Film Review: Man of Steel

The thing I enjoyed about Marvel's Iron Man, The Avengers movies etc (and by that I mean post-"Iron Man 1"), is that you view them like watching a comicbook movie come to celluloid "life", with a quick wink and a wry cheeky smile.

While on the other hand, I've since enjoyed Nolan's Batman films, and just today, MAN OF STEEL, and they are epic shows which felt like a slice of life just outside the window, or down the block, or round the corner of whatever country past the Pacific Ocean etc...

Herein lies the wide berth of difference. Marvel knows they are adapting comicbooks into movies, and lets the audience in on it too, while DC Comics films has gone the full "real-deal". "No, you WILL believe a man can fly!"

I personally have read comicbooks since thirty years ago, and frankly I might have "believed a man could fly" when I was 15 years old, but now, I trust in CG-effects to make a man fly well (don't you dare mention "Green Lantern", no). But it might not mean "the reality" of superheroes would not take it's toll on my patience.

It is likened to trying to conjure up Santa Claus on screen, and trying to convince kids that he is REAL, and that what they are seeing is an actual "documentary" of him.

Marvel winks. DC thus far points a finger at you until you stop making any noise, then turns the finger into the sky, and you turn your head out the window, electing a caped shadow to swing by, or a man with a red cape swish by.

For sure, each way has it merits. Each their own triumphs and failures. But I cannot help but feel, some folks somewhere might have forgotten, or chosen to forget, these are movies based on fictional comicbook characters. "Fictional characters" is one thing, "hyper-heightened" superheroes and villains are another beast altogether, IMHO.


MAN OF STEEL was an exercise in spectacular CG-effects and design. The physics of sueperhero-dom is also extremely well established and believable. But man, is MoS "bleak"! No notions of fist-pumping, even when battles are fought and lips locked … everything feels as if the rug is going to get ripped off from under them. Even I could attempt a couple of fist-pumps for the Dark Knight lol

Gone is the "Big Blue Boy Scout", welcome the working man hero which Batman could mindfcuk and twist around his little finger using Clark's "guilt" to torture him hahahahaha

Any further discussion about MoS would be giving away spoilers, too many of which I had chosen to read articles on, prior to viewing the film today, and I felt I payed the price for curiosity, for whatever sense of "discovery" has since given way to "expectations".

And whatever trailers and spots you have seen thus far, might give you the wide scope to expect, but it is the sheer subtleness and nuances which helps propel MoS beyond it's scope, IMHO.

As much as you'd be blown away by the action, director Zack Snyder lets the emotions take their time to bloom, and perhaps if given a sequel, they would blossom.

MoS was a highly enjoyable ride, with perhaps not as memorable as Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy ever had been, with MoS feeling like a condensed 1/2 of "Batman Begins" - and no, one cannot stop the comparisons, as Nolan has his hands in both franchises, and as well they feel somewhat belonging in a similar Universe.


Christopher Reeves's Superman was a hero for the 70s, and had been etched in many a folks' minds, where he should remain. And while totally forgetting Brandon Routh's dour version, THIS is the Superman for the new millennium! I just wish I could feel I had watched a "Superman" film, as the end credits rolled, not that I had missed his split-curl or red underwear on the outside (for pete's sake, get over that! lol), ya know? But maybe it'll take some time for my psyche to further digest what I had seen earlier in the cinema …

Go watch MAN OF STEEL, not to compare it with previous film versions, but to enjoy the notion, and undoubtably the rebirth of an old icon … but I am curious as well to see if it is a Superman YOU think (not "remember") to be.

Because while we might not expect anything from an "Iron Man", we would characters like Spiderman, Batman and most evidently "Superman", isn't it?

Enjoy,
Andy TOYSREVIL