Man of Steel

I saw this on Sunday the 9:30 show. A friend had seen it Friday in 3D and said it didn’t add all that much to the movie. (I have to say I find 3D doesn’t add all that much. Star Trek being the notable exception of the films I’ve seen lately.)

There was the usual strangeness of getting into the theater. I went to the Regal Cinema at Gallery Place. There was a security guard who opened the door for each person coming in. I’m not sure why they just don’t unlock one of the doors and have the guard stand there.

I got my ticket. For some reason I got the senior discount. So I got to save a buck. I’m not complaining about that.

I found the theater. It was about the smallest one in the entire complex. It sat around 100 people. The screen was not all that big. I wondered around and looked at the movie posters because I’d gotten there early. For a moment I thought I could get a pair of 3D glasses out of the return boxes near the entrance to each individual theater and see the thing in 3D. I thought it was kind of shitty to be in the smallest theater in the place to see the regular version of the movie. But I decided not to.

I got in my seat around 9:15. Eventually around 40 or more people in the theater. The slide saying to turn off your cell phone and not to talk during the film came up. And then it stayed up. 9:30 passed and then 9:35. Someone finally went out and told someone that the movie wasn’t playing. More time passed. A guy in front of me called someone in the movie theater (I have no idea how he got a number). He said the 9:30 movie wasn’t working in and I told him theater 3. More time passed. Still no movie. During all of this no one from the theater management came in to tell us what was going on. Finally someone did show up and suddenly the lights went out and the movie started. The only thing we missed were the endless previews that they show because they went straight into the movie. My thought was we didn’t miss anything.

Now on to the movie.

As Box Office Mojo put it:

In need of a major franchise to fill the void left by Harry Potter and The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. put their all in to making sure Man of Steel was a hit. As far as franchise reboots go, they started in a good place: while Superman is immensely popular, audiences have largely forgotten about Superman Returns, and therefore Man of Steel never faced the same kind of skepticism that surrounded The Amazing Spider-Man last year.

I think this was a very good start for a franchise reboot.

I think Henry Cavill is great as the Man of Steel. He has a great screen presence and you really do believe he’s Superman.

The take this time is Clark’s attempt to fit in as a normal person. For him to blend in and not use his power and thus not be noticed. Jonathan Kent instills in Clark the belief that people will not be able to accept who he really is. He will scare and frighten people That he needs to hide himself and his powers until the time is truly right to show himself to the world. This comes into very clear focus when Jonathan dies. It is one of the best not action scenes of the movie. Clark has this continual conflict of trying to keep a low profile but events test him on this. There is the bus accident as a child. The oil rig explosion when he's an adult. Does he let people die or does he do something to save them? (This is another stand out scene of the movie.)

It's also interesting that you have him with a beard. I think the first time that's ever been done. This again reinforces his desire to blend into the back ground and not be noticed. The beard acts as a further disguise to hide who he really is.

There is of course the inevitable conflict with General Zod and his band of merry mercenaries. They show up and try to conquer the planet. Here's the ultimate conflict for Superman (which he's referred to only two or three times in the entire movie). Which destiny does he choose? Which race does he choose?

The fight scenes are spectacular. But, and this is my only real problem with the movie, there are too many of them. Just a little less mayhem and destruction would have made for a better film. Also I think the scenes on Krypton run a little long as well.

In all a really really fun movie to see. Here's hoping the man of steel takes to the air again.