I REALLY don't get why most people didn't like it. In my opinion it really worked quite neatly
This is THE DEFINITIVE Superman movie. With truly spectacular cinematography, a heartwarming coming of age story, enthralling action and perhaps the best superhero movie soundtrack ever from Hans Zimmer, this movie hits every beat for Superman fans new and old.
As a DC comics fan growing up, the critical response to this movie prevented me going to watch it at the theatre. I mean who wants one of their favourite superheroes being "humourless", "too violent", and "not epic enough"??? Well, I can truly sit here now having said "lesson learned". Never again will I allow critical response to prevent me from experiencing something I had waited a lifetime for. I will never get to see Man of Steel in the theatre, and this movie was shot for the big screen. Some of the shots are truly beautiful, especially when he wakes up in the ocean with whales, and when he learns to fly in the snowy mountains.
The story is often criticised for not having the kookiness of the original four movies with Christopher Reeve - and don't misunderstand this for hating on the first few iterations, I have nothing but fond memories of growing up with those films - but I challenge anyone to watch those movies now and claim that they still hold up. A truly great movie as well as standing the test of time, has rewatch value, and Man of Steel is one of the few superhero movies that I have watched time and time again. This requires a great story.
The story of this movie focuses on a boys relationship with his fathers, and his coming of age through those guises. His cautious and protective Earth father who tought him the morality and goodness we expect from our Superman, who sacrificed himself in order to keep his sons secret; and his Kryptonian father who encouraged him to embrace his difference and be the man Earth needs him to be.
A bonus is that the relationship between Lois and Clark doesn't seem forced. You get to see how she is a great investigative reporter and through her reporting she discovers Superman's true identity. By protecting it, you can see Clark's appreciation and the weight of not being able to talk about it to anyone - something that bothers him throughout the great flashback scenes as wonderfully portrayed by Dylan Sprayberry and Cooper Timberline - being lifted.
The character development of the antagonist, General Zod is done in a way other superhero movies can only be envious of. The message that this character, like all other Kryptonians are born with a specific purpose, in this case to protect Krypton at all costs, comes across well. From his perspective he is the superhero of his own story, trying to save his planet and his people, and that is the truest of tests for supervillain development.
And this brings me to the epic and controversial (for some reason) third act. As mentioned earlier, Superman has a strong moral code instilled in him by Jonathan Kent, which is shown throughout the flashbacks. Any observer who doesn't see that Snyders portrayal of Superman has the most morality of any Superman in cinematic history is simply not paying attention. He doesn't spin the Earth backwards to rewind time just to save his girlfriend like in the original, and he doesnt go back to Smallville and hook up with Lana because the love of his life Lois is ignoring him a little bit like in Superman III. That Superman, despite all of his displayed morality (e.g. where he refrains from fighting the bullies) feels he must kill General Zod is one of the most powerful moments in superhero movie history. He repeatedly begs Zod to give up his quest to destroy Earth and humans now that his quest to return Krypton has failed. Zod makes it clear as day that he will NEVER give up, and that he will destroy humanity at all costs as an act of revenge. What was Clark supposed to do? He was left with no choice! Add to this the fact that Zod's laser beams were inches away from killing a whole family, Superman reluctantly had to break his neck. Yet unlike other superheroes he did not gloat in victory, the pain and anguish in that scream that follows is filled with the heartbreak of breaking both his moral code and killing one of the few other fellow Kryptonians in the universe.
Overall, this movie gets better every single time I watch it. If you haven't watched it since it came out and had mixed feelings the first time, please give this movie another try without the immediate negative reviews that were extensively covered in the media at the time of release. It truly deserves it. Man of Steel is THE DEFINITIVE Superman movie.
When you order a pepperoni pizza and they deliver a pepperoni pizza, do you complain they didn't serve you filet mignon? This film is the pepperoni pizza of action films. If you want an action film, this has got it. It's not especially new or revolutionary or poetic, but at least it's got action from beginning to end which is more than many other action films of late.
It did not meet my expectations that were set by the original trailers that Zack Snyder released. The fun parts are childish due to Whedon reshoots. Characters are deep, but they got dumbed down by reshoots, and the story is simplified.
The flashback scene is beyond awesome. Be sure to stay all the way until the end because the 2nd after credits scene is so good, it will blow your mind.
Also, I am hoping there will be a Snyder Cut because 2 hours just felt too short for this movie, and I know there are a lot more scenes that were cut for theatrical release, just like with BvS and SS.
All in all, it was a decent movie, but we deserve to see the real version of this movie as Zack Snyder intended it to be.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Critique put me off watching this for a while, dumbest decision I've ever made.
This film was great, plain and simple. It's dark and full of action. The flashbacks are a nice change for introducing the origin story. And I thought they cast Superman perfectly, great actor and is practically the spitting image of Christopher Reeve.
Best adaptation of the Superman story since the originals, loved it.
