The Movie Press
  • Movie Reviews
  • Twitter News/Updates
  • News & Notes
  • DVD
  • Box Office Results
  • Contact
  • About Us

Slightly emotional but ultimately tedious “Man of Steel”

6/13/2013

0 Comments

 
Man of Steel
I feel conflicted about the new Superman movie by Zack Snyder, Man of Steel, which I’ll get into further detail below. There is so much to really connect with during this movie, and there is a lot that just doesn’t feel quite as good as you hoped for. There is so much thrown at this movie that you’d expect to be engrossed for the entire (slightly bloated) run time, and that’s not quite the case.

Snyder’s rendition of Superman tells the tale of how Krypton doomed itself and Jor-El (Russell Crowe) sends his newborn son to Earth to keep him safe. In the midst of all this, General Zod (Michael Shannon) tries to throw a coup and lands himself in a spaceship prison while all of Krypton blows up (well, that worked out for him....) Flash forward 33 years, and the Kryptonion Kal-El (now known as Clark Kent) is running from job to job in order to keep his unique powers hidden...until one day Earth needs him to reveal himself.

Now onto what worked and what did not....

On one hand, I loved the scenes set in Smallville that show Clark Kent’s budding powers, his desire and obligation to help those in peril, and his relationship with his adoptive parents (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) and how they shape him. But, the problem is that these scenes are peppered in sporadically, in attempt to create a non-linear story (thanks, Christopher Nolan), and I feel like they’d have more weight if the story was told in a more linear fashion. The scenes with Costner and Lane are just so downright moving that I wish we got more of an origin story than just a mere peppering of their stories.

On the other hand, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) just does not work for me in this movie. I liked that she was strong and determined like all Lois Lanes should be, but I couldn’t quite grasp her romance with our Man of Steel (Henry Cavill). It made zero sense. Plus, all of her cohorts at the Daily Planet are pretty wasted here too. I feel like they filmed more scenes but were left on the cutting room floor.

Also, Cavill, who realllllllly looks the part, is just sorta ho-hum. Where is his great sense of wit and humor he had in The Tudors? I get that Superman is sorta one-dimensional, and Cavill DOES bring out a little bit of Superman’s torment at having to enact violence on his enemies, but the little kids playing Clark Kent were much more emotive than he.

Of course, I adore Michael Shannon, and I do buy him as a villain hell-bent on destroying earth, but the real weight of his menace didn’t really hit me until the very end of the film. There are several battle scenes in the climax of Man of Steel, and the ones that really work are when it’s just mano-y-mano instead of Superman versus some weird tentacle machine thing (which will really send you back to the days of the Matrix).

On a whole, the emotional weight from the Kent family was enough for me to feel engrossed, but the tediousness of the Man of Steel definitely weighs on you towards the end. The spectacle of it all isn’t quite grand enough, even though it desperately tries by throwing SO MUCH CGI in your face, and the film is definitely bogged down by its 3-D.

So, go in looking for a Pretty Greatman, maybe just not a Super one.

--Darcie Duttweiler

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2020
    October 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008

    Categories

    All
    Austin Film Festival
    Darcie Duttweiler Reviews
    Derrick Mitcham Reviews
    Eric Harrelson Reviews
    Eric Pulsifer Reviews
    Eric Pulsifer Reviews
    Fantastic Fest
    Greg Maclennan Reviews
    Greg Wilson Reviews
    Jessica Hixson Reviews
    Mark Collins Reviews
    Monte Monreal Reviews
    Reviews
    Rob Heidrick Reviews
    Rob Heidrick Reviews
    Sxsw

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.