‘Man of Steel’

Man of Steel_Poster_3Happy 75th birthday, Superman! For this special occasion Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have gotten the people of your adopted home world another big blockbuster summer movie! They hope that people like it more than your 68th birthday present.

Man of Steel is here!

Director Zach Snyder and producer Christoper Nolan and writer David Goyer’s relaunching and reimagining of the Last Son of Krypton his finally come to theaters and this time not only will Superman be tasked with saving the world from Zod but he is also being asked to save Warner Bros.’ plans to expand their DC Comics movie universe beyond Batman.

This looks like a job for Superman!

Want to read Paul Montgomery’s spoiler free review of Man of Steel? Look for it soon!

Want to hear a podcast discussion about Man of Steel? You’ll find it this weekend!

Are you going to see Man of Steel? Of course you are! So let’s talk about it!

If you haven’t seen the movie yet be forewarned – there be SPOILERS ahoy! So don’t scroll down any further if you are sensitive to that kind of thing.


Comments

  1. Going to see this Saturday and that means I’ll probably be (mostly) in the dark on the internet for a while.

    Here’s the thing though: This is getting really mediocre reviews right now. Like, it went from Fresh to Rotten on RottenTomatoes in a matter of two days. That’s not a good sign….Here’s another bad sign: Mark Waid made a cryptic tweet of being upset over something he just watched….If he’s talking about Man of Steel and HE didn’t like it then that’s something to think about.

    • That Mark Waid tweet had me worried too, then I went to RT and saw how low the score had dropped! So yeah, going to try and lower my expectations a bit for this though it does seem like audience reactions are mostly quite positive.

  2. Avatar photo webhead921 (@Grapes4Lunch) says:

    I’m sitting in the theater right now. I haven’t been this excited for a movie in a very long time. I’m normally not a midnight premiere kind of guy, but there’s just something special about seeing superman on the big screen. I can’t wait for it to start

  3. Man… Supe sure does a lot of standin around chatting while people are being straight up laid to waste.

  4. I just saw the 7:00 Walmart showing… I loved it. Despite everyone’s reactions. I the ending was perfect in my opinion. But seriously, NO ONE CAN RECOGNIZE HIM WITH GLASSES AFTER HE SAVED THEM ALL??!!??

  5. I also saw the early screening tonight and overall I was very pleased with it. I did have a few nitpicks and there is a very controversial moment at one point that will rankle a lot of people (even I was off put by it, but I am starting to come around more and more on it). Superman is my favorite character and this movie placed him in a modern context/ world in a way that very much satisfied me. There are some great, great emotional beats throughout and of course the action is insane as hell. There were actually points where I was getting “Kryptonians beating the shit out of each other” fatigue, which is something i have never been able to even consider in a previous Superman movie. The casting was top notch across the board, Zimmer’s score was beautiful and that final scene leaves me wanting the next movie right this second. My nitpicks with the movie are few, and along the lines of my few problems with Batman Begins (which I love). Man of Steel structurally is along the same lines as “Begins” in how it establishes Superman and people’s reactions to him and how it changes things greatly. I am still processing my feelings about it (I had this same thing happen last year after first time I watched “Dark Knight Rises”) and I really want to watch it again right this second.

    • I agree with most of this, and I think that most of us here will ultimately wind up rewatching the movie just so we can judge the movie without comparing it to our expectations.

      I personally felt that Zimmer’s approach to the score, that of not playing the full theme ’til the end because it hadn’t been earned, was a poor decision and prevents the Superman moments (particularly his first flight) from truly soaring and connecting on an emotional level. Those fight scenes on the other hand are incredible and anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet is gonna freak out when they see Faora using super speed to attack the soldiers in Smallville. That’s EXACTLY how super speed should be shown on film.

    • You know what, this was my 2nd time watching it and Ive kind if warmed up to “the moment” that everyone is going to talk about. Maybe its because of Supermans reaction afterwards that somehow sold it for me but somehow it just isnt eating at me like it did the first time. My biggest gripe with the film is all the collateral damage that Superman is kind of responsible in some of the action scenes. I mean buildings are torn down, cities are leveled by the end of the film. Compares to that, the big moment at the end is really nothing.

      Overall, I still loved it. And that dream sequence in the middle? One of the most visually awesome scenes ive ever seen on film.

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      Collateral damage was my big gripe. When he threw Zod into a gas station? BOOM! When he dealt with Zod ultimately, I was fine with that. I’m not sure what else he could have done. Zod is at that point . Both were fairly even in strength. It was him or some innocents. Besides, Batman basically killed Ras in Batman Begins 🙂

  6. Just got home from the theater. I had set my expectations about as high as a man can fly, and overall I liked a lot of what Snyder and co. did here.

    Cavill is fantastic as both Clark and Superman. He manages to maintain a balance between both personas, and even though we see barely anything of the secret identity, he strikes a kind of authenticity that has been missing since Reeve’s performance. Snyder and Goyer also do an admirable job of detailing the broader strokes of the mythology, which goes a long way in helping the audience believe. The action is also almost too insane in parts, which is a thrill in scenes like the Faora fight, and a little too reminiscent of the final Neo/Smith fight in the Zod/Supes showdown at the climax.

