Film Man of Steel

[L2R]

i don't know how you could have a superman without the fantastic element. to me, the climactic action made me really wish they did that clarity and realism for a real dbz film. as for the akira reference, i think you're stretching it there. in akira, the satellite served a particular purpose, that of a massive weapon.

as for the contrived element you refer to, i agree, but this is normal fare in any drama. it doesn't matter the context but the characters tend to stay involved in the story one way or another. in reality, the cast of characters dynamically change, but this doesn't work within the finite timeframe of a film. it could have been handled a bit better, as i noted earlier. just a little sloppy, not really a critical dealbreaker imo.

 

[psood0nym]

^The idea of an Akira allusion is a stretch, which is why I joked about tentacle porn being another potential reference. It's just that I imagine anyone doing a live action superhero battle sequence is going to look at animation for some idea of how to pull it off and Akira is such a Western cultural touchstone (not to mention DBZ, as you acknowledge). Plus the Kryptonian birthing system was very Matrix, as are other elements in Man of Steel, and the Wachowski's work is very openly inspired by anime, so I think it's quite likely that the people involved in Man of Steel were consciously aware of the association with the scene from Akira even if what they produced wasn't a direct reflection of it.

I of course agree you can't have a Superman without the fantastic, but the fantastic is not the same as the fantastically contrived problems I was addressing. Every drama contains massive conceits, even history's great dramas -- that's a big part of making drama -- but these conceits are usually justified in good drama by their roles in character development and motivation, or by what we recognize in how they play out as revealing about the nature of our lives. In Man of Steel I didn't see that justification. They seemed too often to be mere props to heighten the sense of action or emotional consequence. For example, [spoil] Perry's character was mostly just superfluous until he started pulling people out of wreckage that probably shouldn't have occurred in the first place, there was no romantic development with this version of Lois Lane to heighten a sense of obligation but rather mostly just development of journalistic respect, and all the brave soldiers and people of Metrolpolis/Smallville seemed sacrificially patriotic to the point of bleeding over into agitprop. [/spoil] This, in addition to all the other examples already mentioned, brought me to exasperation too often to remain engaged in the story.

That said, I liked a lot about the intent of the approach to making this one, I just didn't think it was executed well. The past work of the people involved makes me think the promised sequel will be far better.

 

[L2R]

it took me in.

the results of the australian government leadership spill was going to be announced only a half hour after the start of the film last night. it was a major talking point at work yesterday and i was eager to find out what was going to happen, but there was no reception in the theatre.

although it was on my mind entering, i had completely forgotten about it until the credits rolled.

 

[Mysterie]

5/10

what a piece of shit

i didnt go in expecting it to be amazing, but it didn't even deliver as an action movie which is able to hold my attention in the cinema
the dialogue was so bad it made me feel a bit sick and depressed, im honestly tempted to start drawing comparisons to it and 'clash of the titans'

i feel bad that i spent my last 19$ to my name on this unoriginal, formulaic and cynical view of filmgoer intelligence 8)

 

[What 23]

You had to spend 19 bucks?

 

[Mysterie]

yeh its 15$ for students, 19$ for adults, australia tends to be expensive in general

there should be a concession card for people who cant cope with life and have no job and dont study

 

[What 23]

Man. I am lucky. I can go before 5 on weekdays and spend 5 bucks.

 

[GodSpeedK]

Thank fuck my friend had an Odeon card with 40,000 points on it...or we would have to pay like £16 each for a ticket. Instead it was free! Which was especially good because I found the film to be slightly disappointing. Action sequences were great, the beginning was awesome....It did drag on though. And Lois Lane was incredibly annoying. All these types of films are effortlessly brilliant at making Journalists extremely annoying.

I give it a generous 3 stars.

 

[lostNfound]

Entertaining. 4/5

 

[coors light]

I have yet to see this I might go see it soon, but im sure anything is better than superman returns.

 

[Zulkifar]

Seeing it was written by Nolan and Goyer, it appears I expected too much. Yes the movie was passable. A fitting modern update for Superman. I like what they did with the origin story on Krypton etc. But other than that it didn't blow my head off.
Still, it simply doesn't compare with the origin story in Batman Begins, and maybe I shouldn't be comparing, but it's a little hard not to. I guess at the end of the day, there's only so much you can do with Kal El's background story while trying to stay as faithful to the comics as possible, so what they did with it is probably as good as you can get.

 

[ela.sand]

This movie was way too loud, flashy, too fast and 3d for me
-I must be getting old.
Also, very predictable, shallow plot and story.
But at least my younger cousin had fun

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

I loved this movie, and according to the huge box office numbers, so did everyone else. Fuck the critics. I personally don't want a pussy goofball version of Superman. I want the darker more conflicted bad ass. Can't wait for the sequel and the eventual other DC character movies that are going to set up a Justice League film.

 

[L2R]

box office is hardly a way to measure audience satisfaction. it's more of a measure of the marketing and distribution companies' successes.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

box office is hardly a way to measure audience satisfaction. it's more of a measure of the marketing and distribution companies' successes.

Not really.. because a huge reason box office numbers are big is word of mouth. If people go and hate it, tell there friends it sucks, they are a lot less likely to go. So.. I think box office numbers is a really good way of measuring audience satisfaction.. why would they continue to buy tickets to a movie they didn't like..? Marketing and distribution can only go so far as to get people in the seats for the first opening, but after that, it comes down to word of mouth and recommendation by the people who saw it.

 

[L2R]

sorry bro, but you are being naive. the great majority of cinema audiences go to see movies even when they know they are going in to see utter shite. there are very many profitable movies which are universally crticised. on the other side there are plenty financial disasters with unanimous praise.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

sorry bro, but you are being naive. the great majority of cinema audiences go to see movies even when they show they are going in to see utter shite. there are very many profitable movies which are universally crticised. on the other side there are plenty financial disasters with unanimous praise.

Guess we'll agree to disagree.

 

[L2R]

do you disagree to the claim that

there are very many profitable movies which are universally crticised. on the other side there are plenty financial disasters with unanimous praise.

really?

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

do you disagree to the claim that

really?

To me, "critics" don't detemine a good movie. The actual people do. But, this is really not something I feel like arguing about.. Ha. It's movies, man. I have other stuff to do.

But I respect your opinion.

 

[L2R]

i'm not trying to argue, just understand. btw: i was referring to audience criticisms, not professional critics.

we're cool, mate