Man of Steel (SPOLIERS!!!!!) Review/Comments
Okay, so I saw Man of Steel last night and came away less than impressed, considering how many of my geeky friends were OMG!!. Yes, Henry Cavill's abs are a wonder to behold (for the short time they are on screen) but I had a lot of issues where I watched and thought... I have seen this before and now it feels like a retread. Let me explain...
So I have watched all the DC films and Marvel ones and came away feeling as if I had seen many things in Man of Steel done in a Marvel film either better or at least with the same vibe, making it feel as if Zack Snyder didn't try, just borrowed. Here's a list of some things I saw and noted:
Hero loses father figure, prompting him to the "heroic course"
Man of Steel - Jonathan Kent = Spiderman - Uncle Ben
Hero wears red and blue mesh/armor looking costume
Man of Steel - Superman = Spiderman - Spiderman (take a look - here's comparison pics)
Large battle takes place in downtown street of small city, where bad guy and hero do a "High Noon" walk
Man of Steel - Superman v Faora (& goon) on street in Smallville = Thor - Thor (and Warriors 3/Sif) v Destroyer on street in small New Mexico city
Large battle takes place in downtown of large metro location
Man of Steel - Metropolis = Avengers - NYC
Main bad guy weapon can only be destroyed by 'itself'
Man of Steel - Zod's ship by Kal El's pod = Avengers - Tesseract by Loki's Staff
Character(s) bust through buildings, jump and move along building exteriors in leaps (ape like)
Man of Steel - Zod during the Metropolis fight (before he figures out how to fly) = Avengers - Hulk and Chitari
Main character doesn't have a secret identity from the leading romantic interest
Man of Steel - Superman/Clark is found out fairly early by Lois Lane = Iron Man and Thor - Both Jane Foster and Pepper Potts know the identity of the hero
Hero hitchhikes in frozen mountains (of course this is also probably a nod to the original Richard Donner Superman film of the 80s)
Man of Steel - Superman = X-Men - Logan (Wolverine)
And just to add to the comparisons from other sci-fi films:
Metal that flows like water turns into tentacle like weapons to attack heroic character
Man of Steel - The World Builder attacks Superman = The Matrix Revolutions - "Deus Ex Machina" (i.e. the Matrix 'leader') attacks/wraps tentacles around Neo
Metal 'pellets' form faces
Man of Steel - Lara = Matrix Revolutions - "Deus Ex Machina"
Anyway there were things I did like -
So I have watched all the DC films and Marvel ones and came away feeling as if I had seen many things in Man of Steel done in a Marvel film either better or at least with the same vibe, making it feel as if Zack Snyder didn't try, just borrowed. Here's a list of some things I saw and noted:
Hero loses father figure, prompting him to the "heroic course"
Man of Steel - Jonathan Kent = Spiderman - Uncle Ben
Hero wears red and blue mesh/armor looking costume
Man of Steel - Superman = Spiderman - Spiderman (take a look - here's comparison pics)
Large battle takes place in downtown street of small city, where bad guy and hero do a "High Noon" walk
Man of Steel - Superman v Faora (& goon) on street in Smallville = Thor - Thor (and Warriors 3/Sif) v Destroyer on street in small New Mexico city
Large battle takes place in downtown of large metro location
Man of Steel - Metropolis = Avengers - NYC
Main bad guy weapon can only be destroyed by 'itself'
Man of Steel - Zod's ship by Kal El's pod = Avengers - Tesseract by Loki's Staff
Character(s) bust through buildings, jump and move along building exteriors in leaps (ape like)
Man of Steel - Zod during the Metropolis fight (before he figures out how to fly) = Avengers - Hulk and Chitari
Main character doesn't have a secret identity from the leading romantic interest
Man of Steel - Superman/Clark is found out fairly early by Lois Lane = Iron Man and Thor - Both Jane Foster and Pepper Potts know the identity of the hero
Hero hitchhikes in frozen mountains (of course this is also probably a nod to the original Richard Donner Superman film of the 80s)
Man of Steel - Superman = X-Men - Logan (Wolverine)
And just to add to the comparisons from other sci-fi films:
Metal that flows like water turns into tentacle like weapons to attack heroic character
Man of Steel - The World Builder attacks Superman = The Matrix Revolutions - "Deus Ex Machina" (i.e. the Matrix 'leader') attacks/wraps tentacles around Neo
Metal 'pellets' form faces
Man of Steel - Lara = Matrix Revolutions - "Deus Ex Machina"
Anyway there were things I did like -
- The encacements of the Kryptonian prisoners - space dildos!! (they fly up to the ship and just LOL!!!)
- Lois Lane is a bad ass
- Lara-El survives the Kryponian coup and gets to help pass judgement on Zod, and watches her planet die alone (damn was that a strong woman scene)
- Superman finishes off Zod, ending the 'Boy Scout' concept - I personally thought this was awesome as it resulted in him killing the last other living Kryptonian and he's now truly alone (unless he can figure out how to tap into the codex in his genes)
- That first real flying scene through different continents... it was just tingly!
- There's a big focus on how people will "freak out" when they learn about aliens (i.e Superman) - Jonathan Kent brings it up, so does Perry White and the government guys, but we never really see reaction of people about aliens/super heroes. In Avengers after NYC is attacked we get that kind of closure/direction that people see them as heroes and monsters.
- Superman engages and continues to engage Zod in Metropolis, adding unknown dollars of property damage and human death to the city rather than luring Zod away to an unpopulated area
- Jenny (girl from Daily Planet) asking Perry to stay with her when she is trapped. Good lord girl, certain death is coming (we see the gravity wave getting closer) but she refuses to ask Perry and the other Planet person to leave and save themselves (to which I am sure Perry would have said no...) but still, it seemed so... selfish for her to condemn them to die with her.
- Religious imagery - both the Superman falling into space in the crucifix pose and the 'confession' in the church