Superheroes are being given new life through the current Hollywood obsession of reboots. What is old is new again, and the stories that have been told a hundred times over are being reborn and reimagined.
It is as if nothing is sacred. And after the glorious success that was the Christopher Nolan-led reboot of Batman, it is easy to see why.
Nolan takes his brilliant mind to the story of another much-loved and cherished superhero in Man of Steel.
He developed the story for Superman's reboot with David S Goyer, who seek to give new life to the DC Comics character after a poorly received (according to Warner Bros.) showing in Superman Returns.
A hulking Henry Cavill does a fantastic job in the title role, with Amy Adams playing love interest Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as General Zod. Star power is littered across the supporting roles, with appearances from Russell Crowe, Lawrence Fishbourne, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.
The film walks us through the birth the Superman legend, with the beginning of Man of Steel set on a rapidly dying Krypton. Crowe plays Jor-El, the father of Kal-El (Superman/Clark Kent's REAL name), who delivers the first natural Krypton birth in "thousands of years". General Zod (Shannon) and his loyal followers seek to take power from the ruling council, and do so by force as Jor-El escapes to "free" his child. Jor-El infuses Kal-El's cells with the genetic codex of all Kryptonians, before launching his son in a spacecraft headed for Earth.
Meanwhile, General Zod is captured by the ruling council and banished to the Phantom Zone. Their imprisonment is short-lived however, after Krypton is destroyed.
We follow Kal-El/Clark Kent's upbringing through a series of flashbacks, jumping between different phases of his life as his mythology his built before our eyes. His relationship with Lane develops, as does the threat to Earth from a revengeful General Zod and his followers. His plot to turn Earth into a "new Krypton" is as evil genius as a plan can come, and Kal-El/Superman is the only one who can stop him.
A few of my friends/colleagues have been raving about Man of Steel but I'm not sure if I sit in their corner.
Having only seen the original Superman film some time ago and never ventured into any of the other films or television series, I am pretty much completely new to the franchise.
Don't get me wrong it was a great film, but at 143 minutes Man of Steel is a bit too lengthy and a tad too repetitive for my liking. I think the filmmakers did a fantastic job in reimagining Superman and giving the character a new lease on life if you will, but how often - and for how long - must we sit through long, repetitive fight sequences. We get it - he meets his match (as heroes usually do) and has to think outside the square (or beliefs) to defeat his adversary.
I don't have the correct formula and I'll be damned if I tell Christopher Nolan how to do his job, but I can only imagine a sequel will be coming, and it will hit the mark much better than Man of Steel did.
Man of Steel: 143 minutes (2013)
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
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