DeviousRecital
Since: Nov, 2011
06/30/2013 00:00:00
I'd disagree about the action. A lot of it really did seem to be there just for the hell of it, and I say this because I think the movie, while pretty good, wasn't as complex or interesting as it could have been. The time put into that overblown ending would have been much better invested into developing Superman into a more hesitant/conflicted character. There was all sorts of potential for moral dilemma in the movie given who Zod was and what he was trying to do, and it was squandered for the most part.
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It turns out that being Superman is much harder than it looks...
I liked this movie quite a bit, honestly. In fact, I'd say I liked it more than the original Superman movies. I find that it definitely met the lofty standards before it, and has left me certainly looking forward to the next installment in this franchise!
Now, that's not to say the film didn't have problems, of which there are a couple.
1: The editing wasn't exactly a good kind of 'different'. Maybe it's because I haven't seen a ton of movies with a lot of quick, hard cuts that chop off the very end of a scene. It's not really a flaw, but I could have done with more traditional scene-to-scene transitions, personally.
2: Lois could have had some more screen time and maybe a bit more bite to her role, but overall I think this is a good interpretation of Lois Lane done by a good actress who I would love to see more of in the next movie.
3: The ending action piece was rather overblown. Now, I personally enjoyed it, and was very glad to see Superman cut loose, but they could have dialed it back a bit or made it a couple of minutes shorter, but at least it wasn't an "action for the sake of it" kind of thing for the most point.
Ma and Pa Kent are given ample screen time themselves and are nicely fleshed out, Pa being a protective and reluctant man on top of being a good, true father figure and Ma being a grounded, optimistic and wise mother who does her best to help her son through his odd life.
All the side characters, Perry, Steve, Jenny, Dr. Hamilton, Hardy, General Swanwick and his aid were given brief but glorious life, and added some needed humanity and different, everyday personalities to a movie about an alien sun god learning to be, well, an alien sun god. Zod and his cronies were also very entertaining and Zod himself was well fleshed out and proved to be more striking than even Terrence Stamp's portrayal. The opening Kryptonian prologue was a real experience as well, and Crowe's Jor-El is very cool.
All in all, I think this is a very fine movie that manages to be a summer blockbuster, a rather stirring look at being an outsider, an entertaining character study, and a good depiction of Superman himself. It had depth, action, humor, joy, darkness and a very strange, steady heart to it that pumps something special into the movie.
For a moment there I was a little worried, but now, once again, I believe a man can fly.