spoilers
So if you don't want anything ruined, LOOK AWAY NOW.
So as it's a reboot the film is allowed to contain an origin story, they show Krypton's destruction, they reveal the antagonist ZOD, played fantastically by Micheal Shannon, and they show off the beauty that is Zack Snyder's Kryptionian armor. Whilst I enjoyed this prologue I felt it perhaps lasted a bit too long even if it was fairly vital to the plot, also, it introduced what is THE ONLY THING I truly hated about this film, the "pin board" display. One of these...
Oh my rage... Back to the review, so far it's holding up, in the cinema there was dead silence as we saw Krypton die. Moving onto Earth, Snyder and the writers took this in a way I hadn't expected, I was prepared for half an hour of what would essentially be Smallville, instead we were treated to scenes of Superman trying to fit in as an adult. This I liked, honestly after watching it I thought the film did a better job than Smallville of outlining the origin story. The way they managed it was that whenever "Clark Kent", played by Henry Cavill, reached a point in adulthood that related to his childhood we would see a flashback, it was perfect, there wasn't enough time for the child actors to screw up and the scenes were kept succinct and to the point. Well done here.
Introducing Lois Lane, now I'm not going to criticise the choice of actress, maybe she isn't as amazingly hot as Smallville's Lois Lane but DAMN IT, Amy Adams is a brilliant actress and she fits the bill. Weirdly for a film the title character doesn't actually speak more than a few words until now, there's a Smallville cameo Alessandro Juliani, he thought we didn't catch him, but we did. The film naturally progresses from there on, Lois meets Superman, Superman meets military, Zod resurfaces, there's some light hearted banter, a fight, a plan is made. Then we reach the terra-former. I have no problem with this as a concept in what is clearly science-fiction, I actually thought it pieced together really well. And then there's more fighting and Superman kills Zod. HOLY FREAKING SHIT, THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS.
So, before we analyse the Superman Mythology of this I'll look at the normal review stuff, The acting was brilliant with the exception of Kevin Costner, talk about emotionless fucking delivery, this guy had one good scene and it's when he dies, it's the only thing that saved his portrayal of Jonathon Kent. His death is honestly one of the most tragic deaths I've ever seen. The four-way lead between Zod, Superman, Lois and Faora (Zod's sidekick) was impressive, it's rare to see such good female leads and they both played their part, even if Faora was a little bit weak. Shannon more than does justice to Zod's character, he put his own brand of madness into an excellent biography, the same can be said of Cavill, he clearly shows the passion for the role and he plays it well.
The score fits perfectly with the imagery, Zimmer does not disappoint, I was just annoyed my favourite bit of music was for the credits :(, ah well. The CGI was fairly decent, I'm never sure about it in films, but it was well done in this, the choice of camera shots definitely helped, obviously the exception to this was the pin-board *sigh*. You will most likely see from other reviews that the film kind of tanks half-way as it gives in to a showdown between Superman and Zod, I've already seen one state the ending was anti-climatic which, putting it somewhat indelicately, is a MASSIVE FUCKING LIE.
So the Mythology behind this film is actually pretty sound, the radiation gives him the weird powers and the change in planetary gravity gives him the strength/speed/flight. Douglan, my friend, thought he was telekinetic, what an idiot. I was a little bit annoyed with the second half in the way that Superman apparently forgot about all the people who would be killed through his fight with Zod, there's normally an attempt to save people as he's fighting in the comics. Finally we reach the end, Zod dying, this one hit me in the cinema, I audibly gasped, I was so shocked, partly because Superman pretty much always let's the baddie live, but mainly because it was Zod he killed. Still kinda speechless. From what I understand Zod being killed has not been done before, please correct me if you can, and jeez, I just can't, aaaah. Lastly is Lois knowing about Superman's identity, as much as I'd like to rage, it fits. Granted it's a rare move for Lois to know Superman's identity but it works in this, I guess we'll see in the sequel, if there is one.
Nine out of ten, if you were a fan of the Dark Knight series you might like it, it's a good film, one about being the person you want to be, even if half the film he is being told that people aren't ready yet. As usual the poster and the IMDb link are below. Enjoy, I'm out.
No comments:
Post a Comment