MAN OF STEEL - Grading & Discussion

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Agent Richard07, Jun 11, 2013.

?

Grade the movie...

  1. A+

    10.9%
  2. A

    20.8%
  3. A-

    18.1%
  4. B+

    9.8%
  5. B

    11.3%
  6. B-

    4.2%
  7. C+

    4.9%
  8. C

    4.9%
  9. C-

    3.8%
  10. D+

    3.4%
  11. D

    3.8%
  12. D-

    2.6%
  13. F

    1.5%
  1. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I thought we got enough pauses in the action. After the big Smallville fight, Superman visits his mother and they have a touching moment together. And after the final battle, Superman and Lois have some nice moments together before his battle with Zod begins.

    I just didn't feel these battles went on too long at all (and I'm one who completely zoned out during the TF2 and TF3 battles, and during the nonstop action of the Pirates sequels).

    The only real complaint I have is how so much of it was done with CG digital doubles. I would have loved to have seen more action at normal speed mixed in (or even in slo-mo) with the actual actors.

    I don't think it's that. I'm 39, grew up on the Donner movies and Silver Age comics, and I absolutely adored the movie. And I suspect there's plenty more here like me.
     
  2. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I actually loved that we got at least one graceful, Reeve-style landing in this movie-- even if it was sadly done more with CG than having Cavill on wires (you could definitely tell when the CG merged into the real actors there).

    And while I get that they wanted to make the takeoffs look powerful and dramatic, there's just something about seeing a real guy in a Superman suit lift off into the air that I'll always prefer.
     
  3. RAMA

    RAMA Admiral Admiral

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    Disagree...the reality is Man of Steel made such scenes commonplace, they happen routinely through the film because they can now.

    RAMA
     
  4. cbspock

    cbspock Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I really liked the movie. I thought how it handled humanity's reaction to Superman was handled really well. People didn't trust him, and when he and Zod started going at one another humanity was attacking both of them until it became obvious that Superman wasn't going to harm them. I liked the set up of Krypton in the beginning, very different than the Superman of the 70s which had a more comic book interpretation, where I think Man of Steel went for Science Fiction. I thought the middle part of the film, before Superman reveals himself felt very much like an X-files episode, and Amy Adams' Lois reminded me a bit of Scully. The fight scenes were completely over the top which they should be since super beings are attacking one another. It was like someone figured out how to turn some of the DC animated movie action scenes into live action.

    I think it was a great set up for Superman 2.

    I think a lot of the bad reviews are from people expecting to see a reboot along the lines of the original 70s Superman but with better effects. I don't think that would have worked today. I am glad they didn't stick the 70s theme into the movie, although they probably could have teased a little of it at the very end, sort of like JJ used the Trek theme. However the new theme those two lonely notes was used to great effect in setting the tone, showing the isolation of Superman an alien among humans, yet he grew up with them and the emotional conflict within Superman as well.

    I am glad they chose to go in a different direction than the Superman movies I grew up with. The Reeve movies and Superman Returns stand on their own they were good in their own right. (except for 3 and 4 :p) I can see them mixing this new Superman with the Dark Knight.


    -Chris
     
  5. The Lensman

    The Lensman Commodore Commodore

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    Would this movie be okay for a seven year old? I'm thinking of taking my nephews and the youngest is seven. He's also seen The Hobbit where there's at lease one head getting chopped off and it didn't phase him.
     
  6. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    Should be, there's nothing too graphic in there. Except a neck snapping and a swear word or two.
     
  7. The Lensman

    The Lensman Commodore Commodore

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    Cool, thanks Bob!
     
  8. Opus

    Opus Commodore Commodore

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    I typically don't see films in the cinema these days, but I've always liked Superman. I'll have to catch it this week.
     
  9. Gibraltar

    Gibraltar Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    My twins are seven and I took them to it along with their 11-year old brother. They were fine with it, and enjoyed the film as much as I did.

    The only thing that gave them pause on occasion was the volume of some of the sudden, unexpected explosions.
     
  10. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, I also took it as a homage to Superman II but it was infinitely funnier and more satisfying than having Clark simply beat up the trucker.
     
  11. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Even adjusted for inflation (which is bullshit, BTW) this looks to do a little better over the four-day than the first Iron Man movie did, which is very good; that's about where Warner Bros is right now.
     
  12. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    SPOILERS follow. (Can this be a thread defaulting to spoilers, please? Maybe a mod can put that in the thread title? Thanks.)

    I left with a feeling of elation after seeing MoS, so overall I have a positive reaction.

    Including the Donner cut of Superman II, I'm going to count a total of seven Superman films to date. For me, SR goes in the bottom heap with III and IV, and frankly, I'd rather rewatch the camp-fest that is III than either of those others (IV's clearly the worst, though). The middle two would have to be the two Superman II's, with the Donner cut clearly on top.

    So that just leaves the 1978 film and MoS in the top tier. Which is better? For me, for the time being, it's apples and oranges. Both have their strengths, and both have weaknesses. For MoS, I'm most likely going to end up saying it deserves something in the B+/A-/A range, but I'll need to see it at least a few more times to make a final decision. :p

    What follows is an incomplete list of my reactions.

    The cast was pretty much perfect across the board in every case. So, no need to drone on about that.

