Review: Man of Steel

Dang.

I went to see Man of Steel mostly because I knew it’s on the way out of theaters. What I really want to see is Pacific Rim, but I feel like I have a few weeks for that.

Well, I’m glad I did. Man of Steel is well worth the price of admission and one of the few movies that is definitely worth seeing on a big screen. Just the sheer viseral impact of watching the Kryptonians toss each other into (and through) building after building, throwing about train engines as if they weighed nothing… It felt a little surreal at times–like that’s just *not *how momentum is supposed to work–but I think that actually helped the illusion. Even more than with the Hulk or with Thor; these felt like gods among men.

Don’t get me wrong; the film was not without its flaws. For example, why did Superman take off for the far side of the planet towards the end? Wouldn’t concentrating their efforts on Metropolis1 have saved time / lives / billions of dollars in collateral damage? And for that matter, when the big bad showed up, whey didn’t he go to the one person2 who’d actually met him for advice? It certainly would have cut out a fair chunk of that particular double cross.

Honestly, I would love to see an entire movie set in the world of Krypton that they set up in the first few minutes. Yes, I know, they blew it up. But they have hundreds of thousands of years of (rather pretty CGI’ed) history to see there. I’d love to see all of the worlds that they expanded to and their rise and fall.

On the flip side, that same world is a little strange. Why exactly do the Kryptonians look exactly like humans? Perhaps it was related to the seed ships? I’m sure there’s some sort of explanation in the comics, but it would have been nice to hang a lampshade3 on it. And why did they all wonder around in the old (looking) armor? I thought the story was that the ‘S’ was an old symbol of the family–so why are they wearing it in modern times?

One thing that was mildly amusing was seeing  and  relatively back to back. Granted, I don’t think they ever interacted but it was enough to make me want to go and watch the Matrix movies again. I won’t deny that they went a bit strange towards the end, but I still greatly enjoy all three.

Overall, it’s a solid action flick. It still doesn’t quite measure up to Marvel’s entries over the past view years, but it’s certainly a step up from the Green Lantern. If they could pull together ’s Batman and ’s Superman the Justice League might have a chance after all…


Dang.

I went to see Man of Steel mostly because I knew it’s on the way out of theaters. What I really want to see is Pacific Rim, but I feel like I have a few weeks for that.

Well, I’m glad I did. Man of Steel is well worth the price of admission and one of the few movies that is definitely worth seeing on a big screen. Just the sheer viseral impact of watching the Kryptonians toss each other into (and through) building after building, throwing about train engines as if they weighed nothing… It felt a little surreal at times–like that’s just *not *how momentum is supposed to work–but I think that actually helped the illusion. Even more than with the Hulk or with Thor; these felt like gods among men.

Don’t get me wrong; the film was not without its flaws. For example, why did Superman take off for the far side of the planet towards the end? Wouldn’t concentrating their efforts on Metropolis1 have saved time / lives / billions of dollars in collateral damage? And for that matter, when the big bad showed up, whey didn’t he go to the one person2 who’d actually met him for advice? It certainly would have cut out a fair chunk of that particular double cross.

Honestly, I would love to see an entire movie set in the world of Krypton that they set up in the first few minutes. Yes, I know, they blew it up. But they have hundreds of thousands of years of (rather pretty CGI’ed) history to see there. I’d love to see all of the worlds that they expanded to and their rise and fall.

On the flip side, that same world is a little strange. Why exactly do the Kryptonians look exactly like humans? Perhaps it was related to the seed ships? I’m sure there’s some sort of explanation in the comics, but it would have been nice to hang a lampshade3 on it. And why did they all wonder around in the old (looking) armor? I thought the story was that the ‘S’ was an old symbol of the family–so why are they wearing it in modern times?

One thing that was mildly amusing was seeing  and  relatively back to back. Granted, I don’t think they ever interacted but it was enough to make me want to go and watch the Matrix movies again. I won’t deny that they went a bit strange towards the end, but I still greatly enjoy all three.

Overall, it’s a solid action flick. It still doesn’t quite measure up to Marvel’s entries over the past view years, but it’s certainly a step up from the Green Lantern. If they could pull together ’s Batman and ’s Superman the Justice League might have a chance after all…


  1. Just call it New York already… ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. More or less ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. sorrry ↩︎ ↩︎