Everyone is missing the most important part of the movie.. That haircut.. W-H-Y?!
Oh hey, it's February the 2nd, let's re-watch this for the umpteenth time. :D
So here’s what happened: Some guy played GTA V and his stoned friend, who happened to be a producer, said: Come on, let’s make a movie out of it! I dare you! They laughed, called Michael Bay and the rest is history.
Seriously, the movie makes no sense, is absurd and absolutely senseless. Most of the scenes are just a usual day in GTA. I couldn’t stop laughing at the bs story and absurd „story“. Crank was better because it was funny with a purpose. This is just embarrassing and at the same time it’s not even the worst movie I’ve watched this year.
Having heard great things and seeing the rating on here, I had high expectations. It was mediocre at best and extremely predictable.
I can't watch Robert Pattinson as Batman. I'll just watch the Dark Knight again and again.
that's genius! nowadays there will never be movies like this again
Worst Batman movie ever. Those costumes were a joke(And so we're the actors). At least the Batmobile was cool.
The Green Mile is a masterwork. This is film as art, at it's very best. Film was invented for creations like this.
Wait... Chris Evans is Buzz instead of Tim Allen??!!!
When teen movies were funny, not just stupid :) !
Went and saw this today and its a great addition to the Alien franchise
People who find this movie patriotic obviously cant read the title...its called AMERICAN sniper...im from Europe and cant see why americans are so against this movie. Its a tribute to the man and all those who didn't make it out of various wars. I find this an amazing movie. Not the best picture I've seen from the Oscar movies but its so much more than that
Some excellent cinematography. Some great monologues by Dafoe. But mostly, I’m left with a feeling of “What did I just watch...? And why...?”
Lost all interest when Catwoman made a woke comment about white privilege. Wasn't good before that and turned it off after that comment. Don't waste your time, worst Batman movie to date...
Jason Clarke? Really? Please Hollywood, stop hiring this guy... he's awful.
This was definitely more for Godzilla fans than it was for critics. It was way better than the 2014 film that got Certified Fresh. The film is just badass. Not perfect but....bad ass.
They do over-do the family drama again though. Especially when the family drama makes no sense. Mark Russel (Kyle Chandler) blames Godzilla for the death of his son. He wants all monsters dead.
Mark’s wife Emma (Vera Farmiga) says screw mankind. The monsters will cure the planet of Climate Change. So yeah in another words who cares if anyone else loses family members. Due to her plan to unleash all monsters.
Her daughter Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown) sticks with her. Despite her mom teaming with some bad men with guns. Who kill some nice scientists right in front of her. So yeah, Mark is the sanest one in that family.
Even if there’s too much of the humans and a silly plot. This is the best of the Hollywood Godzilla movies. Critics are just wrong. One even said the Roland Emmerich version is better. What drugs is that critic on ?
The battles are some of the best done of any monster vs monster battle. Unlike the first film this one has a ton of Godzilla history to it. It shows him way more and shows the character great respect.
Somehow LeBron is an even worse actor than Michael Jordan.
Those 2 hours went by extremely fast and the sound was incredible!
The Dark Knight movies were so much better. The second Batman held up a thumb attached to a thumb drive and said “thumb drive” I was absolutely done with this movie. The score and cinematography are good and all, but that’s about all this film has going for it. The best thing in this film is knowing that the Riddler canonically records vertically on his phone. The acting was subpar at best.
A movie that never justifies its existence.
I have a lot of respect for what John Favreau did with The Jungle Book.
He managed to do something that every remake should aim for, but usually fails to do: improve upon its original.
This, however, is the exact same movie.
There was zero effort put into improving things, or even do anything different, for that matter.
And to some degree, I get it: the original is almost sacred to some people, and they’ll act autistically if you change too much.
There’s also an upside to that, which some critics don’t pick up on: if a story works in 1994, it still works in 2019.
But you could at the very least try some different shot compositions, or different music cues, or anything to not make this movie completely creatively hollow.
Yes, it looks just like a Discovery documentary.
At the same time, the realism strips the expressiveness of the animals away, so those things cancel each other out.
There’s just no reason to watch this over the original.
5.5/10
Apparently by reading the comments here and on the 1982 version, not many know the original movie was actually The Thing from Another World 1951. All being based on the 1938 book Who Goes There?.
I had a very low expectation because it's Chaves, but it turned out to be the BEST out of three Conjuring films! What makes this film really fresh is that it took a different approach than the first two. It's toned down, there's not many batshit crazy scenes like levitating, flying objects, or constant jumpscares, but it works as an intriguing experience of investigation about a demonic possession that was responsible for multiple murders and this case stakes are much higher that it could potentially put the Warrens at risk. It's very unsettling, the scares are nicely done, the sound is effective. The couple chemistry is far better in this and their romantic moments are less cheesy. Overall it offers a nice change to the franchise without sacrificing the quality of the first two.