    The "epilogue" as it were in the Daily Planet at the end was fantabulous. "Welcome to the Planet": what a wonderful pun. How wonderful that up front Lois knows his identity. No, I'm going to give a standing ovation to Amy Adams, after all. She was perfect.

    The Pa Kent scenes were astonishing. As for maybe Clark should have let the kids on the bus die, because there's more at stake than just kids on a bus: hell, yeah, indeed. And Pa put his money where his mouth was. America is not just the beneficiary of Clark's powers. The whole world is; he saved the world.

    OK, more droning about the cast, after all. Ma Kent was fabulous. Perry was fabulous. Zod was fabulous. Jor-El was fabulous. Faora was fabulous. The cast was fabulous.

    (I loved the shot with Toby, Stabler, and Gaeta. A nice little wink to the audience that, yeah, we know you've seen all them before.)

    (Also, was Jenny supposed to be Jenny Olsen?)

    I like how the plot stayed ahead of the curve in terms of Clark being on scene and Lois not being an idiot. It was logical for Zod to bring up Lois to his ship, since she was the one who broke the story about Kal-El (by proxy; seems Zod easily tapped into the Internet, as would be expected).

    The oil rig scene was actually pretty emotional, although I didn't like the way the first super-hop as executed, before he held the tower up. It was emotional, because for all the oil workers knew, he died saving them.

    OK, here come the gripes.

    The Codex was way too easy to steal. As an unauthorized breeder, Lara was a criminal and should have been on her way to punishment of some sort, probably to the Phantom Zone also. (ETA: Buzzkill's right, I should temper this. I don't know she was a criminal; what I meant to say, and should have said, was that based on everything I saw, I would have been surprised if she wasn't. It seemed puzzling to me that Lara was not also standing trial, given the fact that she and Jor-El felt it necessary to hide Kal-El's birth, given Zod's revulsion to Kal-El's natural birth, and given Jor-El's explanation that natural births had been halted long ago. I felt there needed to be a better sense of why security around the Codex, and regarding the integrity of Kryptonian breeding, was so lax, since their whole race was relying on the technological substitute for natural childbirth.)

    If Zod was really genetically bred to be the defender of Krypton, then he should have surrendered to Kal-El once his ship was sent to the Phantom Zone at the first climax. For, Kal-El, with the Codex, literally embodied whatever future Krypton has.

    The fistfights were ultimately too repetitive. The point of things getting smashed up was actually made during the scene where Kal-El taught himself to fly, when he broke the mountain, which was an excellent scene by the way. After the first punches were thrown, there was nowhere that anybody making the film knew to go but around in circles and, frankly, down. By the time people were getting punched through buildings, it was really very boring, and all kinda been there, done that. But we had to watch them get punched through buildings a dozen more times after that, it seemed.

    The most dramatic elements in the fistfights were things like Faora breaking that last soldier's neck, right before Stabler said it was a good day to die/how you die/whatever, and didn't require millions of dollars in SFX to be effective. But on the other hand, why would she just continue to let the bomber approach with what's obviously a piece of Kryptonian technology being delivered according to some battle plan? As soon as the Kryptonians showed up on the cargo plane, I figured that plan was over. Without Superman around, it should have been a cinch for them to bring the plane down and/or get the Kryptonian tech off the plane. Too much time elapsed on the plane once the Kryptonians arrived.

    All the dust and debris floating around might have been plausible or even realistic, but it didn't make the film any fun. Kinda made it a downer really, since with all the pieces of paper floating around, all I could think of was 9/11 again.

    The palette was too washed out.

    I wasn't wholly thrilled with the Kryptonian art design, particularly when it came to the craft. However, that comic-book style presentation of Krypton history was magnificent.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2013
  13. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not sufficiently familiar with the intricacies of Kryptonian law to have any idea what the criminal sanctions for natural breeding were at the time that those scenes take place - and since no one specifies any I have to assume that what Lara did was not a major felony if a violation at all.
     
  14. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, that's something I'm going to be watching out for on my next viewing. :p

    But why would it be so easy to steal something like the Codex? Maybe they had some sort of honor system when it came to breeding?
     
  15. CorporalClegg

    CorporalClegg Admiral Admiral

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    I enjoyed the film. Thought the cast was fantastic. The plot was weak though, and the action scenes just dragged on too long. I caught myself ceiling-staring a couple of times. Never a good sign for an action film.

    You know who I think this film really needed? Stuart Baird.

    Seriously.
     
  16. Avalon

    Avalon Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^^^Maybe they just couldn't imagine any Kryptonian citizen stealing it.

    And...maybe, after their outrage at Jor-El suggesting they evacuate the planet cooled a bit...they hoped he would take it and find a safe place for it.
     
  17. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    Jor'El was one of their leading scientists. I would presume that he had access to it to begin with?
     
  18. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If Jor-El had access to the Codex, why was he challenged by a robot threatening him with a class B offense for taking it?

    If he didn't have access to it, why was the greatest trouble he had to go through to get his hands on it apparently only swimming underwater?
     
  19. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    I like how the drones' interface was like one of those bed of pins thing you used to get at Spencer's Gifts.
     
  20. Gojira

    Gojira Commodore Commodore

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    I think there is a difference between being allowed access to something and being allowed to take it.