Man of Steel Review

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Today, The Table TalkN Review Board had the opportunity to go over Man of Steel.  The 2nd attempt to reboot this movie franchise.  With all the success of the Marvel movies (Iron Man, Captain America, Avengers, etc) DC has to do something to catch up.  Batman can’t be their only successful release.  Not to mention, DC is attempting to make a movie franchise similar to the “Avenger Initiative”.  In order to do this, they need to get this component right, Superman.  He is, by all general standards, the leader of the Justice League.  (This could get into a long debate from me about the whole “Superman/Batman; who is a greater leader, fighter, superhero” thingy if I let it.)

If Batman is often compared to Iron Man, then Superman fits in with Captain America.  A very wholesome guy, who just wants to do what is right.  Like the movie, Captain America, you can’t have a successful franchise if Superman isn’t right.  So this was really “do or die” time for DC.  They had to make sure they had the right guy to play the part and that the movie left people wanting to know “what happens next”.  I think this movie helped to resurrect the idea that Superman can be a hero that people want to follow.

This movie was a reboot of the original, sharing Superman’s origin and transition into the Man of Steel.  It was nice that it did not necessarily follow the normal timeline of storytelling, but instead jumped around from beginning to later, back to his adolescence to current day.  I followed the path relatively easily.  It made sense to me, because he showed how similar situations may have helped to shape his life as he became aware of his powers.  The battles he could have had as a child, and the result of positive and good upbringing as a child.  (You can learn alot from your dad when he used to be Robin Hood - in this case both of them.)

The few issues I had with this movie are things that cannot be helped really.  I saw the original Superman when I was a young boy.  There are certain things that, simply, did not exist by then, that do now.  Digital camera’s, inferred reading scopes, etc.  But I believe this movie did a pretty good job at “Modernizing” the movie and telling a good story.  The biggest complaint I heard about this movie going in was it’s length.  That it was entirely too long.  To be honest, time was not a factor.  We saw this movie late and it did not drag on at all for us.  

Overall, I would grade this movie on a few things: (a) The story - this is the most important and key feature.  It separates the DVD rentals in the future from the rotten tomatoes.  (b) The sequel potential.  If a part 2 was to come out, would I try to arrange my schedule, get a sitter and call in sick to work to see it? (c) Overall series implications.  Can this movie be a cog in the bigger picture.  Will it lead to something great?  Based on these factors alone, I give this movie a solid “B” for a grade.  I don’t feel as if I need to see it on opening night, but I would definitely pay to see it while it’s still in the theaters.  While it’s not the original, there were some things that Superman did that, frankly, I was not used to (not necessarily a bad thing) but it did add a little bit of human element to it.  I won’t spoil it for any of you that have not seen it yet, but trust me when I say, the main thing that Superman did “out of character” may help to explain why he is the way he is though.

That’s all from my end.  Until next time.  Table TalkN Review Board signing off...

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