About the Ending of MAN OF STEEL...

Warning: I'm going to be discussing the ending of the film... so, obviously, spoilers abound.

I've been doing a great deal of reading on Man of Steel since I wrote my review on Friday night. All of the reviews talk about one moment at the end of the film, the moment where Superman kills Zod. I feel like I have to write a little about that, because apparently it's a real big deal.

Panel from Alan Moore's 1986
"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" Story

The adage is that superheroes don't kill, and that's mostly true. In their epic battles with various villains, one of their primary concerns is to protect the innocent. And when it comes down to the ending of that final battle, the villain typically destroys himself (or herself, of course), or are merely apprehended (there's also the third option of simply disappearing.... for the convenience of a later film or story arc). There is a definite code of conduct for these characters. But in Man of Steel, in his first big battle as Superman.... the code of conduct is broken. The fist fight with Zod destroys, seemingly, about 90% of Metropolis, culminating in Superman killing Zod with his bare hands.

Now, I know, I know, the murder of Zod clearly effects Superman. After doing the deed, Kal-El lets out a visceral scream and the look on his face is clearly a "what have I done?!?" look. Naturally, Lois runs to the hero and comforts him. To be completely honest: I'm fine with the ending up until this point. I can see the worth in having Superman haunted by, essentially, the blood on his hands. As the love interest, I feel the audience would be robbed to not see Lois comforting Superman. Fine. What bothers me is what follows.

Mere moments later, we have a scene in the desert where Superman, charming as ever, tells the General that he's all-American and the people have nothing to fear about him. Where is the remorse? Apparently whatever time jump we just saw heals all wounds in our hero. Then in the next scene, the secret identity of Clark Kent, Reporter is born... and the effects are even more invisible and distant.

I understand wanting to have an uplifting ending, but I'm not so sure the ending actually given works for the character. In fact, I know it doesn't. I'm assuming the ending was done like this to give the illusion of this being a standalone film, not just a set-up for a second film. How foolish.

How would I have ended the film? I would have much rather seen the murder affect Kal to the point where he leaves Lois there in the train station (or whatever that final building was), heading straight for the Fortress of Solitude. Then they could have some other time jump to when Metropolis is on the road to recovery, perhaps dedicating a statue or something to Superman, with a voice over by Lois talking about how a hero was born... while also showing clips of Superman still struggling with his decision. Save the rest of the stuff after the murder for the beginning of Man of Steel 2.

Of course, there's nothing that says the murder won't affect him going forward; this reaction is simply based on what we saw in Man of Steel. In fact, I'd be surprised if he kills again, making the death of Zod the "birth" of Superman's code. But call me crazy, I'd like to see him in pain over what happened, not just a somewhat smug "That was unfortunate... musn't do that again!" kind of reaction. Hopefully Man of Steel 2 will address this.

REVIEW: Man of Steel

Directed by Zack Snyder

Watched June 13, 2013

Going into this, I freely admit that I was not a Superman fan. The original movies never grabbed me, the TV shows didn't interest me at the time, the comics bored me, the character just never clicked for me. The trailers for Man of Steel definitely had me excited, though, so I certainly had my hopes pretty high.

And the flick delivered.

The cast is uniformly great. Henry Cavill is absolute perfection in the title role, with Michael Shannon a great foil. Amy Adams plays Lois Lane with conviction for a change, not just the damsel in distress. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane leave a wonderful mark as the Kents, with Russell Crowe certainly a fitting Jor-El. The effects look great, with the flying especially being a highlight. In all prior Superman adaptations, the flying has been what's killed me, but the visuals here made it actually seem realistic. Director Zack Snyder uses quick zooms and camera effects heavily at times, but I don't recall feeling overwhelmed or distracted by them. For yet another retelling of the same old origin story, the story telling felt fresh and original to me, which is certainly welcome. The first challenge for the hero felt organic, personal and was interesting, more Batman Begins than Green Lantern (lucky for absolutely everyone involved). The film plays like an always surging roller coaster, the slow points only making the high points more fun.

Now, don't get me wrong, the film is by no means perfect. The "classic" love story between Lois and Clark is under-developed and rushed, and actually somewhat goes against the new take on Lois (she's not merely a damsel in distress type and is actually vital to the action-filled third act... but she still falls in love with the hero seemingly simply because he's the charming, sculpted hero of the story). The lack of development there also kind of makes Clark's decision to choose Earth over a new Krypton somewhat hollow and merely plot-based... aside from following his Earth father's lead, what inclination did Kal-El show that he loved Earth? He certainly didn't care enough to save Metropolis from near complete destruction, which was another of my problems with the film. Seems to me that when you are building a film series, you want to ramp up the destruction, not start off with essentially decimating Metropolis. This qualms, however, are overcome in the movie, I would say.