    In the negative column, it seems like in an effort to flesh out a Begins style origin they ended up painting themselves into a corner. For instance, the magical tension between Lois, Superman, and Clark is rendered forfeit from here on out, and Superman’s grand introduction on the global stage is going to make it almost impossible to believe he can maintain any kind of secret identity moving forward. It’s going to be really interesting to see how they handle a sequel. In many ways, they kinda blew their wad.

    And the movie moves incredibly fast. So fast that the audience really has to grasp for moments of genuine heart and soul. Something that should be overflowing in a Superman film.

    And then of course there’s that final, all too brutal moment that is damn near unforgivable. An essential part of Superman’s code is that there is always another way, and in this particular instance, there were dozens of other ways to end the conflict. It’s going to be a point of contention for a lot of viewers.

    All in all though, this is a Superman movie more in line with what I’ve always wanted to see. Being so young when the Reeves movies were popular, I almost shamefully admit that those movies never made me believe that a man could fly. This one did. Those moments that took my breath away go a long way in helping to overlook the few and small missteps.

  7. Saw it at midnight. LOVED it. I have no qualms about the climax. I understand its one-time use.

    I bet John Byrne would agree.

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      He is Superman for two days before he starts killing his enemies. You have no qualms with that?

    • @JokerNuts – URGH!!! Why didn’t you tell me you were going to post a spoiler?

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      I see this as a very good reason for this. But first; two things. He’s been flying for two days, he’s had his powers for 30 years. He’s used them to save people from stuff but as far as we know, never for fighting. Two: “STARTS killing his enemies”? I view this as his inexperience having to use his powers in battle being the reason he can’t find another way before Zod is going to kill the innocent people. The amount of pain this caused him is the reason this will be the LAST time he kills an enemy.

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      I completely agree. He was clearly haunted by what he had to do. It was the last thing he wanted. It’s not like he became Frank Castle with a cape.

    • yeah i felt that costed him something. If they do a sequel i hope they would reference that when he is like “i won’t kill you lex never again”

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      My problems with him killing Zod are:

      1. Why? What’s the point of putting that in there? If it leads to him not killing in the future then okay, but maybe make some reference to it I this movie. Honestly just seems like a better idea not to put it in there at all because you have to know it’s going to be controversial and out of character.
      2.He kill him pretty brutally, just unnecessary.
      3. The moment didn’t feel earned at all. What I mean by this, is that Superman spends a great deal of time showing little concern for human life. In fact, Superman is without a doubt responsible for killing thousands of people in this movie. Other than Lois, and some soldiers, Superman does little to show he wants to save civilians at all once the fighting starts. He never tries to move the fight out of Smallville and into the fields. He never tries to draw Zod out of Metropolis. Instead he does things like throw the villains into gas stations and buildings full of people….I mean, just throw in a couple of scenes of him taking the time to usher people to safety, or protecting them from debris, or trying to take the fights away from the people. It’s not very good story telling the way it was done because it seems like people are collateral damage to him throughout the end of the movie until this scene, and that makes it less powerful I think.

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      I also was dismayed on how Superman finally dealt with Zod. I felt they crossed a line there. Superman is not Wolverine, i.e. a killer

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      my own feels
      1) given all the animated films and comics where superman get punched through 12 buildings and nobody claims this he is no looking out for people thing funny.
      2) superman Tries several times in the fight in smallville to grab the at least one of the two kryptonians and fly away but cannot as the other stops him.
      3) several times superman saves someone from getting smashed flat by another kryptonian it not like he sits there and let’s it happen.
      4) i find the take the fight over to the cornfield thing dumb as one punch over there will still hurt a human over here. they could be right back there in a second by being thrown there or jumping. It’s like ” lets set off these high explosions in the next room someone could get hurt. ”
      5) either Zod is big enough power make it that superman cannot stop all the damage or superman is letting him punch him on purpose. you cannot have it both ways to me.

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      my own feelings
      1) given all the animated films and comics where superman getd punched through 12 buildings and nobody claims this he is not looking out for people thing i find this funny.
      2) superman tries several times in the fight in smallville to grab at least one of the two kryptonians and fly away but cannot as the other stops him.
      3) several times superman saves someone from getting smashed flat by another kryptonian it not like he sits there and let’s it happen.
      4) i find the “take the fight over to the cornfield” thing dumb as one punch over there will still hurt a human over here. they could be right back there in a second by being thrown there or jumping. It’s like ” lets set off these high explosions in the next room someone could get hurt. ”
      5) either Zod is big enough power make it that superman cannot stop all the damage or superman is letting him punch him on purpose. you cannot have it both ways to me.

  8. I am planning to see it this weekend. If not for work, I probably have seen it already. Superman has been one of my all time favorite super heroes for as long as I can remember and I have enjoyed pretty much all of the character’s incarnations in movies and tv, but the more I see of Man of Steel, the more excited I get. I just hope that it is not a big letdown (which I have a hard imagining it could ever be.)

  9. The positive reactions I’ve been hearing have made me think back to the George Lucas apologists reeling in the wake of the Phantom Menace.

    There is no way around the fact, that no matter how much we wanted this to be the Superman movie of the age, no matter how much potential we saw in the admittedly incredible trailers, or the talents of the cast…that it was just a flat out disappointment.

    The film makers made a big to do about the “S” as a symbol of hope…and that’s how they got us.
    They played on our hopes, and delivered a sloppy disjointed mess.

