MAN OF STEEL - Grading & Discussion

[Trekker4747]

1. Avengers
2. The Dark Knight
3. Batman Begins
4. Iron Man
5. Captain America
6. The Dark Knight Returns
7. Thor
8. Superman The Movie
9. Man of Steel
10. Superman II

 

[RoJoHen]

#7 -- Really?

It's almost as if vocal minorities are actually minorities and not the majorities they pretend to be.

I just find it surprising, especially since X2 didn't make the list, which is generally considered a much better film.

Of course, I also think "X-Men: First Class" is absolutely the worst superhero movie I've ever seen, so to each his own.

 

[Snick27]

Been a week or two since I saw this at the movie theater.
So I had a while to think about the movie and gave the movie a C rating.

My problems for the movie where I didn't really feel it was a Superman movie. You could of slapped any superhero into that role and it would of worked. Honestly best part of the movie was the beginning on Krypton and honestly would of preferred the whole movie being about Krypton and Jor-El whom I thought was the best actor in the movie. Just that whole story was sooo much better than the part on earth.


Plus I didn't feel anything for Superman or Lois for that matter. I was more attached to Jor-El and his wife and wanted to see more of them.


Plus the line "Knell before Zod' wasn't in the movie which kind of ruined it for me. (if its in there then I missed it)

PLus you could of understood where Zod was coming from with him wanting to bring back his race. Though why couldn't he of done that on Mars or some other planet, I just don't know.


Sure Superman would of been more than happy to bring his people back on some other planet.


Also how convenient was it for Lois to just happen to be there in that mall at the end where Superman had to Kill Zod?

Really how did she get there anyway?

Plus side was the fights were great and loved seeing the city get destroyed. Lois was cute and I didn't mind her.
But again nothing in this movie felt like a superman movie.

 

[Warped9]

I finally saw this this afternoon.

I went in trying not to have expectations either good or bad. The only thing I knew for sure was that I hoped to see a Superman film I could enjoy. Well, I enjoyed this one.

First thing I liked was the absence of overt camp, something I feel has hurt previous Superman films including the vaunted '78 Christopher Reeve film. I like parts of that film and most of it up to Superman's first appearances in Metropolis. After that, though, it's a slide into mostly silliness for me.

MoS avoids that. It has its grin moments without crossing over into cringe mode. Thumbs up for that. Yeah, as has been mentioned by others there isn't a lot of levity in this film, but it does have moments of humour sprinkled throughout and in restrained doses. Maybe it could have used a few more, but I'll take a little less than too much.

It's tough for all the characters to get equal screen time when you pack so much into an origin story so I can't really quibble about secondary characters not getting enough focus. There should be room enough in a sequel for that.

It's certainly a gorgeous looking film in its own way although I would have like to see a bit more vivid colour. Overall I found the palette to be a bit muted.

The notion that some feel like this is like The Day The Earth Stood Still meets Superman has some justification to it. The flip side, though is that General Zod and his gang are essentially ideological zealots while Klaatu was certainly a lot more benevolent, at least the original Michael Rennie version.

I don't take Jonathan Kent's statement of maybe letting the kids on the bus die as a bad character moment. Later Jonathan does say that he and Martha were feeling their way in raising Clark and basically making it up as they went. Jonathan simply didn't have a definitive answer for Clark's questions. I also don't see the killing of Zod as branding Superman a killer no more than I brand soldiers in a combat zone as murderers. Superman simply had no choice.

I have three basic complaints about the film despite my overall enjoyment of it.

1. The music was lousy in that I don't remember one note of it. It was just additional noise for the most part and instantly forgettable from one moment to the next. The original '78 John Williams' theme so perfectly encapsulates the idea of Superman that it would be indeed hard to follow and recreate that feeling. MoS' music doesn't even try and is just disposable noise. It's little more than just another sound effect.

2. The action scenes did drag on too long. It wasn't quite as bad as I had half expected, but they did drag. The final battle between Supes and Zod was completely superfluous. I think a bit of restructuring of the slugging fests could have tightened this up and made it a lot more effective. I also think the widespread devastation was overdone. And I agree with the opinion that some sort of acknowledgement of the extreme loss of life and destruction should have at least been remarked upon.

3. The damned thing was often too loud. I really don't enjoy having my hearing assaulted like that in a movie theatre or any time for that matter.

My final little quibble was with Supes costume. It didn't bother me as much as I'd thought, but it still bugs me. I don't care for the heavy texturing, the rubbery look and the too muted colours.

Gripes aside I liked all the characterizations. I enjoyed Cavill as Clark/Superman and Amy Adams as Lois Lane. I think all the cast suited their roles well.

