{"id":160113,"date":"2023-08-14T18:10:38","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T00:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=160113"},"modified":"2023-08-19T14:53:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T20:53:15","slug":"dceu-rewatch-man-of-steel-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2023\/08\/14\/dceu-rewatch-man-of-steel-2013.html","title":{"rendered":"DCEU Rewatch: “Man of Steel” (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of my DCEU Rewatch<\/a>. First Watch? No.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/meter> 3.0 Acting
\n<\/meter> 4.0 Production
\n<\/meter> 2.0 Story
\n<\/meter> 3.5 OVERALL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Good Lord. It’s been a decade since this film came out. That feels … way too long (it was just yesterday! or the day before!) and way too short (this movie has been one of the definitions of super-hero films\u00a0forever).<\/em><\/p>\n

A brief digression<\/h3>\n

So … the infamous Zack Snyder flick that started the whole … Zack Snyder DC thing. Stray thoughts scribbled during viewing.<\/p>\n

So here’s my 30-second Zack Snyder thing. I loved\u00a0Watchmen.<\/em> I enjoyed and appreciated\u00a0300.<\/em> I’ve had problems with all of the DCEU stuff he’s done that I’ve seen because it’s been relentlessly grim — or, when hopeful, it’s been about hope in a sea of grimness and human frailty. Administered with a bunch of (truly beautiful) explosions.<\/p>\n

I would rather not watch a DCEU that Zack Snyder was running. That’s an aesthetic choice, not a moral judgment.<\/p>\n

I’m also of the opinion that an activist core of Snyder fans (in the most fanatical meaning of the term) did more to bring down the DCEU than either Snyder\u00a0or<\/em> people who had creative visions different from Snyder.<\/p>\n

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the movie?<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00b6 The whole thing sets up life-as-struggle, starting with Lara-El suffering through the first childbirth in centuries on Krypton, alongside her husband, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Action Scientist<\/span>!<\/em><\/p>\n

(To be fair, Russell Crowe makes for a great<\/em> Action Scientist. It’s just that Superman’s origin tale is usually more talky-shouty than punchy-kicky.)<\/p>\n

The presentation of Krypton and Kal’s origin is nicely re-imagined, with some new bits to add to the standard narrative.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 “He’ll be a god to him.” The movie tees up its conflict of Clark-as-alien-monster vs Clark-as-Christ vs Clark-as-human early. And often.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Kevin Costner does a decent job as a Jonathan Kent who is … a man driven by fear, but love, but fear. Scared for his kid (based on how bad humanity is), to the point of being willing to sacrifice his own life to keep his son’s identity from being exposed.<\/p>\n

This was a red flag for me. Jonathan Kent should be inspirational<\/em>. What he’s inspiring here is Clark staying in the closet.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Trademark Snyder serious HDR-level contrast, with dimmed\/tinted light, deep shadow, and suppressed color.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 I mean, bottom line, this movie is like a Superman story, but one framed to be sad, depressing, cynical, and unhappy. Yes, it all ends (mostly) well. The accusations that Zack Snyder doesn’t believe in super-heroes is wrong. But he also doesn’t love myth, and wants to complicate every tale with shadows and disappointment and flaws and cynicism and fear.<\/p>\n

This is an Elseworlds tale of Clark Kent’s life as a tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Clark is meant to be a force for good. But here he’s been raised in isolation, alone, fearful. He spends the first part of the movie as much in hiding as anything else. His dad really did a number on him.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a>
Henry Cavill as Superman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00b6 Given the film, Cavil really does a hell of a job. Big bravo there.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 And, for what it’s worth, the movie is beautifully crafted. The visualizations, the FX, all of it is done with a dear love for portraying the worlds that are encompassed. Big bravos there, too.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 “If the world figures out who you are, they will reject you.” Thanks, Dad.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 “I’m worried they’ll take you away from me.” Oh, Martha …<\/p>\n

\u00b6 The very powerfully visual connection between Jesus (in stained glass) and Kal-El in the pew is … a bit on the nose.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Mad props to Edna Mode: the capes in this film look … dorky. It’s all so hyper-focused, high-contrast, gritty-reality<\/em> feeling of a film, that someone wearing a cape (esp. when it’s not blowing in slow motion) looks goofy.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 The one FX shot that looked unreal: the CGI Kryptonian ship jets away from the human military defenders, blowing sand and dust in their face in a reverse shot … and nobody told the extras to flinch<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>
Michael Shannon as General Zod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00b6 Michael Shannon really does a fine job as Zod. He’s a bad guy, clearly, but he very much fits that “Everyone is a hero in their own head” mold, and his speech about being existentially, genetically tasked to protect Krypton, and how that’s now been taken from him, is beautifully done (and beautifully chilling).<\/p>\n

But why, WHY, if we have Zod, do we not have as the female and big male Kryptonians who get into prominent duke-outs, Ursa and Non. WHY?<\/p>\n

\u00b6 While the movie is criticized (not without justification) for the Disaster Porn of the Kryptonian attack and the El\/Zod fight in Metropolis, it’s worth noting that it’s the US military that fires the first cityscape-destroying shot in Smallville.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Best human touch of the film: MAGNETIC PHOTO ALBUMS from the Kent farm for the win.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 With all due respect to the Daily Planet, I’ve visited New York City: nobody has a vista that shows everything going on in the city like the offices of the Planet.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Nice parallel struggle between Kal El vs the World Machine and Perry White trying to save his intern.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 As mentioned above, Disaster Porn. The visual destruction and implied multi-thousand body count in Metropolis is beautifully crafted, fits with the story, and is very, very real, except for the lack of bodies and the weeks of sifting the rubble to find them.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Sorry. Spidey failing to save Gwen has made me very sensitive to the physics and physiological impact of Superman rescuing a lot of people laterally at super-sonic speed.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 “They say it’s all down-hill after the first kiss.” This move is, if not actually deeply cynical, set in a deeply cynical world. Also, after the mass destruction, Clark smooching Lois just calls to mind Niven’s classic essay, “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex.”<\/p>\n

\u00b6 Superman kills Zod. That was the breaking point for a lot of people, and with reason. It violates the mythic role<\/em> of Superman. The point of which is not that Superman would never kill anyone, but that no writer would ever put Superman in a position that to kill someone is the only solution.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, we want “impact.” We want this to be burned indelibly into Clark’s mind as the most horrible moment of his life (the mass casualties around him notwithstanding).\u00a0 Which might make more sense if we got him moping around with guilt for the rest of this and the next few movies he was in. Except that doesn’t happen, so … I guess it wasn’t the most horrible moment in his life.<\/p>\n

\u00b6 After all that disaster porn, plus some murder, the denouement moment with the US military feels … unjustifiably glib and light-hearted.<\/p>\n

Net-net, a thoughtfully and beautifully crafted film that fails to satisfy me because I simply don’t accept the tone, the message, the forced narrative. “Man of Steel” is a gorgeous diamond with deep, value-draining flaws.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you want to know more?<\/em><\/p>\n