I know the movies don't exist to sell comics, but the first thing I did when I got home was to crack into Scott Snyder's new Superman Unchained comic. For the first time, I was exposed to Superman and craved more (the first issue of the series, by the way, is very strong, setting up what could be a great story). I would absolutely say the film has made me a fan of the character, which has been an issue for me in the past.

I don't think I could recommend Man of Steel enough. While I know I am solidly in the target audience, the film absolutely met my expectations (which have been set really high due to recent superhero movie experiences). To reuse the analogy from before, this film is much closer to Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy than the messy, underwhelming Green Lantern. Bring on MOS 2 (and, dare I say it... The Justice League?)!

As The 'JUSTICE LEAGUE' Movie Rumor Mill Turns...

Darkseid villian! Man of Steel cameos. Armie Hammer as Batman! No, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Batman! Just kidding, no Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Ryan Reynolds back as Green Lantern? No, scratch all that, let's focus on just Batman. Actually... how about Bale/Cavill?

C'mon already. This, amongst many other reasons, is why a Justice League movie is doomed from the get-go.

The Christian Bale rumor is the latest in a long line of speculation, just hitting the mainstream today. The key word here is a simple one: why? Why would Christian Bale return to the role? He's played the role three times to a huge success, culminating in a very satisfying, fitting end. The man is showered with acclaim whenever he's in a new film... he certainly doesn't need the cape and cowl. And from a story standpoint, didn't we leave him in a really good place? Never mind the fact that Bale's Batman isn't exactly the 'call up the aliens and other super powered guys for help' type. It's cheap, it's lazy, and it's a way too many steps towards tarnishing the legacy of a damn good trilogy of films.

However.

A comment on the firstshowing.net article about the new Bale rumors got me to thinking. The comment:

Bale would make sense if at the same time as justice League nolan or his brother made dark knight returns for late 2014 where robin does take on the mantle but gets killed so bruce comes back to avenge him and thus leads into justice League and would definitely be a reason for bruce to name his future sidekick Robin in honor of his fallen replacement!

This... this certainly could work. If there is a good story as to why Bale's Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham, then perhaps it could be massaged into something that works. How about this: The Dark Knight Rises suggests that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's John Blake would take over the Batman mantle - perhaps something happens to prevent that from happening (as the commenter says, he is killed). Darkseid comes in, all but destroys Gotham, Bruce Wayne returns. Realizing that he is not the hero the city needs, he tracks down the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash and forms the Justice League, acting as the equivalent of The Avengers' Nick Fury. From there, you could introduce a character like a Dick Greyson to become Batman.

Alternatively, just drop Christian Bale all together. Drop this Robin/John Blake as Batman creation from The Dark Knight Rises. Have Man of Steel launch a new Justice League universe (or have it continue the universe began in Green Lantern). Ignore the whole Dark Knight trilogy. Cast someone new as Bruce Wayne. Cast someone new as Green Lantern if you want to ignore that film too. Make it work.

Unfortunately, judging by how long it's taking this Justice League movie to get off the ground or really gain any sort of traction... that won't happen. And when it will, it will probably be more Green Lantern then Batman Begins, in that it'll be a mess. Which is really too bad.

My much belated review of THE AVENGERS

Image from Wikipedia

I initially planned on writing this review immediately after I saw The Avengers, but I couldn't quite put my thoughts into words. I decided to give it a few days. I ended up seeing the movie again... and wound up with the same reaction. Now a number of days removed again, I'm forcing the words.

The Avengers is the finest movie yet from Marvel Studios, the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight (at least) and the best of all possible kickoffs to the summer 2012 movie season (The Hunger Games was too early, regardless of what I might have said previously).

Now I won't pretend that the film is perfect, because it's not. There were a few continuity things (why doesn't Thor want to go make sure Jane is safe for himself?  For a movie like this, the lows could be cellar-floor low, the highs could be astronomically high. Neither were. The team getting torn apart was nice, but never quite seemed as dire as it should have been. The final battle (while extremely entertaining) never really felt out of hand for the team of superheroes, making the outcome not as grand as it could have. But so what? I never felt cheated from these shortfalls. In fact, I was thrilled.

The strength of the movie are the characters. And to me, the strength of the Marvel movies leading up to this was that they were largely character driven; I was delighted to find The Avengers to be the same thing. The egos of the characters, the new relationships being formed, this is what drove the film. To a certain extent, this is also what stood between the final product and absolute greatness, but I'm willing to sacrifice a bit. 

To sum it all up, this was exactly the movie I was hoping for when I really started getting into this whole genre. It had all the moments I was looking for, and some that surprised me. The plot felt familiar, but the film felt fresh. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. 

Good luck with The Avengers 2, Marvel/Disney. It's going to be tough to top this one.

4 DAYS AWAY.

I am SO DAMN EXCITED for this Friday, for a variety of reasons.

