Tag Archives: Kevin Costner

Man of Steel {Film Review}

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*WARNING – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!*

 

This week is Warner Bros./DC Comics turn to bring up the heat for summer blockbuster season. It has been seven years since we had Superman on our screens with Superman Returns and the results were incredibly underwhelming (considering we had Batman Begins the year before, which was a critical and financial success). So a reboot was green-lit and Zack Snyder takes the helm to deliver Superman with watchful eyes from Christopher Nolan (serving as co-writer and producer). The end result is not as soaring as one would hope but flies rather valiantly.

 

Superman’s origin story remains the same; Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is one of the last remaining beings from the planet Krypton. Both his parents, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer), sent him off on a spacecraft as the planet was becoming unstable and would soon lead to its imminent destruction. His spacecraft crash lands in Smallville, Kansas and is raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Coster and Diane Lane). Though the interesting aspect that writers David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan decided to focus on this Superman movie is asking; how would we react to a super-being? Would we welcome it with open arms or would we feel threatened? It’s certainly interesting to the fact none of the previous

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movie iterations even remotely decided to focus on that aspect. Although the story can feel a bit too cold for a Superman film and comes to no surprise it mostly has Chris Nolan’s stamp all over it. It was understandable for his Dark Knight trilogy to contain such a grim tone and featuring such dark themes. Superman really is a Moses story through and through but really delves into his alien heritage. There are amusing one-liners here and there but the cinematography all felt bleak with shades of blue and grey (with exception of scenes in Krypton).

 

Henry Cavill dons the suit really well, and he also brings the character quite a bit of charm but also some weight to the character. He brings such emotions as isolation and frustration, trying to blend in but there’s always a reminder that he will never be one of them. Although one scene that I felt was too forced on the religious symbolism is when he confesses to a priest in a church (whilst sitting in-front of a window with Jesus on it, subtle movie!) and he tells Kal-El to take a leap of faith. Amy Adams makes Lois Lane an active character this time round, rather than just solely being the damsel-in-distress that has Superman saving often. The chemistry between Superman and Lois is a bit weak but hopefully will expand in future sequels. Both Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play their characters really well, though there’s not much to work on as Jonathan is along with the many motivational parent/guardians to our heroes (Aunt May in Spider-Man and Alfred in Batman). Though the spot-light is Michael Shannon as General Zod, a great character actor but he completely chews the scenery and yet makes him quite intimidating which brings the fun to this film. You really believe this is a man motivated and dedicated to his genetic upbringing as a military leader.

 

As expected from Zack Snyder, he really delivers the spectacle and makes you believe a man can fly again! You feel the ferocity when Superman is flying for the first time, the sense of wonder from Superman’s reaction on roaring through the clouds. We finally get to see super-beings beat the living daylights out of each other. The scale and action sequences is spectacular, raising the bar to the extreme on what Superman has to handle. Zod’s soldiers really do put up a fight and you feel every blow they make is a devastating one! Though it does concern me that Zack Snyder causes this much destruction more on looking cool than taking into consideration the death toll would be extremely high (not to mention the amount of damage and lasting impact would leave upon Metropolis’s citizens). I was genuinely enthralled by WETA Digital’s creation of Krypton, clearly the filmmakers made sure they distanced themselves from Richard Donner’s Krypton. You feel that everything had a purpose and the planet felt alive with its inhabitants (I especially liked the silver projections when Lara is giving birth and Jor-El is giving Kal-El a history lesson about Krypton). Hans Zimmer’s score really captures the awe and wonder of Superman but also the menacing threat from the villains. There’s a lot to live up to than being under the shadow of John Williams’ iconic theme tune but Zimmer completely makes it his own.

 

Overall; a great stab on the Superman icon and really succeeds to make its own than trying to be a copy with what has been already established. Henry Cavill and Amy Adams play their respective characters faithfully and supported by a terrific cast. I really am looking forward to seeing more of this Superman series.

 

4 out 5

Man of Steel teaser trailer

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Man of Steel was a huge hit at Comic-Con, even made a fanboy cry! So it would be no surprise that a teaser trailer for the film would be shown in-front of The Dark Knight Rises, as Nolan co-wrote the story of Steel but is also serving as the producer. So when I saw Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures and DC Comics logo shown in-front, my heart was beating that I finally get to see footage of the upcoming Superman movie.

 

The music is taken from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by Howard Shore (as Hans Zimmer hasn’t started composing music for the film yet), already setting the mood that the film may take with the new Superman movie. It shows Henry Cavill not as Superman but as Clark Kent, sporting a scruffy beard and looking to be traveling the world.* Though we do see shots of Kent farm, though as if this was a Terrence Malick film. We have a voice-over by Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner)**, implying to be talking to Clark by saying what you’d expect he would say; that he would grow up to do great things. We see shots of a young Clark Kent running around in backyard, wearing a red cape that foreshadows on what will lead to the inevitable. We of course get the title cards, reading ‘From Zack Snyder – Director of Watchmen and 300‘ (luckily they didn’t list Sucker Punch and hope they continue to do so) and ‘And Producer Christopher Nolan – Director of The Dark Knight Trilogy‘. Finally, the last shot we all been waiting for; Superman himself. Though starts off with an aerial view of an unspecified location, then we see a small figure flying up to the sky. The camera zooms in and get a glimpse of Superman as he flies in an unimaginable speed!

 

That’s all that really is to say about the trailer, it really is the meaning of a teaser. I am interested where this Superman film will go but honestly, Superman is the complete opposite in tone to Batman. I am all for different approaches to characters, rather go to the same route to be safe but Christopher Nolan’s influence (for better or worse) is a bit much. I do hope it’s all part of starting really grim and eventually grows to being bright and uplifting as the story develops. We’ll just have to wait and see when it is released on 14th June, 2013.

 

* – It was nice to see a shot of Clark Kent trying to hitch a ride and the road was leading up to Whistler in British Columbia, Canada (probably a different location in the film but still cool nonetheless).

 

** – I have now just found out that there are two versions of the teaser trailer, same footage but two voice-overs. One I saw in front of Rises was with Jonathan Kent and the other is Jor-El’s voice (Russell Crowe) which you can see on Apple website (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/manofsteel/)