    I believe the term is “Suckerpunch”

    (and considering that movie…geez, we all really should have known better, huh?)

    It falls short of a total botch, mostly due to the fact that they got a likable charismatic guy in the suit. Lois is good too. I’d love to see those actors portray those characters in a movie that didn’t jerk me around.

    • Avatar photo webhead921 (@Grapes4Lunch) says:

      I think you’re being a bit unfair to compare people who enjoyed this film to Phantom Menace apologists. This movie had some flaws, but it a lot of things right too. It was not of the same high quality of The Dark Knight or the Avengers, but I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable. I personally think it is on par with Batman Begins (both are very entertaining movies that have some flaws). I liked the portrayal of Krypton, and I thought Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, and Antje Traue gave great performances. I was not a huge fan of Zod (his character felt very one-note). Faora was a scene stealer.

      The movie is extremely similar to Batman Begins structurally. We have scenes of a troubled young man wandering alone cut with scenes of his childhood, training sequence in cold weather, hero returns home, a threat from the past emerges, hero faces the threat and discovers his destiny. I bet if you placed a plot outline of Man of Steel side by side with a plot outline of Batman Begins, they would line up extremely will.

    • Have to disagree, Webs. I’ll admit there are some things to like about it. (I’ll also admit there are some things to like about the Star Wars prequels…doesn’t make em’ not a disappointment)

      Anyways, as far as a Batman Begins comparison, sure both movies have to do the dirty work of telling an origin story a good chunk of the planet is already familiar with. Begins is a decent movie, it sells us the Batman because we see him take shape in a linear way and can connect with him and where he’s going. By the time he puts on the suit, the audience is on board.

      The time jumps used to fill in Clark’s backstory in MOS do not in my opinion, make for a cohesive story. The storytelling just felt too choppy, and while we all know that Snyder is decent at interesting looking films, I just don’t think he has the chops to juggle all of the important story points in a satisfactory way.

      Krypton was interesting, but it was lots of sketched in eye-candy. Everybody is fighting over the Codex, where the audience is not clear on WHAT that is, exactly, or WHY they should be expected to give a crap. When the information is dropped, it doesn’t come off as an exciting reveal.
      I felt the choices the screenwriter made also brought some notions of Superman’s heroism into question. Before even getting to the bit with Zod, it sets Superman up as a force that only comes out and shows himself when the planet gets bullied. He’s become a passive, reactive protagonist.
      When it did come to the Zod moment… I was waiting and hoping for both Clark (and the screenwriter, dammit!) to find another way. Superman shouldn’t just be a moral example, he should be clever, but when backed into a corner the writers were unable to create a clever resolution to the threat.

      Geez, I could rant some more but now is the time for sleep.
      I did enjoy the cast, especially Cavil and Adams…i just hope Warners gets someone to write a better movie for them to star in and don’t let Zach Snyder anywhere near it.

    • I agree with XKettNerdX. “Man of Steel” was both surprisingly convoluted yet it felt like the movie barely covered any real ground, it was filled to the brim with one-dimensional supporting characters (it seemed like Commander Law and Order almost got as much screen-time as Clark) that really have no reason to exist, Zod was one-note and despite Michael Shannon’s histrionics he never even came close to the steely menace of Terrance Stamp, and the whole design and execution was was so reliant on CGI as opposed to any kind of built tension or pacing (compare any of the fights or chases in this to the Joker/Harvey Dent/Batpod chase in “Dark Knight”) that there was no real sense of wonder and by the end it felt lazy, especially by the end which basically felt like the climax to “The Avengers” only robbed of wit, humor, and fun.

    • one) i really liked this film two) i would give it 4.5 /5 because we give out 5/5 too easily there MIGHT be one movie a year that deserves that 3) I really enjoyed watching faora too. i am going to go watch this again!!! =)

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    This is the movie where Superman snaps a dudes neck. fatality! Nope, wasn’t a fan of that particular bit of character assanassition.

  11. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    Hey guys,

    Copy and paste the following spoiler bumper into the start of your comments:

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    Even if people avoid this spoiler thread, they still might inadvertently see something they didn’t mean to read in the Recent Comments section on the main page.

    Ya know. Like I just did. 🙁

  12. Wow. Here is the deal. I like it. I went with friends that are not comics fans. They liked it. There was a lot of action and it was cut with the story of a boy,who is different in a way that could scare a lot of people, and his parents, who love and want to protect him, and how he finds his way in the world. It’s not directly from any of the Superman origin stories that I am aware of so the geek part of me screams a little from the inside ” he doesn’t meet Zod until he has more experience” or “this is not the way it happens in Man of Steel or Secret Origin or ….” but in the end I liked it. I will definitely watch it again and probably again and again. They left it in a good beginning kind of place. I really want to revisit this place and can’t wait to see how this Superman is going to make his way into the next phase of his life. I hope he can make a few more super powered friends to help him feel less different.

  13. This one is going to be divisive.

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    Every time we flash back to moments in Clark’s past, the scene is key to the moment in the present. How he learns to control his hearing, his natural inclinations to respond to violence, the proper way to aid others without bringing too much attention to himself and so on.