The Avengers, and My Recent Superhero Obsession

I haven't really posted about it on here, aside from a few movie reviews, but over the past year or so, I've really, truly been bitten by the superhero bug. I'd seen pretty much all of the previous superhero/comic book movies (Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, etc), and enjoyed them all pretty much, but not really to the point where I wanted to go into that world more.

Then came Thor.

It's not like Thor was the be-all and end-all of comic book superhero movies. While it was a great time and a very strong movie in my book, I wouldn't even put it top five of recent movies in the genre. I think what really grabbed me was how everything was completely wound together that all these Marvel movies were all interconnected, yet stand-alone at the same time. For some reason, that was awesome to me. I hadn't seen Hulk yet, so this was really the first time I'd seen this whole scheme in action. I wanted to read more into this whole Marvel world, but didn't quite take the leap yet.

Then came X-Men: First Class.

This one... this one really pulled me in. There were no Avengers tie-ins here, but after completely falling for this movie (I WOULD put this one in my top 5), I did a little comic book research and found the X-Men and Avengers were linked from the very beginning... Spider-Man too?!? Oh man. I was hooked.

I'm not really sure why exactly I love all this superhero stuff. Regular readers of this blog know of my love for escapism, and I'm sure that's a part of it... it's something new and fresh in my life, which is most certainly welcomed. But is that all of it? Who knows, I don't feel like delving into the why here. All I know is I love it so.

The Summer Movie Season

Beyond The Avengers, there is a legit plethora of movies coming out this summer that I am jazzed about. Yes, jazzed. In fact, starting this Friday, May 4, there is a new movie every single week through August 3 that I want to see, for assorted reasons.

May 4 The Avengers
May 11 Dark Shadows*
May 18 Battleship & The Dictator
May 25 Men in Black 3
June 1 Snow White and the Huntsman
June 8 Prometheus
June 15 Rock of Ages
June 22 Brave & Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
June 29 Magic Mike*
July 3 The Amazing Spider-Man
July 13 Ted
July 20 The Dark Knight Rises
August 3 Total Recall & The Bourne Legacy 

Sure, some of those movies are included in that list to merely "keep the streak alive" (the ones marked with asterisks), but all the movies on the list do interest me for one reason or another. Interesting cast, interesting premise, absurdity, favorite genres, bizarre pairings of talents (once again, Magic Mike gets it's own category), etc. This is shaping up to be a most exciting summer.

Now, as excited as I am about these movies, I am met with some trepidation. You see, I'm the OCD type that likes to be exposed to the original material first, if possible. The Avengers is preceeded by five movies, for example. Must re-watch those first. I really don't care to watch the Dark Shadows television series... but there are two prior Men in Black movies, four Alien movies, three Spider-Man movies, two Nolan Batman movies, the original Total Recall and three Bourne films to watch. There are also novels involved, but I certainly won't have time for those. Good thing I have Netflix and too much spare time!

If this were an instant message or something, a winking emoticon would follow that last sentence.

But seriously, if I actually see all the movies on the list and the movies leading up to them, that's thirty five movies between now and the weekend of August 3. That sounds silly and amazing. Absurd and exciting. Simultaneously. I hope to do it. I may keep a tracker. Probably on Twitter. Yes, definitely on Twitter. In fact, I'll generate a hash tag and embed it on the blog.

I will start right now.

Catching up on some "recent" movies...

I kept this blog very active during Oscars season with all my movie reviews and such, something I've obviously been slacking on. I don't think I'm going to write up full reviews, but I do want to at least "rate" the movies I've seen since then. A scale of 1-5 stars with a little explanation sounds decent, don't you think?

It should also be noted that I planned on making this post all pretty with movie posters and such.... but then Blogger decided to be a bitch about lining up images and such. Worked for an hour on it, still inexplicably wouldn't work, so they were deleted. Blogger fail.

I Am Number Four

Good popcorn movie. I really have no idea what else to say about this movie. The storyline was decent enough, more or less what you'd expect from a young adult sci-fi novel. The cast more or less did exactly how one would expect them to do, looking beyond beautiful doing so. Enjoyable enough flick, definitely worth a rental. 

3.5 stars.

Thor

I knew next to nothing about Thor going in, except that he was a god, he joins The Avengers, and he carries a somewhat lame hammer around. I was skeptical that they'd be able to make a coherent movie that takes place in Thor's world and our world at the same time, and make the whole god thing acceptable in a realistic-styled movie..... but boy, did they. I came away from this movie completely and utterly blown away, at the time making it my favorite Marvel movie (at least of the ones leading up to The Avengers, so discounting the X-Men and Spider-Man movies). I was just thinking last night how disappointed I was that I haven't seen it a second time.

5 stars.

