MAN OF STEEL In Brian Singer’s SUPERMAN RETURNS, our hero caught a plane before it collided into a professional baseball field. All the world witnessed this action. Everyone cheered! The world’s reaction to our hero saving the day actually put a lump in the back of my throat. Not afraid to admit. Maybe it’s some misplaced need of wanting God’s love into my life. Couldn’t tell you. I just know that there was really nothing else in that film that was as exciting and dramatically moving as that one particular moment. Enter Zack Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL with the same problem only with more spectacle. I was ok with a reimagined storyline but it was missing heart. I kept mentally comparing it to Richard Donner’s SUPERMAN. I kept thinking, “I miss Christopher Reeve.” I guess that makes me old (relatively). Snyder can be a visually stunning filmmaker but the whole coup d’état/end of the world was too much for an intro. He’s almost teetering on Michael Bay exposition. At least, we got an idea as to what Russel Crowe, who played our hero’s Dad, would have done in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The villain here is General Zod, a prisoner/outcast from the planet Krypton (before its demise). He’s determined to rebuild his home planet. Michael Shannon played Zod with purpose but I preferred the arrogance Terrence Stamp brought to the role in Donner’s SUPERMAN II. Shannon is a good actor but I rather him play tortured introverts like in TAKE SHELTER. MAN OF STEEL’s third act 9/11 imagery drained the suspense and temporarily replaced it with misery. Seeing people running away from collapsing buildings through the point of view of a shaky camera was in bad taste. Even worse, younger generations will not feel the impact. Who was better off? The dependable composer, Hans Zimmer, matched the film’s spectacle and mild emotional touches but I missed the adventurous and uplifting spirit that John Williams provided in Donner’s SUPERMAN. What Zimmer created worked for the film’s opening scenes on Krypton but again would have fit better in something like LORD OF THE RINGS. And about our hero, what can I say? He’s a man of action. He wants to do some good but he’s not sure how he’s going to fit into this world. OK, I guess, but despite all the film’s attempts to focus on character, those efforts were eclipsed by its own plot and noise. When I was a kid, one of the greatest cinematic images for me was when I saw Superman circling the planet Earth in Donner’s film. He smiled to the camera in the film’s final shot. That was my Superman for my generation and the one before it. This MAN OF STEEL is for another generation. His intention is to bring hope to the world. I hope the world will get to know and like him just as much as I did within the inevitable sequels to come. youtu.be/-DaPBBOHfsA
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 18:41:41 +0000
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