    It didn’t take me long to understand the importance of the Codex. I know what the word means. I was, at first puzzled at why Jor El put it in Kal instead of just with him, but by the end I realized mere objects could be lost or stolen. And without an overarching reason to be proactive, Clark followed Jonathan’s advice to keep a low profile. Jor El gives him the tools and reasons to be proactive with compassion and restraint. His two fathers serve him well.

    As to the “S” symbol meaning hope: If memory serves, since the Modern Age, as well as being the crest of the house of El, it had also stood for hope. Something none of the other Superman movies point out (I’d have to re-watch the first Chris Reeve movie to be positive). I’m glad it was made clear and more than once. Anyone who deals with the public will tell you, if you want it to be understood, repeat it.

    As to it being disjointed: Moving between now and then was an excellent way to keep all elements of the narrative moving forward at the same time without getting bogged down. Wasn’t confusing for me. But I can understand Grant Morrison’s stuff. Different strokes.

    As to the final solution to Zod: Byrne showed with clarity where and why Superman developed his code against killing. In MOS we immediately see how killing effects him. My guess is he’ll never do it again and will find ways around it.

    To end my rant, I’d just ask for more posters to talk about what they LIKED about MOS. Sometimes the negative POVs outnumber the positive.

    • Since I feel this is directed at my comments I’ll just say that I didn’t have a problem UNDERSTANDING the nonlinear story elements (The Invisibles is one of my faves). I understand how the device was being used with regards to triggering scenes in the present, I would just argue that the directer did not succeed in making this storytelling choice work for this movie. It was an awkward way to reintroduce the story to a new generation.

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      In regards to the lessons of his two fathers, what it really seemed to me is that Pa Kent died for no goddamn reason. The lesson he was being taught…to be passive, and hide cost Jon Kent his life. Clark eventually realizes that he can’t keep hiding, but only after he not only discovers his Kryptonian origin, but that a major league asshole threatens his adopted planet. Again, I understand the two fathers bit, I just don’t think it works, especially compared to Pa Kent’s death in the Donner film. Clark can’t save his Dad from a heart attack. That felt real, that there was something his abilities couldn’t fix. When Costner waves clark off I was so frustrated. there was no reason he shouldn’t have just let clark rescue the damn dog in the first place.

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      Furthermore, I agree with J-Shap below…the choice to kill Zod would have been acceptable if they had earned it. They do a good job of showing that Clark restrains himself, but I wish one of those flashbacks really hammered in his stance about killing. They could have done this in a number of ways. It could have made his final choice both more shocking and more heartbreaking.

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      Thanks for the well thought-out and reasonable reply. I’m just a guy that likes the back and forth of now/then storytelling and I thought it worked here. My opinion.

      I too felt Jonathan’s death was needless. I could have been an excellent moment for Jon to allow Clark to step up. It would have even been better if it was another injured traveler. They should have just grabbed the damn dog in the first place.

      As far as Zod was concerned, it didn’t bother me because he DID kill Jor El himself, and Kal knew Zod wouldn’t stop until everyone on Earth were dead too. It was still heartbreaking.

      …And in other news… I too liked The Invisibles.

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      I saw Pa Kent’s death as him protecting his son. He was willing to die to protect his son’s secret

  15. I saw an early showing yesterday, and I give it a B. It’s got some pretty significant flaws, but they don’t overwhelm the film. Chief among those flaws, of course, is the shaky cam bullshit. Seriously, it’s hackneyed, amateur hour crap, and it has no place in films that aren’t Cloverfield. Just stop already.

    Also, Lois Lane was unrecognizable. Not remotely Lois-like in characterization. Warm, nurturing, soft, feminine, patient, not at all fierce.

    Superman, however, was recognizable, and that’s what matters most. I still miss Tom Welling, but I did like Henry Cavill.

    • Wait wait wait, are saying Lois is never “Warm, nurturing, soft, feminine, patient” in the comics? Maybe Im missing something.

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    Let me just make one thing perfectly clear: conceptually, I have no problem with Superman killing Zod if it means protecting the innocent. The reason why it didn’t work in this movie: they did nothing to earn it. Superman killing anybody is a pretty frickin’ huge deal, since that’s basically Supes rule #1, but if you are going to be bold and cross it, then you need to make sure it isn’t a decision taken lightly. The scene itself, out of context with the rest of the film, probably worked perfectly; it clearly established that as long as Zod was alive he was a threat to the people of Earth, and Clark had absolutely no choice. Moreover, after he killed him, he was beyond devastated and ashamed of himself. The problem was there was nothing building up to that and nothing afterward. If they had made it a recurring source of conflict – what’s more important: saving lives or preserving integrity – throughout the movie, and it thematically built up to the moment where he had no choice, it might’ve worked. But there was nothing like that. I don’t even remember a scene where it was established that he didn’t kill. If you weren’t familiar with Superman at all, you might assume that this was just another day in the park. But what was even worse is that nothing affected Clark afterward. it was such a weighty decision that you need a lot more fallout than Clark screaming at the top of his super-lungs for about the 14th time in the last 2 hours. What’s the following scene? Him smack-talking the military and talking to his mom. Hasn’t his entire perspective on life changed now that he’s actually killed somebody. This isn’t unique to alien supergods, this is something soldiers and cops go through all the time when they make their first kill. But Clark just goes on like normal. And don’t feed me crap about how it will resolve in the sequel. “We don’t have anymore time in the movie to deal with the fallout so we’ll just save it for the next one!” That isn’t serialized storytelling, that’s just procrastination. The more I think about it, the less likely it seems that Nolan and Snyder didn’t want to make a bold examination of the real responsibilities a superhero would have in the real world, especially Superman. It was either A) they wanted to be shocking, or B) they didn’t like this element of the Superman mythos and wanted to get rid of it. Both of which, are just lazy.

