Marval Movie

This year Superman celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday, that's a long time. To some, its a wonder why Superman has lasted so long, they just cant get it around their heads why this big blue boyscout has lasted through World War II, the space age and then beyond everything that came after that and still lasting to this day. I know why. Well in any case to gaji Superman, he's getting two new comic series and a movie.

The movie starts as you'd probable expect it to, on the alien planet of Krypton, where the scientist Jor-El is speaking with the counsel telling them that their planet is doomed. This time Superman's father Jor El,  is played Russel Crowe. He's good, in what we've come to expect from Russel Crowe but if they are saying that Russel Crowe is the new Marlon Brando then they are sadly mistaken. 

Our villain this time (or is it again?) is general Zod, played by Michael Shannon. Shannon is a great talent, I'm a big fan of his work on Boardwalk Empire and when I heard he would play Zod I thought, OK. Shannon is truly threatening and menacing. He's not like Terrence Stamp and that goes for the back-story to, because they give the character more motivation and make him more understandable.

I would say that telling the origin story would be pointless at this point in human history, everybody already knows Superman's origin. But this time they've reworked some things so I'll let it slide. In fact the scenes with young Clark Kent are really well shot, its like Terrence Malick took over for these scenes. Kevin Cosner plays Clark's Earth father (good choice), his death scene is not as well handled as it was in the nineteen-seventy-eight movie but I did feel something for it. So well done on a good Jonathan Kent.

The movie's script is handled by David S. Goyer who is still one of the best storytellers in Hollywood and he draws inspiration and uses some lines from Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman and Geoff Johns Superman Secret Origins, so that's good. But frankly the storytelling here is choppy, moving from one scene to another and a way too heavy emphasis on action scenes.

Henry Cavill is our Superman this time, he already will be remembered because he is the first non-American to play one of Americas greatest icons (this is a sad day). He speaks well, is good looking and has some charisma (he's playing Superman he better have charisma). But he has very little body language, I think about what he was doing in most scenes and he was just standing up straight and delivering his lines, that's not very interesting of a performance.

Lois Lane is played by Amy Adams, a great mature choice to play the role. I'm glad they chose an older, more experience actress and didn't get some overly attractive page girl. However a persoalan I have with her is mostly just me as a Superman fan, why is she a red-head? Lois Lane has black hair, Lana Lang is the red-head.

Superman's costume in this movie I'm sure has stirred up more than a little controversy. My own personal thoughts, this costume is pure garbage. It looks terrible, it goes against all the basic design guides on how Superman should look. Why does his cape touch the floor? is that Armour, why does Superman need Armour? where is the underwear outside suit? sounds like a weird thing to comment on but its such a staple of the character so when I see him without it, it looks like someone yanked them off him. Also why is there no S shield on the back of his cape? that S logo is everywhere else in the movie but not on his cape, where its meant to be. I've heard talk that the old Christopher Reeve costume, by today's standards, looks cheap and "fancy dress like", wrong, Christopher Reeve wore that costume with grace and dignity and it glows with color. This costume looks weird and gaudy, its way too dark, but when they put it in the light I can see more of the textures of it and I feel like throwing up.

The visual style of the movie is like The Dark Knight meets Prometheus, at this point I'm sure your thinking "that sounds awesome" and indeed it is. Yes this is a movie with some interesting visuals, only not Superman visuals. The world of Superman isn't one where H. R. Giger does the concept art, if this was another superhero then I might be OK with it but this is Superman. Another issue with the visuals is that there is a server lack of color, this is Superman isn't it, where is all the color? the color pallet is so dark and murky.

As much as I dont like the overall look of the movie there are some shots in here that I've been dying to seen in a Superman, ow hell even a superhero movie. Like Superman emerging from his, was that the fortress of solitude? silhouetted with his cape flowing in the wind.

My worry for the interpretation for what some people may have for how to handle Superman in movies in modern day is that they think they have to do what was done in the Donner movie. In nineteen-seventy-eight the tagline was "you will believe a man can fly" well in this age I dont care so much on the flying, I need to believe in the man and they dont seem to realize that.

I was thinking that for all its flaws that this is a new Superman movie and for what they did it was well executed and interesting. But there is a scene in the ending which makes the movie unforgivable to me as a Superman fan, it cuts right to the core of the character and betrays everything that made the character an icon for seventy-five years.

This is an interesting attempt at adapting Superman for the new age but sadly they seem to want to tell a different story with a different character with Superman's powers. It seems on this attempt to make a Superman movie we have gotten misguided from what Superman really is. But in the journey to making that great Superman movie, we will stumble, we will fall, but eventually we will join him in the sun.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4