, "what a nice man" (like the old lady in the Superman II).  It wouldn't take a master stroke to accomplish what I'm saying.

"It doesn't inspire people"? I can't speak for anyone else here, but Man of Steel inspired me. I left the theater after the film with a strong sense of hope. Superman doesn't have to be like the Donner films to be able to inspire people.

[Lucien]

Nope. You will see.  There will be a significant drop-off, and the B.O. Numbers will reflect that because I seriously doubt there will be repeated viewings.  The first 90+ minutes were almost a complete borefest and the action sequences became tedious.

Also, it fails because it never, IMO, inspires.  There was no sense of wonder.

Jesus.  No sense of wonder?  Let's play a game, who doesn't here know the story of Superman and his origins?!  I wonder how hard you are to please?  Listen, it's a superhero movie.  We all go in knowing full well what to expect.  I wasn't looking for an In Burges or Memento.  I go into it knowing full well they will mold how this Superman from a child to to his grown up man and how he feels for humanity and how it made him who he was. Then plenty of action.  Not that hard.

When I say no sense of wonder, I mean that it doesn't inspire people. The 1978 film made every kid want to tie a towel around his neck and go jumping off the roof. It gave kids that feeling of amazement, and like its tag line, it made you believe that a man could fly. This didn't have that.  Except for the school bus scene, for which he was chastised by Pa, there were few scenes that made you sit back and say, "what a nice man" (like the old lady in the Superman II).  It wouldn't take a master stroke to accomplish what I'm saying.

"It doesn't inspire people"? I can't speak for anyone else here, but Man of Steel inspired me. I left the theater after the film with a strong sense of hope. Superman doesn't have to be like the Donner films to be able to inspire people.

[sueño]

It may mean nothing,  but I'm noticing a definite age skew related to the general like/dislike of this film.

[antigoon]

There's only so many times two characters who don't get hurt can crash through walls/skyscrapers,pavement, etc. before it becomes white noise. I never felt invested in any of the action in this movie -- and boy, was there a lot of action. It felt a bit Star Wars prequel-y in that way, except that I found the stuff in the prequels at least somewhat visually entertaining. Hell, I thought the action in Transformers was better than some of the stuff I sat through in Man of Steel.

It's unfortunate because there are seeds of a good film in here -- Costner and Lane played their roles well, as did Crowe, who somehow managed to not sound ridiculous with all the silly lines he had to recite. The back and forth cuts between present and past were also a bit frustrating and I think a more linear narrative would have served the movie better.

Also, the amount of times Snyder did that Wide angle -> zoom -> ZOOM!!! shot bordered on self-parody.

edit: For the demographic study -- I'm 24 and have never seen any previous Superman films. Superhero movies I enjoyed include Spiderman (Raimi), Iron Man, and The Dark Knight.

[tapsmiled]

I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree. To me, this isn't just any superhero; Superman is THE superhero...one with very specific, iconic traits.  I saw very few significant examples of those traits in this movie, and because it was lacking, it was a disappointment. If this exact film was Green Lantern's story, then I would perhaps like it more because I am not tied to that character's history; therefore, I would be more open to creative license and less negative towards the glaring omissions.  I am not difficult to please, and I don't think that it has to be the Donner movie to be a success. Rather, I want smart storytelling. The Donner version worked because it hit on every single bullet point that would be put on paper to describe Superman. IMO, this movie not only did not hit on those points, it completely missed nearly all of them.

Glad you enjoyed it.  After many years of serious anticipation, I did not.

[Kotowboy]

That is why this movie failed.

Jumpin' the gun there, you think?

$200m opening weekend is not too shabby.

Mind you it cost a whopping $225m to make so has some way to go yet to be considered a big hit.

[TioJorge]

It's awesome how much of a shit some people give about other people's opinions. That is, the ones that allow themselves to get angry simply because of another person's useless opinion. I haven't seen this movie yet but the amount of arguing and ridiculous 'debates' over aspects of this film I've seen personally as well as on the net is astounding. It's like watching a dog chase it's own tail. 

Very divisive movie. I like that. I hope to see it tonight or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow as Father's Day lunch wiped me out...ZzzzZZZzzZZZzZZzZZ

[King Postwhore]

Nope. You will see.  There will be a significant drop-off, and the B.O. Numbers will reflect that because I seriously doubt there will be repeated viewings.  The first 90+ minutes were almost a complete borefest and the action sequences became tedious.

Also, it fails because it never, IMO, inspires.  There was no sense of wonder.

Jesus.  No sense of wonder?  Let's play a game, who doesn't here know the story of Superman and his origins?!  I wonder how hard you are to please?  Listen, it's a superhero movie.  We all go in knowing full well what to expect.  I wasn't looking for an In Burges or Memento.  I go into it knowing full well they will mold how this Superman from a child to to his grown up man and how he feels for humanity and how it made him who he was. Then plenty of action.  Not that hard.

When I say no sense of wonder, I mean that it doesn't inspire people. The 1978 film made every kid want to tie a towel around his neck and go jumping off the roof. It gave kids that feeling of amazement, and like its tag line, it made you believe that a man could fly. This didn't have that.  Except for the school bus scene, for which he was chastised by Pa, there were few scenes that made you sit back and say, "what a nice man" (like the old lady in the Superman II).  It wouldn't take a master stroke to accomplish what I'm saying.

And the score was shit. Dull. Boring. I couldn't even him a single bar of it.

I saw it when I was 10 and never liked the first Superman.  The second was way better.  Inspire?  That's for kid's and I'm Guessing you are not one anymore.  You are way off base here.