I am inclined to say that MoS could be my favourite Superman film, but some of that is by default because despite my gripes it doesn't have nearly as many missteps as previous live action Superman films. If they do the sequel right then Cavill might be able to stand alongside George Reeves who has long been my idea of Superman.

I mentioned live-action films because I still quite like the '90's TAS Superman and I really like the pilot "The Last Son Of Krypton" as an origin story. I think I'll watch this again soon with MoS still fresh in mind.

In the end I give MoS an "A" because I quite enjoyed it and I didn't feel it had any serious deficiencies. I actually look forward to seeing these characters again in a sequel---Braniac anyone?


Oh, and I'd also like to see a better suit.

 

[Admiral2]

Best superhero movies all time:

1. Man of Steel
2. Superman
3. Dark Knight
4. Iron Man
5. Batman Begins
6. Watchmen
7. X-men: Last Stand
8. Avengers
9. X-men First Class
10. Captain America

X2, V for Vendetta, Thor, Hancock honorable mention.

RAMA

Not even close.

1. Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. The Dark Knight
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Batman (1989)
6. Superman
7. Thor
8. Captain America
9. X-Men: The Last Stand
10. Man of Steel

I mean, I liked the movie, but there are so many different reasons why it just sneaks onto my top ten. No way in hell would it be number one.

 

[GalaxyX]

Best superhero movies all time:

1. Man of Steel
2. Superman
3. Dark Knight
4. Iron Man
5. Batman Begins
6. Watchmen
7. X-men: Last Stand
8. Avengers
9. X-men First Class
10. Captain America

X2, V for Vendetta, Thor, Hancock honorable mention.

RAMA

Ok here's my list then:

1. Batman Begins
2. Thor
3. Superman
4. The Dark Knight
5. Captain America
6. Man of Steel
7. The Avengers
8. Iron Man
9. Green Lantern

Hancock gets an honorable mention only for what it could have been instead of what it was.

 

[Shazam!]

Best superhero movies all time:

1. Man of Steel
2. Superman
3. Dark Knight
4. Iron Man
5. Batman Begins
6. Watchmen
7. X-men: Last Stand
8. Avengers
9. X-men First Class
10. Captain America

X2, V for Vendetta, Thor, Hancock honorable mention.

RAMA

Not even close.

1. Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. The Dark Knight
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Batman (1989)
6. Superman
7. Thor
8. Captain America
9. X-Men: The Last Stand
10. Man of Steel

You can't say "Not even close" and then still include The Last Stand...

 

[davejames]

My list:

1. Superman the Movie
2. The Dark Knight
3. Spider-Man 2
4. Batman (1989)
5. Man of Steel
6. Superman II
7. Iron Man
8. Avengers
9. Superman Returns
10. X2

As much as I love MOS, I don't think I could ever put it above those other four.

 

[Shazam!]

My 10 are the same as the above albeit in a different order. I'd also specify the Donner cut of Superman II

 

[Locutus of Bored]

But makes you think why these super advanced aliens who once had a galactic empire didn't do more to save themselves.

Because they're rigid and unwilling to admit their mistakes and don't believe Jor-El's claims that the planet core is going to implode. Zod was the only one who believed Jor-El about the planet's fate, which is why he tried to overthrow the Council.

Apparently the Kryptonians just can't survive outside of Krypton but Kal didn't have any problems doing so.

Yes they can. They had colonies all over the nearby galaxies. The colonies eventually died out for various reasons (cut off from Krypton when it banned spaceflight, attacked by other aliens, starvation, disease, what have you).

Kal-El experienced the same problems adjusting to Earth's atmosphere and other environmental conditions that the other Kryptonians did, it just happened when he was very young. Martha said he used to have terrible breathing problems as a baby, and then, as you mentioned, he had the same sudden, overwhelming appearance of his x-ray vision, super hearing, telepathy, and so forth.

If Zod had simply been patient, he and his people could have acclimated to Earth's environmental conditions as well and lived there in peace eventually. He was just too arrogant and indoctrinated/programmed for war to wait for that to happen.

And making out just after possibly thousands of people were killed by the tide of destruction caused by Superman and the Kryptonians? That was in bad taste and terrible timing. They were practically standing over the dead whilst snogging. Jeez.

They were relieved to be alive and to see that the other was alive to. It's a perfectly natural response. Even with all the deaths and destruction in war, the first thing people do when they see their loved ones is to hug them and kiss them.

My problems for the movie where I didn't really feel it was a Superman movie. You could of slapped any superhero into that role and it would of worked.