    As for the rest of the movie… meh. Good stuff with both fathers, interesting but distracting narrative choices, action started off nice and just got way too big, and goddammit Superman needs more personality. Whole thing was so dire and flat. The script needed a Joss Whedon or a Sam Raimi or a Jon Favreau.

    • I didn’t like the moment either but isn’t “No guns, no killing” Batman’s rule? It doesn’t feel right for Superman to kill yet I don’t actually recall him explicitly either being told not to nor taking any sort of vow.

    • 100% agreed on the Zod point.

      One of the movie’s strengths is that it does a good job of showing Clark as a decent moral dude. After an act like that I would almost expect a follow up movie of grief stricken catholic guilt superman. Now, nobody, myself included particularly wants a movie like this, but based on the character I would definitely expect major fallout from killing Zod and not just establishing his secret ID with a smile. Based on what I know about Superman, he’d more likely be doing some time at the fortress of solitude.

      If they were going to go for the Superman kills plot, they really should have saved it for the sequel. Have the ante upped and really write him into a corner where it would be the only option. MOS just didn’t do the work to earn it.

      Bummer.

    • SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

      icn1983: Superheroes don’t kill. Simple as that. There is always another way.

    • @wheelhands except for all the times superheroes like ironman, thor, captain america, superman in superman 2.and etc…did it…but honestly would really like it if clark looked back on that in any possible future movies and is like “no never again i will find a better way”

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    What disturbed me in the film was totally left field… Falcor the luck dragon popped into my head in the Jor-el/Krypton escape sequence….

  18. The question is… Are they going all out for the sequel by having Doomsday as the villain ?

  19. I just finished watching it and I enjoyed it. I found it good, but not great. I had no problem with Superman’s controversial action.

  20. I believe Mark Waid’s review nails it but I just don’t think it’s as dreadful as he does. In a moment all by itself the “controversial” scene makes perfect sense and will probably be used in future films. It’s all of the disregard for safety during the fight scenes that bothered me. I get why Hollywood made that decision because those fight scenes look better in a city that’s appears to be nearly deserted even though we know it isn’t. They made those choices so that they could get away with the MPAA rating but still have the huge action of things going boom. It could have been done just as good had S moved the fight someplace else but it probably wouldn’t have looked as “cool”/summer blockbuster.

  21. I really enjoyed the movie.

    Krypton felt like a real place to me. out of this world but real. loved seeing lara find the strength of will to give up her son. I also find it funny that in the movie women can endure the things that kill the men. Faora and lois for some reason really shined to me. Lois had no fainting no bad spelling but was still ” i am here deal with it.” I love that she tracked him down. i love her and perry for the short time we see them.

    Really like Zod’s announcement to the world how they took the effort to make sure everyone on the planet could understand them. The flashback to pa kent were great but i really wish we got to see more of the interaction between pa and ma kent. the reaction of pete ross’s mother was great.

    I liked see that the other kryptonians didn’t just get here and just somehow know how to uses all their powers and i also liked that zod was actually get better with them as the film continued.

    i even laugh a few times watching the movie.

  22. Spoilers I guess……

    SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

    I was pretty psyched to see this (even took time off of work to go). Word of warning for those with sensitive ears – avoid the IMAX version, it’s oppressively loud.

    Two things that bugged me about the film – the dialogue is almost only functional. Characters for the last hour pretty much just spout plot specific information. Michael Shannon is a terrific and smart actor who can twist dialogue and make it sing, and he never really gets to do that here (check out his creepy ass villain in the under rated Premium Rush). And that last hour is quite a bit of carnage. If city destruction imagery is upsetting to you, this may end up being too much. One image of a plane into a building with ash everywhere I felt was in bad taste.

    On to the good. Lots of it actually. Critics have been down on the Lois/Clark relationship, but I thought that was one of the best things about it. And where their relationship ends (and how it gets there) I thought was a terrific change in tradition. I want to see that next scene NOW!

    On Supes and his choice at the end – I had no issues with it. Yes, I get that it feels out of character, but he didn’t do it lightly, and I thought it was a gutsy choice to show him so agonized over it. Of course, he’d already destroyed some Kryptonian ships, killing those on board anyway…

    Also, almost every actor was perfectly cast, Fishbourne, Adams, Lane and Costner. And Cavill is a terrific choice here. He anchors the movie with his humanity and his ability to listen to the other actors. He’s aware in every scene he is in of the people around him, and he doesn’t try too hard.

    Best moment of the film – I’ll give you two – learning to fly, and the Lane/Kent conversation and moments awaiting Zod’s arrival. Perfect tone.

    Like Avengers, I can’t wait to see a sequel. I want to see some inter-office behavior and interaction of the actors. Just get a script with some more wit and style, please….

