Review: Man of Steel

Full of style, flare and has an ending with an all out super-powered brawl... you might leave the cinema forgetting that the rest of the film felt like it was written by a robot, with absolutely no sense of chemistry or humanity.

Kal-El is the last son of Krypton, an alien planet destroyed by natural disaster, and his father sends him to Earth to begin life anew. But before their planet's destruction, power hungry General Zod and his army, on the verge of takeover, were made outcasts. Before long, Kal-El's new home on Earth becomes a battleground when Zod catches up with him.

Where to begin... The film has massive potential: director Zack Snyder, writer David S. Goyer and story creator Christopher Nolan are probably the three heavy-weights in the genre today, and the cast isn't shabby either! Henry Cavill is a great Superman, he fits the role nicely, Michael Shannon as Zod gives the original Terrace Stamp a run for his money, and we have Lawrence Fishburne, Amy Adams, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner too!
So... what's wrong here. Well the script, almost entirely, and it practically breaks this film clean down the middle with no hope of revival. Superman (here called Kal-El or Clark Kent) is notorious for being a little... wooden; he is the classic hero and one of the benchmarks, yet as shown in the original 1979 classic film he can be a strong, relate-able and human character. Now while Man of Steel did well in casting, the script itself leaves so little for them to work with!

The easiest way to imagine it is that the film uses plot conveniences, contrivances and even cliches to convey emotional sentiment, rather than giving us emotional bonding, we just get talks and speeches. Prime target: Lois and Kal-El. These characters have no real chemistry. The writers simply put Lois in danger several times (and frankly... unnecessary times) and Kal-El saves her, oh, that must mean they are in love now. I guess they should kiss.
Robotic.
This can be said about every single relationship in this film.

A lot of people stated how with Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan delved into what people call "humour", and it is true, the man doesn't do much of that (or love interests, Rachel and Harvey Dent were probably the best in all of his work) and that is no more apparent than in this movie. I think, I think there was comedy in here... but it fell so flat that I only sniggered twice at it. Once was probably at its own expense.

So what is good, when the plot, character chemistry, screenplay and emotion are either missing or contrived? Well, the production values are amazing, as are the action sequences that end the movie, plus the costume design is excellent too. It is clear that we are at the point were the industry can portray godly beings beating each other up.
(But... doesn't Superman care about the literally thousands of people in the skyscrapers that they are toppling all over the world?? Humans are probably killed off in their thousands!)

Sigh... I really hoped that this film would make me love Superman as a character, as much as Batman, it had all the talent behind it... but... it wasn't to be. Full of plot contrivances, devoid of emotional bonds, I'm sure kids will lap up the insane battles at the end and I'm sure a sequel will be made, but I was hoping for more.

  

Additional Marshmallows: Was I the only one bothered by Henry Cavill's chest hair poking out from the collar of his suit....? Just me? 
Oh and the shaky camera....... I don't think I'm alone with that though!
   

Review: Sucker Punch

On face value, Sucker Punch is exactly my sort of film. A metaphysical action movie packed with artistic shot composition, mashing science fiction and fantasy at every turn, all with a dark narrative tying it together, oh, and girls with swords and guns. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite satisfy.
I'd like to distance myself from those who condemn it for having no story, Sucker Punch does have a great narrative behind it, a story about strength, the search for confidence and to fight against circumstance. However by the end of the movie I felt a little cheated; a lack of character development and focus made the experience more like a music video than an inspiring character piece, making its message feel more than a little "tagged on".
However, the visuals are superb, as you would expect from Zack Synder - the man really knows how to photograph scenes like pieces of art. It isn't objectifying women either, in fact it is quite the opposite.

Final verdict is that it requires more than one viewing, a great visual and audio experience (I want the soundtrack!) but just shy of greatness with a lack of explanation and development.