Any superhero that's a godlike alien from a dead planet that's adopted by farmers and raised as a human who then has to protect Earth from his fellow aliens, sure. There's a few similar ones, but it's hardly just like "any superhero." Captain America couldn't have been slapped into that role and have it work.

 

[Admiral2]

Best superhero movies all time:

1. Man of Steel
2. Superman
3. Dark Knight
4. Iron Man
5. Batman Begins
6. Watchmen
7. X-men: Last Stand
8. Avengers
9. X-men First Class
10. Captain America

X2, V for Vendetta, Thor, Hancock honorable mention.

RAMA

Not even close.

1. Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. The Dark Knight
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Batman (1989)
6. Superman
7. Thor
8. Captain America
9. X-Men: The Last Stand
10. Man of Steel

You can't say "Not even close" and then still include The Last Stand...

Yes I can, for two reasons:

1. Specifically to reference Man of Steel, which arguably belongs on a top ten list but "not even close" to the top.

2. Any movie that has Juggernaut being defeated by frigging Kitty Pryde (the funniest denoument in the film) has a right to be on the list somewhere, just maybe not as high up as 7.

 

[Warped9]

I can't really rank these films in order of favourite. Either I like them enough to own them on disc or not. MoS I'll pick up on disc. Thor, Green Lantern and Amazing Spider-Man definitely not.

The style of MoS does fit in with the recent Batman trilogy.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Martha said he used to have terrible breathing problems as a baby, and then, as you mentioned, he had the same sudden, overwhelming appearance of his x-ray vision, super hearing, telepathy, and so forth.

 

[Skywalker]

My top ten:

1. The Avengers
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man
4. X2
5. Man of Steel
6. Batman Begins
7. X-Men: First Class
8. Spider-Man 2
9. Superman
10. Captain America: The First Avenger

 

[Astraboy]

1. The Avengers
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. Batman Begins
4. Iron Man
5. Batman
6. The Dark Knight
7. Man Of Steel
8. Superman
9. Captain America
10. Superman 2

Quite a hard list to make as I'm a sucker for superhero flicks. I'd watch anything, even the likes of Ghost Rider, Jonah Hex and Judge Dredd

 

[Trekker4747]

Really, saying the Kryptonians having had other colonies leaves too many "Yeah, but...." questions in place while also mudding the "Last Son of Krypton" thing. I more like the idea that Kryptonians couldn't leave Krypton either due too high of gravity for meaningful space travel to be possible (Kal's ship being the exception as it was launched as Krypton imploded thus didn't have to fight gravity as much) or it was a banned practice as Kryptonians knew how different types of solar radiation effected them and the implications that could have on other worlds.

Here it's like, "Yeah, we did it. But gave up. Everyone else out there? Who knows what happened to them? NBD."

 

[Nerys Myk]

Really, saying the Kryptonians having had other colonies leaves too many "Yeah, but...." questions in place while also mudding the "Last Son of Krypton" thing. I more like the idea that Kryptonians couldn't leave Krypton either due too high of gravity for meaningful space travel to be possible (Kal's ship being the exception as it was launched as Krypton imploded thus didn't have to fight gravity as much) or it was a banned practice as Kryptonians knew how different types of solar radiation effected them and the implications that could have on other worlds.

Here it's like, "Yeah, we did it. But gave up. Everyone else out there? Who knows what happened to them? NBD."

Kal's still the last son. The others, if they still exist stopped be Kryptonians when they set down roots on the colonies and lost contact with Krypton.

 

[feek61]

Here it's like, "Yeah, we did it. But gave up. "

Sounds like NASA.

 

[davejames]

Really, saying the Kryptonians having had other colonies leaves too many "Yeah, but...." questions in place while also mudding the "Last Son of Krypton" thing. I more like the idea that Kryptonians couldn't leave Krypton either due too high of gravity for meaningful space travel to be possible (Kal's ship being the exception as it was launched as Krypton imploded thus didn't have to fight gravity as much) or it was a banned practice as Kryptonians knew how different types of solar radiation effected them and the implications that could have on other worlds.

Here it's like, "Yeah, we did it. But gave up. Everyone else out there? Who knows what happened to them? NBD."

Yeah I admit that's one thing I'm still kinda iffy about. It's hard to imagine these Kryptonians being so advanced they can create giant "World Engines" and send fleets of scout ships to distant planets... and yet are somehow unable to survive and live independently once they get there.

I mean, we're not talking about 15th century Spanish explorers with limited technology here.

 

[TemporalFlux]

The idea is an interesting parallel to modern day. We essentially gutted NASA's budget to pay for social programs (most notably Cash for Clunkers). Society can decide that space travel just isn't very important anymore; it's happened to us.