Superman Begins...

I know what your gonna say. “Mr. U, where do you go when you disappear for 2-4 months and don’t blog? I can’t see movies without your clever brand of wit and wonder.”

I am trying to get better at this whole consistent blogging thing but with a job and the attempt, no matter how pathetic, to have a life, my blog fails to be written on its own. Annoying, I know. Not easy to follow consistently when posts come more bimonthly that weekly. I will reaffirm my goal to write at least one new blog a week. Eventually, I will be consistent and you can point to one of these posts as the time when Mr. Unhappy became a movie reviewer.

But first I give you...

Man Of Steel

 

I was a child of the seventies, the late seventies but still it made me fortunate to grow up watching the Christopher Reeve Superman. He was indeed super. I remember watching those movies and marveling at how he caught Lois as she fell from a helicopter then being amazed when he caught the helicopter too. Some of my fondest memories are watching that stupid kid on the wrong side of the railing at Niagara Falls who then falls and Superman has to save him which exposes Clark's true identity to Lois. The Donner films made me believe that a man could fly and that theme song is all I play in my head when I think of Superman. The Donner films set the bar for all Superman movies and cast a long shadow over the years. Sometimes doing it well can be a problem. 

 

I was happy enough to sit through Lois and Clark : The New Adventures of Superman. I liked them but it followed a very similar plot week to week. I’ve watched a few episodes recently and all I can say is that it was good for a television budget. Dean Cain was passable as Superman/Clark Kent (although his Kent was a little too perfect to have been a reasonable disguise) and Teri Hatcher was great as a updated powerful 90’s woman who didn’t need Clark’s help... though she sure seemed to get in enough trouble to need Superman. It was a step in the right direction. Until the later seasons when there was time travel and a a Luthorless Metropolis. Still, Lois and Clark set a good example to grow from. Not perfect but a blueprint. 

 

The early 2000’s gave me what I regard as the best Superman to date (although Superboy is probably a better description). Smallville brought Superman from the awkward teen years(with Superpowers) to learning how to use his powers and finally to the Superman we know and love. It was a journey in which Superman was shown to be more of a man, making mistakes along the way. Michael Rosenbaum shone as Lex Luthor, a friend to Clark who we all know will fall down the rabbit hole to evil. Watching Clark’s development over ten seasons really elevated the story of Superman and it gave the world Chloe Sullivan, Clark’s best friend and  keeper of his secret. Alison Mack is still my celebrity crush. 

 

Superman Returns and Brandon Routh’s Superman came next. A lot of people hate this Superman but I can’t find any fault with Routh. The script gave him very little to do. He was asked to play Christopher Reeve and he was simply not Christopher Reeve. Routh never stepped out of the shadow of Reeve and that was his only mistake. Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor was boring at best (soft at the worst) and Parker Posey added nothing to the proceedings. Superman Returns made it very evident that we needed to close the door on the idealized Donner Superman and begin a new telling of the man who is super.

 

Man Of Steel retells the origins of Superman and creates a Superman who is just beginning to learn how to be super. The main question in Man of Steel is not about whether Superman will save us but will we allow him to. Can we trust a strange alien from another world who has the power to kill us all? We being on Krypton and watch as Russell Crowe’s Jor-El sends his son to Earth to save him from the inevitable destruction of the planet. Gone is the ice world Krypton, replaced with a fierce wild planet that is  dying. General Zod wants to save his world and tries to take over the world and stop Jor-El from sending his son (the first natural birth on Krypton in hundreds of years) away with the building blocks of their civilization.

 

The prologue is long and needlessly Avatarded with weird flying creatures and odd pools of podpeople. I liked Russell Crowe and enjoyed his portrayal. It had a bit more action than Marlon Brando’s Jor El, again restarting the character. Thankfully we shift to Earth and Clark Kent working as a crabber on the Bering Sea (I’m not sure it is the Bering Sea but when I picture crab fishermen, I picture Bering Sea). Through a series of flashbacks we see how young Clark Kent grew in to Henry Cavill’s buffed scruffy bearded Superman. He saves a few people and channels his rage to avoid hurting a few loud mouths that deserved a super beating all while moving North and towards what we assume will be the building of the Fortress of Solitude. Amy Adams joins the show as Lois Lane, playing her with all the boneheaded fearless reporter gumption of her predecessors. I like her version of Lois. She gave the character a much needed power over Superman that he can’t explain. 

 

The best moments of Man of Steel are the far too little used scenes of young Clark with his Earth father Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner). Costner portrays Jonathan as a man who would allow a bus of school children to drown rather than his son’s secret be exposed. He teaches his son to be wary of using his abilities though Clark seems unwilling or unable to heed his father’s advice. Kevin Costner enlivens the film when he is onscreen and is missed when he is not. Henry Cavill does an admirable job of being a son of two fathers, who each want him to be the man he is meant to be. 

 

Man of Steel is not a perfect movie. The action scenes are not perfect, and Michael Shannon as Zod is perhaps the low point of the movie for me. He isn’t horrible in the least but he isn’t a powerful villain either. He is a means to an end. Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White seems like an afterthought and isn’t given much to work with. Also an afterthought is the Lois and Clark love story. Yet the movie does reboot the franchise. The building blocks have been laid for the inevitable Man Of Steel 2: Steelier (just a suggested title). I found this movie to be similar Batman Begins (and not just because of the Christopher Nolan connection.) The movie set up the movies to come and was a lively affair. I’m eager to see if they can create a Lex Luthor to the level of Heath Ledger’s Joker. 

 

I can’t say Man of Steel isn’t worth the money. As usual, I wouldn’t pay the extra money for 3-D if you can avoid it. The movie is serviceable as a movie to introduce us to a new Superman and I believe Henry Cavill is a Superman who can reinvent Superman for a new generation. I liked the movie as a fan of Superman but I was on the fence because the movie seems to avoid Clark Kent (other than the too brief flashbacks) and the final hour of the movie seems bent on showing off special effects rather than building story. I want this movie to move me but it only stirred my desire for a great new Superman. Pieces were there, enjoyment was there, and I could believe that a man could fly. I just wish he’d be a little more.

Mr. Unhappy sez: Superman without the panties was passable film, I wait with baited breath for Man of Steel’s version of The Dark Knight. Until then, I’ll keep an open mind.

I’d like to also say a brief one liner on these other movies in theaters now.

This is The End
Mr. Unhappy Sez: This is the end of the world I want to live through. Only if I can hang at Franco’s house.

Fast And The Furious 6
Mr. Unhappy sez: Fast, Furious and Vin Diesel’s magical impervious T-shirt. A fun ride and we get Michelle Rodriguez back. Is it wrong that I kind of want her to kick my ass?
The Purge
Mr. Unhappy sez: A purge is a great idea. I have a list of people who could be purged. The movie is a horror movie in the vain of The Strangers except not as well done. Here’s hoping Purge 2 will venture out of the house.

Now You See Me

Mr. Unhappy sez: A magical movie that keeps you guessing as you wonder what the next play is. I am still looking for a movie Jesse Eisenberg isn't good in.  Now You See Me is one to see while you still can.

The Watch on Instant Watch

V/H/S
Mr. Unhappy sez:  An underrated movie. While some of the stories don’t fly but some are downright terrifying. The words “I like you” have never been creepier.


Enough for now... I’ll be back soon with a few more summer blockbusters and a study on madness in movies that I’ve been working on...