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| Superman shoots for the sky on this animated poster for Zack Snyder's Man of Steel |
Kal has been sent to Earth by his desperate parents to protect him from the destruction of evil ruler Zod. But evil finds him nevertheless, and his Kryptonite super-powers become necessary.
Man of Steel is a Superman franchise reboot written by David S. Goyer (Blade II (2002)), with story elements by Christopher Nolan (Following (1998)), based on the DC character by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created in 1938, and directed by Wisconsinite master filmmaker Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead (2004)).
The film starts promising with grand drama on Krypton. For some reason many years then pass, before Zod attacks Superman and planet Earth. Michael Shannon (Dead Birds (2004)) gives Zod a raging edge, but the film is over-filled with exposition; story-setting dialog and uneven generalizations as well as a few jarring uses of expletives.
The CGI effects are impressive, even when product placements are obviously the driving motif for some of them, but Man of Steel worships major destruction to an unnecessary degree.
Henry Cavill (Night Hunter (2018)) is buff beyond reason, - and sexy too, - but as in the past the problem is that the empathetic and flawless Superman is simply not an exciting (or relatable) character. He is too smooth, too ... super. It doesn't help matters that Hans Zimmer's (Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)) score, - drumming and industrial, - inevitably leads one's thoughts to Nolan's similarly dark but endlessly better three Batman spectacle pictures, which are forever linked to Zimmer's musical style.
Snyder does not manage here to refurbish the to some degree simply unmanageable Superman into the sensation that was needed.
Related posts:
Zack Snyder: Wonder Woman (2017) - Jenkins' idealistic, thrilling adventure is the best earnest superhero movie in years (story elements)
300: Rise of an Empire (2014) - Murro's off-putting 3D bore sequel (co-writer)
Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Snyder's great remake of Romero's classic
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 225 - 258 mil. $ (different reports)
Box office: 668 mil. $
= Box office success (returned between 2.58 - 2.96 times its cost)
[Man of Steel premiered 10 June (New York) and runs 143 minutes. Development began in 2008 in direct contention with the underwhelming Superman Returns (2006) by Bryan Singer. Shooting took place from August 2011 - January 2012 in British Columbia, including Vancouver, Illinois, including Chicago and in California. The film opened #1 to a 116.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5) and grossed 291 mil. $ (43.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 63.4 mil. $ (9.5 %) and the UK with 46.1 mil. $ (6.9 %). According to Deadline.com the team behind the film had etched out 58 mil. $ in gross participation deals. The film reportedly earned 160+ mil. $ from promotional tie-in deals. And it made 119.4 mil. $ from domestic video sales. The film was nominated for a BAFTA, among other honors. Snyder returned with Cavill in even more successful sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Before this Snyder directed short TV documentary Superman 75 (2013). Cavill returned first in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), Amy Adams (Serving Sara (2002)) in Her (2013); and Shannon in The Harvest (2013). Man of Steel is rotten at 56 % with a 6.22/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Man of Steel?
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