  23. Overall I would say the movie was “good”, but I have to say it was a bit disappointing if I’m being honest.

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    I thought it was pretty well cast, I thought it mostly looked very good, and I think the special effects and fight scenes were very good. But man it has some serious flaws. I don’t think it was particularly well directed, and I normally like Snyder a lot. Count me as one of the people who didn’t like that he kills Zod. Not just that he kills him, but how he kills him is just brutal and out of character. I get he kind of “had to” but why write that in there? At least you can see it tormented him to have to do it so I can get over it, but just a really odd choice. Also not a fan of Lois knowing who he is right away but I could live with that if it wasn’t for the fact that there is absolutely no way that the rest of the world doesn’t know who he is, pretty lazy story telling there because it should be very clear to everyone that Clark Kent is Superman. I’m glad I saw it and all but I certainly won’t pay to see it again. I’m hopeful the sequel will be better because I think there is a lot of potential there.

    • SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

      Please don’t ruin the film for yourself.

      SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

      <>

      Actually, do they know? Lois knows (which I think is great – it can make them co-conspirators in a potential sequel and alleviate some of the ethical problems of the Clark/Supes journalism angle), maybe the cop who drove her to the Kents, and anyone who helped load the rocket onto the truck. But the military guys who knew him all died in the plane flying into the Kryptonian ship. None of the Daily Planet staff was up close and personal with him (at any time I recall), plus they were pretty traumitized (although that last scene they all seemed chummy and not bothered by the THOUSANDS who had perished in the carnage). Pete Ross knows (most likely). Who else would even be aware to connect both of them? The Harry Lennix officer (and soldier) at the end saw him up close (and knows Clark is from Kansas).

      I think the reality of the situation can bend for me. After all, Supes did wreck and destroy a lot of property without batting an eye….just the time for Lex Corp to step in and help rebuild Metropolis!

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      I don’t see how they wouldn’t know, I mean, the government was so intent on finding out who he was they were sending up multi-million dollar satellites to try and find out something that took Lois like 2 days to figure out. And that was before Zod’s crew went to the Kent farm and they rumbled in Smallville. I think a third grader could connect the dots there. And like you said, that cop has to know, Lois calls him Clark right in front of him, and Pete knows for sure and I think it can be assumed other people in Smallville would have to at least suspect.

    • Yeah, explaining the alien space craft stopping off for a restroom break at a Kansas farm house might not work….

  24. I liked it. Thought it was a solid movie

  25. Spoilers

    Great film I loved it. Although it wouldn’t take much it made IM3 look like cheech and chong. As for the zod snap Supes killed him in the comics, and in superman 2.

  26. superman is grief stricken, is afraid to defend the world from brianiac/Darksied/whatever the hell else they chose because he doesn’t want to kill anyone, Justice league forms and saves the world…boom there is your justice league movie otherwise they killed zod for no reason

    • i would go with this is why he doesn’t kill luthor or why he doesn’t finish off justice league villain so it’s plays out like the episode of the man who has everything in JLU cartoon.

  27. This film contained a disturbing lack of requests to kneel.

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    First off, I was incredibly excited for this movie, as much as every other super fan out there (iTunes says I’ve listened to Hans Zimmer’s ‘An Ideal of Hope’ track 1657 times, and I don’t want to say how many times it says I’ve watched the 3rd trailer…..) and for the first half of it I was having the time of my life; Krypton was beautiful and alive, I openly cried every time Lara-El and Jonathan Kent were on screen, Cavill was fantastic, Lois was ACTUALLY doing investigative journalism….. just awesome. Things got shaky around the battle’s of Smallville and Metropolis, the sheer mass destruction on screen, but I was more or less ok with that; Supe’s was clearly not in control of the situation, no more than in his fight with Doomsday despite his efforts (I think I did see him try to fly Faora out of Smallville before being tackled by the big-Non-like-guy) and although he was perhaps more powerful than Zod and co having been on Earth longer, he had little or no training or experience of actually being in a fight (under Jonathan Kent’s protective parenting, which I liked).
    But then the climax. The only way I can describe my feelings about Zod’s fate, is by relating it to a crisis of faith. I know it might seem a little crazy, but I’ve personally spent my whole life trying to be Superman (It’s why I’m a police officer). His unshakeable morality, his embodiment of truth and justice, is everything I’ve ever aspired to. Almost most importantly though, is (again, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!) that he doesn’t kill. Ever. He sticks to his beliefs come hell or high water, no matter if the world thinks its old fashioned or uncool (Action Comics #775 is perhaps my all time favourite story). There’s no gray, just black and white. His respect for the sanctity of any and all life is part of what makes him such a symbol, and something I’ve always emulated. I come from a military family (in fact I’m the first for probably hundreds of years not to have enlisted straight out of school), so the debate of ‘necessary loss of life’ is something I’ve always grappled with; though I invariably always reach the conclusion that it’s all just too big for me, and that the best I can do is do what I feel is right (i.e. be like S-man). So to see him take that path is pretty tough, because really I don’t know if it’s wrong or right. The question is sometimes thrown around of “What would it take for Superman to kill?”, but I’ve always dismissed it as a moot question. Superman always finds another way, no matter what, even if we can’t think of one. But now it’s got me thinking back, and I’ll admit, so that I can find some way to excuse what happened in MOS. What was he trying to do in his fight with Doomsday? Was killing (SPOLIER) Mxyzptlk in ‘What ever happened to the man of tomorrow?’ ok? He hung up his cape because of that, and here it’s the start of his career! Hell, what actually did he do to Zod and co in Lester’s Superman 2? (SPOILER) He threw them into some bottomless pit in the fortress right? Did that kill them? It’s funny, watching Iron Man 3, Tony Stark was killing bad guys left and right, which I wasn’t happy about (don’t get me wrong, loved the movie, just a small quibble) but then I just said to myself “well it’s ok, he’s not a real superhero/symbol like Superman”. But now what? The only reason I’m not really in a rage so much as just confused was Cavill’s performance in the scene, and the hope that we can maybe explore the repercussions in the sequel. I guess my idea of superman is still who he always has been, but I’m just a little worried about who he’ll be in another 75 years for other generations. Whatever happened to truth, justice and the american way? Sorry for the essay. Thoughts?

