Man of Steel (2013)
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon
Synopsis:
A young Clark Kent struggles with his identity as Earth is threatened by General Zod.
Impressions:
I was all geared up to hate this movie. Based on what I'd heard, I went in with the attitude of "Screw this movie and screw Zack Snyder." I'll admit that I had reservations when I heard Zack Snyder was directed in the first place. He has good sense for stylish visuals, but his films tend to be style over substance and while I don't need all or even most of the movies I watch to be particularly deep, his is a shallowness that doesn't really do much for me. Having Christopher Nolan as producer, I figured he'd help rein Snyder in a bit. The line from Pa Kent about it maybe being a good idea for Clark not to save people was abhorrent, the exact antithesis of everything Superman is supposed to stand for. Happily, that doesn't become the pervading philosophy of the movie as a whole. Anyway, this is a long way roundabout, but I have to admit that I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. It's actually decent, though the joke about Superman causing more collateral damage than Godzilla is pretty on the nose. I mean, sheesh, Supes, Goku's a moron and even he has the sense and basic decency to lure the bad guys away from populated areas. >_>
I know Superman Returns got mixed reviews, but I thought it was decent and that Brandon Routh did a good job of portraying Superman in the Christopher Reeves mold. While I have problems with a "gritty" Superman, Henry Cavill was pretty good as the Big S. Russel Crowe as Jor-El and Michael Shannon as Zod were also not too shabby.
For being better than I was expecting, I'll actually recommend you give this one a watch. Take that, Zack Snyder.
Rating:I thought I posted the above review along with my review of BvS back in 2016, but apparently not. I considered posting the above as-is, but as with many things, the years have soured my view of this film, so I want to make a bit of an update. My opinion hasn't changed that much, to be honest. It's just that my objections are stronger, especially in light of how the Snyderverse fell apart and the casting of Henry Cavill as Superman was utterly wasted. Unless you're a dedicated Synderbro or just a very casual viewer, the negatives of this film are going to outweigh the good. It played better back when superhero movies were flying high, but it doesn't play as well now, even though compared to just how awful superhero films have become, it may still come off looking a bit better to some. I don't think old school Superman fans are going to like this too much and I'm not even going to wade into the war between the Gunnbros and the Snyderbros on the subject. I'll be somewhat generous and simply downgrade my rating by one rank and tell you to take it or leave it.
Rating:50/50