On Friday Mo and I went to see Man of Steel, the new Superman film, at Parrs Wood cinema in Didsbury. It is directed by Zack Snyder of 300 fame, and stars Henry Cavill as the leading man, who it must be said is rather pleasing on the eye, and this is coming from a fan of skinny indie boys, so muscle men are not usually my thing.
Having never seen a Superman film before I didn't really know what to expect - I didn't even know the basic storyline. The film begins with Jor-El (Russell Crowe) strutting around a space age room during the birth of his son Kal-El (who we come to know as Superman), and then zooms to a view of an apocalyptic scene of the planet Krypton, where they live.
Crowe enters a chamber where what appear to be leaders are all sat around in a council, only to be disturbed by head of the military, General Zod, who declares a coup. He is reprimanded, and his team sentenced to hang in space in pods for a long period of time; but not before he has murdered Jor-El, and vowed to kill his son. Shortly afterwards Krypton begins its final destruction and Superman's mother shoots him towards the safety of earth in a probe, just before the planet is seen to self destruct.
Action then zooms to Earth and Clark Kent's (Superman's Earth name) current situation as an adult, detailing a few of the 'miracles' he has been a part of in the past, including one where as a child he drags a school bus out of a lake where it has crashed, saving all his classmates. It is then that he makes a decision influenced by his father to hide his abilities so as not to disturb the balance and create fear with the people on Earth.
Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is then introduced as a scientist working on a glacier that has been found to be thousands of years old. On a late night walk, she discovers a ship hidden inside it, which turns out to be Zod's, the rebel leader who has now come to Earth to fulfil his promise. She becomes endangered by technology onboard, and is saved by Superman who hears her and comes to the rescue, before disappearing. Lane then begins to search for her mysterious saviour, and discovers his whereabouts, just as Zod makes a threat to Earth to hand him over or he will destroy the planet.
The citizens of Earth comply, but then it becomes apparent that the Kryptons wish to steal the planet for themselves, abolishing humans in a mass genocide. So begins Superman's battle to save Earth and at the same time convince humans that he is on their side and won't harm them.
The first thing that I can say about this film is the special effects and action sequences are incredible. Technology is shown in a really finely detailed light and despite being literally light years ahead of what is currently possible, you find yourself believing it. Apart from that though (which, granted, is a large part of the film) I didn't have many more positives to say.
The dialogue is stunted and often cringingly cliched at times, and Superman just isn't that likeable as he is too flawless - he takes the moral high ground, cannot die and is very nicey nice all the time. It is also pretty laughable that he is still getting around in a rubber suit with a cape when everything else in the film is so high-tech and advanced. His relationship with Lois is pretty far fetched; they meet a few times, barely talk, and all of a sudden seem to be a legitimate couple! Amy Adams is like a blushing schoolgirl around him which doesn't fit with her hard-as-nails scientist persona shown originally either.
I don't know if this is the start of a series of films or simply another remake with a slightly different slant, but whichever it is, I will be remaining someone who just isn't that bothered about Superman's adventures!
No comments:
Post a Comment