Man of Steel (Part 1 of 3)
Superman is back and this time with a more action packed story. It
is part Batman Begins, Superman The Movie, and Superman II. The
action is certainly important to the movie, but there are some nice
tender moments thrown in for good measure. Even with a somewhat weak
second act, the movie is still entertaining. It is big, especially
in the third act, but it isn’t a mess like most of Bay’s recent
movies. You get the idea where everything is located. Man of Steel
should satisfy the action fans and some of the comic fans with its
more modern (New 52) take on the mythology.
The movie is clearly a departure from the Donner-based Superman movie
series (though there are subtle references to those movies such as
the flyby in space). Where as Superman Returns was directly tied to
the first two movies, this one is a complete reboot. Things turn out
differently such as his origin story. However, like Star Trek Into
Darkness, this is retelling of Superman I & II with more focus on
part II.
Credit should be given to director Zack
Snyder for not letting his extreme style to take over
the movie. While I loved Watchmen, his slow motion some times seemed
jarring to the material. Here, he restrains himself in order to
director a good movie. It certainly has a Christopher
Nolan feel to it, and that is because he was a
writer and producer on the film. His influence is felt in the
material, and that’s a good thing. This movie could easily fit
into the Nolan Batman films. Nolan's narrative style is all over
this movie.
Instead of a straight narrative, Snyder and Nolan use flashbacks to
the current story in the same manner as Lost. A portion of
the present story would be told and then they would flashback to
Clark’s time in Smallville. While I would have enjoyed seeing the
movie in a straight narrative, this is a newer style of film-making
and it works. And, remember Batman Begins was structured in a
similar manner. It is a more time saving way of telling a story. I
still like this form of storytelling, but I was more use to the
Donner style.
Hans Zimmer does a pretty good job with the score. The action cues
are great. It is a departure from Williams’ wonderfully brilliant
score from the first movie, but this new score is different from his
Batman scores too. The simple few notes for the hero theme are a
nice touch, but it doesn’t have the sweeping sounds of Williams’
score, and that’s fine. He takes the hero theme and twists it into
different versions like his Gladiator score. I enjoyed the score for
its action cues, but it lacks the emotional tones in the character
scenes like Batman movies.
I also believe Zimmer is paying tribute to Goldsmith’s use of the
blaster beam from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. There moments
during the score with these low bass guitar riffs that sound just
like TMP’s blaster beam. It is nice addition to the score and
makes it stand out from the rest.
End of Part 1
Clark: "Thank goodness it was a short bus...wait. Why was I riding on a short bus?"
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This is one of the shots clearly referencing the flyby from all four old Superman movies.
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Superman got caught uploading songs to Megaupload. You can do many things, but you can't fight the RIAA.
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"Lois Lane, you're very...hot."
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