X-Men: First Class

This is the one of the two movies this summer that I saw twice.... and, frankly, I could see it a few more times. To me, this is exactly how comic book movies should be made (and yes, I'm aware it wasn't based on a comic book). Comic books have a distinctive way of showing different things, from unexpected angles, unique transitions, and quick cuts.... all of which can be found in this movie. Absolutely loved it. The performances are also very strong, particularly James McAvoy. Should this movie turn into a trilogy as is the plan floated by Fox, I think he could well make everyone forget about Patrick Stewart.

5 stars.

Super 8

If you liked the Speilberg movies of the 80s and early 90s where the supernatural come to life, where imagination is celebrated, where you just feel good at the end... Super 8 is for you. Not the perfect film it could have been, sure, but still very, very good. The leading performance from Joel Courtney is easily one of the better kid performances I've seen, which is no easy task given the other factors in this movie. 

4.5 stars.

Green Lantern

Ho boy. I had such hopes for this movie. I knew very, very little about the Green Lantern universe going in, and left with a better knowledge about it, sure. I went in not too impressed with Ryan Reynolds, but enjoyed his performance. Same with Blake Lively in all things not entitled The Town. But the film itself? Messy messy messy. It almost felt like I was watching multiple films at once: a forced love story, a superhero origins story, a superhero training movie and a very, very brief superhero battle movie. The various movies didn't really coexist, they just.... happened at the same time. Very disappointing. The whole Green Lantern universe, though, is very interesting to me, and I actually felt the movie did a decent job of introducing it to movie audiences, I just hope they focus the inevitable Green Lantern 2 to have the whole thing make sense.

3 stars.

Cars 2

I liked the first Cars movie. I can't say that I loved it or was blown away by anything about it, like I can say about all the other Pixar movies, but I enjoyed it both times I'd seen it. But.... Cars 2? Really? What's the point? I liked the premise of the movie, and actually didn't really mind the movie itself, but there's no real justification for the sequel. At all. The whole thing really reminded me of the lazy, greedy crash grab Disney sequels that spelled the (temporary) end of Disney's hand-drawn animation. I expect better than that from Pixar. Though all that said, Cars 2 isn't nearly as bad as those sequels. There are some decent ideas in the film, even if they aren't needed. Plus, the animation is, as expected, fantastic.

3 stars.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

I had a few problems with the second half of this book when I read it, so it's not surprising that I have the same problems with the plot of the film. Speaking of just the film, though, I loved it. Not the best of the series, but certainly a fitting conclusion to the series. Also, tangentially related, but I hate this movie poster.
4 stars.

Captain America: The First Avenger
(mild spoilers in this mini-review)
Remember when I said that Thor was my favorite Avengers/Marvel movie "at the time"? That is until Captain America came out. I don't think there's a single thing about this movie that I didn't like. The cast is absolutely everything you could want from a movie like this, every last one of the principles perfectly cast. If I had to pick something I didn't like about the film, it'd be the ending. Not so much what happened, which I enjoyed, but more about what it means; any future installments of the Captain America franchise will have to take place in the current, unless Stark Industries is hiding a time machine somewhere....
5 stars.

Cowboys and Aliens
Pretty much a pointless film.... unless the point was to illustrate that Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are badasses, Olivia Wilde is gorgeous yet creepy and random, and aliens are bad guys for no apparent reason. If that is the point of the film, however, well then, mission accomplished. But since those points are all proven time and time again in every movie they are in, this film is a disappointment. I kind of figured that would be the case going into it, but I was hoping, at least, for something so bad that it was awesome, but it even disappointed there. Not a good movie, not a bad movie. Just.... a movie.
3 stars.

Also, saw this on DVD for the first time, so I'll include it as well....

The Incredible Hulk
I figured I loved both Iron Man films and the Thor film, and (at the time) was looking forward to the Captain America film, so I should probably see the other movie that takes place in the same universe. I wasn't expecting much from this, really, seeing as its been 3 years since it's release and I haven't heard a single word about a sequel.... but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I really enjoyed how the movie was structured, not using the typical superhero movie pattern: origin, training, battle. The origin story was actually told as the movie went along, in various flashbacks as the story needed. Edward Norton, Jr, was certainly strong as Bruce Banner, though I don't think I'll miss him from The Avengers. In reading a bit afterwards, I liked that the Hulk story was tweaked a bit, making it match the general idea of the other Marvel universe films, which I'm sure will likely be a plot point in The Avengers. Definitely glad I saw this.
4 stars.

If only this artist did one of these featuring Marvel characters....

herochan:

Minimalist DC Superhero Poster - by Michael B. Myers Jr.

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LOVE this. Must find a Marvel version… 

First Captain America Poster Unveiled

Time to get excited!

First look at Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man

I forgot to post this the other day.

I love everything about this photo. Andrew Garfield is going to be a FANTASTIC Spider-Man.