So the last Superman movie (Superman Returns) was not the
comeback DC wanted for the Man of Steel. Sure, it didn't bomb like,
oh, I don't know, movies about an anti-heroine with a penchant for
feline emulation, but it just wasn't what the company needed to bring
the Superman movies back. I think a lot of this came down to the
story. Brandon Routh was a decent last son of Krypton as far as his
acting, though I think people were bothered by how skinny he was.
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| Jeez, someone get Superman a sandwich. |
But the story is what just killed this
movie. It wasn't bad, per-say, it was just bland. Lex Luthor has an
evil plot to get rich, Lois Lane is kidnapped and a call is sent to
Superman, who Luthor repels with kryptonite but ends up saving the
day anyway.
There were NO surprises in this movie,
except maybe that Superman had a son with Lois Lane who kind of has
super powers. Even that little twist works against it, however, as
Superman doesn't actually take any responsibility for the boy in the
end. Defender of truth and justice indeed, though I must admit, I
enjoyed how everyone but Lois Lane at one point or another suspects
that Kent is Superman. I don't know, I was amused.
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| Whoa, whoa. Kent might be Superman?! |
That wasn't enough to save the movie,
however, and the rebooted Superman movie franchise died as quickly as
it had come.
But now with the monumental success of
“The Dark Knight” trilogy, DC is ready to try again with another
Nolan piece, “Man of Steel.” There's only one trailer out for the
movie at the time I'm writing this, and it's...well, interesting is
certainly a word that would fit.
So, is “Man of Steel” some kind of
metaphor for a “Deadliest Catch” movie? That's Henry Cavill as
Superman, who you should recognize as Theseus from “Immortals” or
as Albert Mondego from “The Count of Monte Cristo.” But how
convincing will he look in the blue tights?
Well, if nothing else, Cavill has sheer
size on Routh. Looking at the two, who would you think of more as a
super strong, invincible hero? Yeah, Cavill wins that hands down.
Going back to the trailer, what is with them being on a boat, or with
Superman just wandering down the street? Why is the music painfully
clearly form Lord of the Rings?
Here are my theories: in this movie,
Nolan isn't going to focus on the powers, but how a supernaturally
powered alien would feel, well, alienated from his surroundings. It's
the kind of realist approach that made the Batman movies so great,
after all. This Kent may well be on the boat and the street because
it lets him keep his distance from the rest of the world, which could
be supported by the speech from who I'm guessing is either Pa Kent or
Jor-El. In it, he's urging Clark/Kal to use his abilities to make an
impact on humanity, be it for better or worse. I think Superman's
real journey is going to be coming to terms with his status as an
alien while still working for the benefit, and possibly acceptance of
his adopted world.
But why is he in handcuffs in the
picture above, surrounded by soldiers? I think he's trying to show
the world he's not a threat by willingly going into government
custody. If you look at him, he's not beat up, he doesn't look like
he was hit with kryptonite, those are ordinary handcuffs, and hell,
his HAIR isn't even out of place. To me, this all points to him
stating “I'm not here to hurt anyone, see? I'm going quietly,
though I could clearly escape if I wanted and there is
jack-point-nothing you could do about it if I did.”
The villain of this film is going to
be General Zod, who I think is perfect for the kind of movie I've
predicted above. Zod is Clark's philosophic opposite, believing that
his inhuman powers give him authority to rule over humans rather than
the responsibility to defend them from their midst. He doesn't have
any cronies that I see in the IMDB cast list, which gives him alone
more freedom to be a foil to Superman.
Honestly, my hopes are really high for
this movie. We're not given a lot of what it's about from the
promotional material, as is the way with Nolan, but I'm excited about
what we are getting to see.
As for the Lord of the Rings
music...er...put it in the same category as the giant rabbit from
Iron Man 3.
