Mitch Conner Reviews: Man of Steel

I'll be honest with you: After all of the talk on this site, and the negative rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I almost bought tickets for "This is the End" tonight. I only bought tickets to Man of Steel out of pure curiosity. I half wanted this film to be great based on the "you are not alone" trailer, and half because I really want to see another Batman film and a Flash film. But despite all of the reviews by "professional critics" I have to say, eat a (explitive) naysayers. Man of Steel was awesome.

What do you want from a man who is completely invincible? In a world of cinema disaster porn, superheroes who are not supposed to be portrayed as super, I'd say Snyder had his work cut out for him. Batman is relatable. Iron Man is believable (albeit in an America 200 years in the future - rocket fueled exoskeletons run out of fuel in under a minute by today's technology).

So Zack Snyder takes the route we can relate to: the unknown. Basing the entire premise of Superman on unknown technology, Snyder gives himself a little breathing room in the "yea, that shiz would happen" department. But not only that, he has enough respect for his audience to try to explain Supes powers when he doesn't even have to. Supes is superpowered because he's an alien from a superior race in outerspace: hey, for me, nuff said, I'm here to have a good time. Instead, he takes it a step further and takes Supes power's away when he's in homeworld territory (Zod's ship). Apparently, no kryptonian is super-powered in their own atmosphere, only in ours, which is weaker. Our sun gives him power because their world is dark. It's easy to deduce Zynder tried to make this as believable as possible by implying that any living being put into a world that gives it more of what it needs would become super. Perhaps bacteria on earth grown in harsh climates would grow into a monster if left on a helium rich Titan?

The point is, Snyder takes a guy who is completely invincible and makes him human. That's a hell of a task considering Nolan only had to take a human with mega-bucks and make him witty, intelligent, and tech savy into a tragically flawed crime fighter.

After seeing this movie, I am truly surprised to see the ratings it has received. There was not one moment of this film that seemed like it could have been done better. I've heard complaints about his relationship with Lane. Huh? Adams is hot, she cares, he cares about her...wtf? That relationship works great. I can't wait to see her another film.

Even one of the villains is smoking! I wish Faora was still around, God knows she isn't hard to look at. Everything about her made me want to destroy earth with her. Zod owned the screen whenever he was around. People have complained about the twist at the end. Why? Zod played his part, he told Superman "I was programmed to do this, I don't stop", so what was Supes supposed to do? Say to Zod "You can change, you don't have to do this bro, come on, let's have a beer"? No, Zod was PROGRAMMED to do it...half the premise of the movie was based on the "programming" component of Krypton.

I like what they did with Supes' parents (both sets), and despite the complaints about the flashbacks, I thought they were perfect. Who in the hell wants to watch Superman get picked on for an hour? Get on with it.

Perhaps for Superman fans this movie was a miss (though I can't imagine all of the negative reviews were from Superman fans). Nevertheless, after watching this movie, I really did walk away baffled as to why its rating is so low. I even left the theatre thinking that maybe DC/Warner just didn't grease the right palms (maybe they thought that a good movie alone would rest on it's own merit).

I really hope that people don't read too much into the ratings and reviews, because this movie is just about as good as it could have been. DC/Warner had to get this out of the way to open the door for a Justice League, and a reboot of their entire film slate, and they totally delivered. It would be an absolute shame to see this vision get wasted on a slew of bad reviews for God knows what reason.

Go see the film. You'll appreciate the direction they are heading in.


--One note: Do not watch the film in IMAX - loud as frick--