1. the casting was perfect, everyone turned out a fantastic performance, especially Russel Crowe and Henry Cavill. Cavill was very believable as a man who'd spent his childhood as an outcast, and the younger versions of him all gave excellent, genuine performances as well.
2. The dark tone (which others criticize as too dark) is something a character like Clark Kent was begging for. I found the fact that he was an emotional character to be refreshing. And, in my opinion, he wasn't "brooding" at all. He was presented as a character who didn't know himself, and had to grow as a person to reach the maturity necessary to be Superman. I think this aspect was covered quite well as he went from an brash and vengeful teenager to a competent and rational (though not too rational) adult. And the fact that his morality was tested really helped set him up as the character present in the comics and previous films.
3. Zod was an incredibly well developed character. We got to see him from both sides of morality, and he was easily more complex and realistic than in Superman 2.
4. The opening sequence on Krypton was very well done, in terms of looks and plot. It helped set the tone for the film itself.
What bothered me:
1. Lois Lane; while Amy Adams is one of my favorite actresses, and my favorite one to play Lois Lane, her character was severely underdeveloped. Also, though she had great chemistry with Cavill, their romance felt fairly tacked on, and they could have saved it all for the sequel.
2. Jonathan's attitude about the bus scene didn't quite click with me either. His statement that maybe Clark should have let the people die seemed wildly out of character.
3. The direction was all over the place. There were whiplash inducing scene transitions, blurry angles, and lens flare all over the place (including in space, ridiculous). some of the action sequences were nearly nauseatingly fast. The suits that the Kryptonians wore also confused the hell out of me, I couldn't tell who was who amongst the "bad guys" half the time.
Overall it was a solid film, it's polarizing, of course, but I'm on the side of those who loved it. This was also the first Superman film I really enjoyed.
Man of Steel: Not perfect, but an excellent take on the origin
Here's my take on Man of Steel:
What I loved:
1. the casting was perfect, everyone turned out a fantastic performance, especially Russel Crowe and Henry Cavill. Cavill was very believable as a man who'd spent his childhood as an outcast, and the younger versions of him all gave excellent, genuine performances as well.
2. The dark tone (which others criticize as too dark) is something a character like Clark Kent was begging for. I found the fact that he was an emotional character to be refreshing. And, in my opinion, he wasn't "brooding" at all. He was presented as a character who didn't know himself, and had to grow as a person to reach the maturity necessary to be Superman. I think this aspect was covered quite well as he went from an brash and vengeful teenager to a competent and rational (though not too rational) adult. And the fact that his morality was tested really helped set him up as the character present in the comics and previous films.
3. Zod was an incredibly well developed character. We got to see him from both sides of morality, and he was easily more complex and realistic than in Superman 2.
4. The opening sequence on Krypton was very well done, in terms of looks and plot. It helped set the tone for the film itself.
What bothered me:
1. Lois Lane; while Amy Adams is one of my favorite actresses, and my favorite one to play Lois Lane, her character was severely underdeveloped. Also, though she had great chemistry with Cavill, their romance felt fairly tacked on, and they could have saved it all for the sequel.
2. Jonathan's attitude about the bus scene didn't quite click with me either. His statement that maybe Clark should have let the people die seemed wildly out of character.
3. The direction was all over the place. There were whiplash inducing scene transitions, blurry angles, and lens flare all over the place (including in space, ridiculous). some of the action sequences were nearly nauseatingly fast. The suits that the Kryptonians wore also confused the hell out of me, I couldn't tell who was who amongst the "bad guys" half the time.
Overall it was a solid film, it's polarizing, of course, but I'm on the side of those who loved it. This was also the first Superman film I really enjoyed.