You know what’s crazy? I’ll tel you what’s crazy™
Man of Steel.
I give it 3.5 out of 5 crazies.
Man of Steel is big and bold and down right entertaining.
He’s a hunk for the ladies, bulging in all the right places. And there’s plenty of action for the guys. And the man of steel’s super costume is muted, compared to old supermen who wore their red underpants over their tights.
Yikes.
I’ve heard some say they don’t like it.
Too much fighting, some say. Too many explosions, some say. Too many buildings destroyed, some say. She’s kind of a dumpy looking Lois Lane, some say.
I hear ya, but it’s a Summer Block Buster. It’s a big budget, action extravaganza. It’s Superman damn it.
I liked it better than Iron Man; better story, strangely, more believable.
I didn’t like it as much as Star Trek or my favorite summer time movie, Oblivion with Tom Cruise. Oblivion was movie smart, action packed, well written and unpredictable.
Man of Steel was well written and well conceived. It successfully reconstructs the somewhat tired story of Superman.
It starts on Krypton as every Superman episode does. Remember the old Superman episode where Superman’s dad puts his baby son into a spacecraft as the planet shakes itself apart. The child races to Earth as he watches the history of his planet and perhaps a Jane Fonda Aerobics DVD.
It’s been this way since the story was first told 70 years ago in comic books. On one level, Man of Steel bothers me because it reminds me that Hollywood is afraid to tell a new story. Rather than produce a movie with an original screenplay, Hollywood will go out of its way to produce something that has all ready been produced many times over.
It’s like celluloid sausage.
Can you say Iron Man. Bat Man. Fast & Furious 6. And now Son of son of son of Superman.
But unlike other superman films, told in a linear way, baby crashes to Earth, grows up, learns he has powers, and ultimately confronts bad guys, this story is deep, dark, complex.
We learn a great deal about the young Clark Kent through timely and effective flashbacks.
It begins with the young Man of Steel working on a fishing boat. He reluctantly saves a crew on an oil rig. He is a vagrant, meandering from job to job, hitch hiking, hiding his powers, feeling like a super outcast.
Through it all he is tormented by his child hood, his battle to reconcile what makes him different.
His father, played by Kevin Costner, repeatedly tells his young son not to use his power. The young boy of Steel is filled with conflict and angst as emotions over whelm him.
We see Superman as a tormented soul, an outcast, caught between worlds, between species.
We learn as he learns, who he is, what his purpose is. We slowly learn about his super abilities.
The story is best when the action is minimal. The young actor portraying superman is not a household name, but he does a solid job conveying the layers of super emotions and super angst.
If I have one complaint, the story is put on hold, almost forced to stop, so that a super fight and super destruction sequence can take place. How many buildings can one super hero toss another super hero through?
As my son said, “they are super people fighting other super people. You have to expect big super type action.”
I enjoyed the darker Super Man movie. Perhaps I just like super man. I think he is my favorite super hero.
I always wondered why the Justice League ever needed anyone else.
Batman vs Super Man.
is there even a question?
Remember the old Saturday Night Live question: What if God fought Super Man? Who would win? Who knows?
Life’s Crazy™