So, as you may or may not know, there's a film coming out next year in which an invincible boy-scout fights a brooding gazillionaire for the right to dress up in a silly costume to fight crime.
Okay, that wasn't specific enough, so let's just say there's a film coming out next year where Superman fights Batman while Jesse Eisenberg irritates us.
Now it turns out that this film is a sequel to a film made two years ago right as the Batcraze was dying down in favor of Joss Whedon's Overstacked Underdeveloped Action Bonanza. This film was called Man of Steel, with a story by the guy who brought you the greatest film ever made* and directed by the guy who brought you 300, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch.
*holy shit I have never done a blog post about the cinematic masterpiece that is The Prestige. This is a massive failing on my part and I sincerely apologize.
As this is neither Nolan's nor Snyder's first go-round with flashbacks and/or superheroes, perhaps the most astonishing thing about Man of Steel is how flat-out boring the flashbacks get after a while. Do you really think that people don't know Superman's backstory by now? Really?
The second most astonishing thing about Man of Steel is that the same guy who gave us the whatever-else-you-say-about-it-never-visually-dull Sucker Punch couldn't make a single fight scene in this film hold my interest for more than a minute. Not, you understand, that that the majority of the MCU films were any better at this sort of thing, but it was still a tremendous disappointment. Unlike Snyder's previous works, where, I don't know, he's using lighting and filters well enough to disguise the CGI, here it's just blatant, in-your-face, and insanely cheap-looking.
So what did I like about it? Well, Henry Cavill is extraordinarily good-looking and a painfully underused actor (though that's finally looking to change). Can this guy be the next James Bond? Please?* I liked the religious symbolism, although with Supes doing the Crucified Hero Pose at least twice it teetered on the verge of overdone. I liked that Lois Lane kinda got to do stuff - she was a more action-y version of Kim Basinger's character in the 1989 Burton Batman flick (oh do get over yourselves about which one was "invented" first). I did find it a bit bizarre that Clark Kent could just change careers at the drop of a hat (who taught him how to forge up a new identity?) but I guess it kinda fits because he is after all almost literally an alien god. I kinda liked that Zod had a noble-ish goal, but why the dude couldn't colonize Mars is a huge mystery to me.
*see my rambling here and note that Cavill will be exactly 37 in 2020.
Was it terrible? No. Was it better than Age of Ultr-yawn? ...eeeeeehhhhh, no? Neither film exactly wowed me, but that's par for the course.
Here's a quick list of the superhero movies I'd consider "great"
- Batman (1989) Just... watch the damn thing already
- The Rocketeer; the most underrated superhero film ever made
- Spider-Man 2: caveat that I haven't seen it in years and might not think as highly of it anymore
- Iron Man: It's hard to write an egoist after your ego's gone to your head (i.e., after the success of this movie).
- Thor: Guy has powers. Guy abuses powers. Guy loses powers. Guy redeems himself. Guy regains powers. Perfect.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier: how do you solve the problem of no dramatic tension when your lead is an invincible boy scout? Put him up against a) The Entire System, and b) a brainwashed and psychotic version of his childhood buddy.
No comments:
Post a Comment