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MAN OF STEEL: Another look

^^^
That's applying a standard to Superman's actions in Man of Steel that's way above the norm in action movies, including in other Superman movies. It's common for superheroes to risk exposure of their powers in rebuking bullies. It's common for action heroes to take a personal moment after a terrible fight, even in the midst of great damage. Would it have been better if they'd then shown Superman rush off to help people? Sure. But it's not a deal breaker for me. Mileages obviously vary on that.
 
I think Cavill was ok. But REeve bot the character. There's nothing in MoS like the moment wherein, after he saves Lois the first time, he points to some guys and says (with authority) "Gentlemen: this man needs help."

That's the man I would call Superman, not Goyer's character
 
Out Of My Vulcan Mind said:
^^^
When Cavill's Superman asks the soldier, "Are you okay?" it's that sort of moment.
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I thought about that. I didn't forget it. I'll give him some credit.

But Reeve really pulled that kind of thing off.

"They say confession is good for the soul. I'd listen to this man."

Reeve took the role seriously and yet you can see the humor and wit shine through his performance. Maybe he is kidding a little!
 
Reeve was great in the role. Cavill makes a good Superman, too. Reeve's Superman becomes a confident superhero very quickly. Cavill's Superman is truly a rookie in Man of Steel.
 
Man Of Steel "Battle Of Metropolis"

I am a Reeve Superman fan, for all it's flaws loved SMALLVILLE and watched Superman Returns forever! Man Of Steel is my Superman movie...I liked Lois & Clark, all the animated stuff but MoS is AWESOME! :adore: ETA: Period!
 
Cavil was fine in the role. I fault the movie for a lot of things, but it was very well cast. Even Michael Shannon, who is so far over the top in Man of Steel that he makes Shatner's wildest performances look subtle in comparison, has shown himself to be a superb actor in other films. I have no knowledge of what happened on set, but I suspect Snyder kept telling Shannon to go bigger, and Shannon obliged.

As for the final battle, on the one hand, I find the scene to be a tedious and joyless one, which I have little emotional investment in. On the other hand, on a story level, I fail to see how Superman could have done much to avert the devastation that occurs.

That last scene, though, where the staff of the Daily Planet seems to have returned to their jobs as if nothing had happened to their city ("Court-side seats?") is a real head-scratcher, tonally. This would be fine in another Superman movie, but it really didn't work for me in this one.
 
I agree about that ending Daily Planet scene. It would have helped if a caption said ONE YEAR LATER or something like that.
 
It's not like they were talking about going out for shawarma after the battle of MEtropolis.
 
Mr Light said:
I agree about that ending Daily Planet scene. It would have helped if a caption said ONE YEAR LATER or something like that.
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Is there anything to suggest that there hasn't been a good chunk of time elapsed? Do we need to be explicitly told it's been a while? We can easily infer that it isn't the next morning. And, frankly, unless it is critical to know exactly how much time has gone by, I could do with a lot fewer " X months/years later..." captions in movies. The context should be (and usually is) sufficient to let me know if a good chunk of time, in story, has gone by.
 
It was supposed to be like Independence Day. What the hell is that smell!? [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjVwf5R5N6E[/yt] Link
 
Mr Light said:
I agree about that ending Daily Planet scene. It would have helped if a caption said ONE YEAR LATER or something like that.
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Yeah, I assumed it was a year later based on the tone (and intact office building), but I do think the ambiguity is partly what fueled criticism. I'd like to imagine that Superman has been literally rebuilding buildings, etc. to overcome the fact that, otherwise, the costs would be astronomical.
 
theenglish said:
I really enjoyed Man of Steel as well. I liked Kevin Costner's role as well and would have liked him to reprise the role in future movies. I liked that he didn't have all the answers.

The level of destruction is similar to the levels of damage we see in the comic books, but my one problem is that we should have seen Superman actually trying to save some of the people or cleaning up at the end.

I really loved the Kryptonian scenes and would almost like to see a World of Krypton movie set in this universe.
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I'm really looking forward to watching this movie, since I finally got to the movie on my DVD.:)
 
The "one year later" thing doesn't really work because that means missing the beginning of Superman's career and a lot of the reaction to his arrival.
 
Agent Richard07 said:
The "one year later" thing doesn't really work because that means missing the beginning of Superman's career and a lot of the reaction to his arrival.
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What if the storytellers didn't want to dwell on that? Besides, preventing the annihilation of all life on the planet should earn him a few brownie points. Do we have to see the parades and fanfare?
 
^ I was thinking more about Superman establishing himself and other key players coming out of the woodwork in addition to public reaction. Skipping the a full year could mean skipping a lot of that. In the end though, we don't know how much time has passed or what they have planned for the next movie beyond the broad strokes we've gotten so far. Hopefully whatever they do will be handled well.
 
The Daily Planet epilogue didn't trouble me. First of all, it's -again- typical of the comics. Superman and Brainiac fight this month and destroy half of metropolis? No biggie. It'll be back to business as usual next month. Secondly, remember Iron Man 3? Did they eat up any screen time showing how the Avengers helped clean up after the Battle Of New York? Nope. They just showed that Tony Stark felt sorta bad about what happened to him personally. Granted, Tony is supposed to be a much less virtuous character than Clark, but I'll be shocked if Superman VS. Batman doesn't at least pay lip service to Supes' feelings about what happened in MOS.
 
To be fair, the aftermath of the battle of New York is not even close to the mass destruction witnessed in MoS.
 
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