  29. I asked this over on the podcast page for the movie and will ask it here as well: what did everyone think of Hans Zimmer’s score? It’s a part of the movie that hasn’t really been discussed on the website and I would like to know your thoughts.

    • Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

      What are your thoughts?

    • After hearing all this buzz about how great it was, I was surprised to realize that I didn’t even notice it until close to the end. His work on the Batman films (not to mention most of his extensive body of work) was much more memorable.

      Honestly, I’m just glad he didn’t use that same few bars that he used in Backdraft, The Rock, Gladiator, and all three Pirates films.

      Seriously. Take note next time. Parts of each theme are identical.

    • I wasn’t entirely impressed. The themes used on Krypton, his first flight (used for the podcast) and the main theme heard in the third trailer are great but almost everything else was a bit underwhelming. Not bad but, as Wheelhands mentioned, it wasn’t exactly noticeable.

    • My girlfriend’s a huge Hans Zimmer fan, and even she complained that the music was repetitive. But his Superman theme is downright beautiful and I wish that they had used it in full more.

    • The soundtrack was great. I got it off itunes before I saw the movie and even when I am not listening to it, it is playing in my head.

  30. The movie was good I suppose, it surprised me to say the least. I’m not much of a DC fan nor a Superman fan. The fight scenes where really drawn out. Not saying that the fight scenes were bad, they were INCREDIBLE. However, some of the action seemed pointless and nonsensical. (Throws an oil tanker at Superman, he dodges, THEN it blows up for no reason) It really felt that DC was trying to push out as much action and explosions as possible just to one-up The Avengers. (Marvel blew up 1/2 a city? Lets destroy A WHOLE CITY!) The first hour of the movie was really good, its got a good plot and got the movie really going with our main characters. With that said the movie doesn’t know how to stop or let a scene really give emphasis. Everything moved really fast when it didn’t need to be. The product placement was too blatant and the pacing really starts to feel rushed. The romance with Lois doesn’t feel earned. She likes him cause he’s mysterious and saves her 4 times, he likes her because why? The tone of the movie was inconsistent. It wasn’t as serious as it should be for a Superman film and it lacks the proper wit and timing for it to be any funny or light hearted. Something I found off was Superman, being raised in a farm with no fighting ability, manages to defeat Zodd and his attack squad, people bred for fighting. I know that this isn’t done easily and he gets his ass handed to him (which I REALLY enjoyed) but at the end with the climax where Superman does something really non-Superman was a complete turn off from the rest of the film, but by that point the film was practically over. Maybe I’m not the guy who should be so critical of the film but I did enjoy it, I just didn’t expect some of the things in film.

  31. Just came home from seeing Man of Steel. I really didn’t care for it; it felt like an acceptable Transformers movie (opposing factions of super-awesome aliens bring their war to Earth and fight over a science-thingy) reforged into a bad Superman movie. If you’re going to have a movie about Superman saving the Earth, priority No. 1 should be demonstrating how Clark Kent decides to become a hero to the human race — yet so many of his human interactions involve him being bullied, distrusted by the government and told by his adoptive father that the world isn’t ready to accept him (to the point where Jonathan tells him he’d have been better of letting children die than revealing his secret). They’re real downers, these humans. Why is he on their side, again? Why are we?

    The movie might have been improved a lot if it was told from Zod’s point of view, actually. Zod gets depth and complexity; he’s a patriot, and we know why he wants to save his people, because he was bred for that purpose. The movie was so invested in Kryptonian stuff that, if it had gone all the way with that, it would have been more genuinely different and interesting than just another Superman story.

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    Minor observations:

    1) Jonathan Kent runs off to his death to rescue a DOG? Really? Really.
    2) Zack Snyder really, really can’t keep the camera still.
    3) It irritated me that the movie couldn’t make up its mind about whether Superman’s powers came from the sun, the Earth’s lower gravity or the atmosphere. Changing one or more of these things would sometimes take away his powers, and sometimes not. No consistency.
    4) If Krypton’s gravity is so much higher than Earth’s, and the environmental conditions on Zod’s ship are Kryptonian-standard, how is Lois able to run around the ship shooting people? Yes, her respirator apparatus would let her breathe on the ship, but with the super-gravity turned on, she should be barely able to stand up.
    5) As a Canadian, it makes me happy that the Fortress of Solitude (sorry, Ship of Solitude) is on Canadian soil. You can tell because the guys from Battlestar Galactica are there. (So nice to see those guys getting work again.)

  32. Spoiler SpoilerSpoilerSpoilerSpoilerSpoiler
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    Superman doesn’t kill. Ever.

    Other than that giant glaring fuck up, it’s wasn’t bad. I found myself enjoying most scenes. However, that’s what it felt like…a collection of scenes. It didn’t have a flow to it that would have joined these scenes together.

    I cried pretty much anytime Pa Kent was in screen.

    The kiss with Lois didn’t seem “earned” to me.

    Effects were overall amazing. A couple weird CG things that didnt look right, like his hop on the burning oil rig, jarred me, but overall really neat visuals. Acting was very good overall.

    If they ever did a prequel of “The Adventures of Badass Jor-El, super-scientist” I would totally go see it.

  33. Unfortunately I can’t remember the last time I have been more disappointed in a movie.

    So much destruction, so much collateral damage. I couldn’t help but think that superman would never let that happen.
    Almost no humour in the film.
    I like the more earth based superman, so I had trouble caring about a bunch of aliens invading earth. That is not superman to me (even though there are tons of stories about that)
    I like to believe that Supes could find a better way than to kill.
    I liked the actors a lot however.

    Sorry if this is a little disjointed, but the movie isn’t really worth the time it would take to structure a coherent critique.

  34. I liked the movie overall, but I have two gripes. Like lots of people, I had concerns about collateral damage. Someone mentioned the exploding gas station after supes throws the villain into it. I think that is a problem. Second, no one has mentioned this, but why do we have to have the Christian allegory built into the story. It wasn’t as egregious as it was in Superman Returns but it was there. Superman, we are told, is 33 years old when he saves earth from Zod and Co. This is the age of Christ at the crucifixion. Trying to make Superman into a Christ figure is stupid. If anything he is more like Moses. When he is put in the ship as a baby, that is like baby Moses being put into a basket and sent down the river. Somehow we are supposed to think of Superman as Moses, then suddenly he becomes Jesus. This is a stupid mixed metaphor. Furthermore, the creators of Superman are Siegel and Shuster. These guys are Jews, not Christians. Why not stick with the Moses comparison they started with if we are going to use religious allegory at all ? (which, by the way, I think its totally unnecessary).

    • Siegel and Shuster definitely had Moses in mind when creating Superman’s origin story – heck, “Kal-El” means “voice of God,” which is another Moses reference. But just as the New Testament builds on the Old Testament (such as Christ being the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, etc), other Superman writers have built on the S&S mythology. For example, Moses never came back from the dead, but Jesus and Superman did. In the 1978 movie, Jor-El says “They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you… my only son.” So this imagery is not new to “Man of Steel,” and Superman is both a Moses- and Jesus-figure.

  35. This is not my Superman, but I can always go back to the movies and the books I enjoyed about this character from the sources I liked.

  36. Saw it last night, I think this review is pretty spot-on: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/reviews/review-man-of-steel.php

    I probably would’ve given it a B-, though. To me, the overblown action sequences were compensated by the quality of the character-driven scenes. Costner was excellent as Jonathan Kent and I think they nailed that aspect of the Superman mythology in the scenes between Clark and Jonathan. The “learning to fly” sequence was also stellar, probably the highlight of the film for me.

    I also felt like the world they established could very well fit in with Nolan’s Batman trilogy. I know seeing Bale as Batman and Cavill as Superman together on screen may not happen but at least it seems feasible based on the world depicted in this film.

  37. While I really really liked this movie, I can see why, at the same time, someone would be repulsed by this abrupt re-conceptualization of a cherished character. And let’s not fool ourselves, that’s what this movie is: no less than Frank Miller in 1986, Nolan et al have pushed the logic of having a god-like being in our midst to its grisly extremes. At any moment, I felt that the movie would exceed its PG-13 boundaries and go ‘medieval’. The violence, more than anything, served to show how precarious our existence is when we are caught between beings who pass through steel and concrete as if they were vapor. Two things that struck me hard and left an indelible mark:

    1) Zod’s portrayal. There was never any doubt that this man HAD to die when the movie was over. Transcending the facile villainy so common in many comic books, Zod is a purpose-driven fanatic, one who is far more likely to commit genocide because he ultimately believes that his destructive actions emanate from noble motives. These are by far the most formidable enemies to stop since they are willing to die in the furtherance of their objectives. By Zod’s reckoning, if Earth’s people must die to resurrect Krypton, so be it. Unlike Luther of earlier films, venal considerations are absent. For this reason alone, Superman must overcome his high moral standards and do what must be done to stop this intractable foe. You simply don’t get that when your main foe is a hyped-up, real estate speculator.

    2) The persistence of the past. When all is said and done, this movie is all about tying up the loose-ends of Krypton’s destruction; it’s all about blowback and unintended consequences. Earth is the last battleground of the Jorel/Zod feud that will alter or destroy the lives of many of its inhabitants — beginning with its adoptive son, Clark Kent. Many have bemoaned Superman’s lack of agency, that the exploration of his humanity is sacrificed for the sake of narrative-stifling options. I completely disagree. I think that Superman can only find his own self-identity (and therefore agency) when the past has been put to rest. And that only comes, appropriately enough, at the end.

  38. Guh, it was just overly long and eye-straining. Lots of blindly flying towards eachother and smashing through buildings…jeez, I just dont know where to begin.

    Can we get Nolan and Goyer away from DC movies plz?