Man of Steel (Part 1 of 3)

Man of Steel (Part 1 of 3)

 Superman is back and this time with a more action packed story. It is part Batman Begins, Superman The Movie, and Superman II. The action is certainly important to the movie, but there are some nice tender moments thrown in for good measure. Even with a somewhat weak second act, the movie is still entertaining. It is big, especially in the third act, but it isn’t a mess like most of Bay’s recent movies. You get the idea where everything is located. Man of Steel should satisfy the action fans and some of the comic fans with its more modern (New 52) take on the mythology.

The movie is clearly a departure from the Donner-based Superman movie series (though there are subtle references to those movies such as the flyby in space). Where as Superman Returns was directly tied to the first two movies, this one is a complete reboot. Things turn out differently such as his origin story. However, like Star Trek Into Darkness, this is retelling of Superman I & II with more focus on part II.

Credit should be given to director Zack Snyder for not letting his extreme style to take over the movie. While I loved Watchmen, his slow motion some times seemed jarring to the material. Here, he restrains himself in order to director a good movie. It certainly has a Christopher Nolan feel to it, and that is because he was a writer and producer on the film. His influence is felt in the material, and that’s a good thing. This movie could easily fit into the Nolan Batman films. Nolan's narrative style is all over this movie.

Instead of a straight narrative, Snyder and Nolan use flashbacks to the current story in the same manner as Lost. A portion of the present story would be told and then they would flashback to Clark’s time in Smallville. While I would have enjoyed seeing the movie in a straight narrative, this is a newer style of film-making and it works. And, remember Batman Begins was structured in a similar manner. It is a more time saving way of telling a story. I still like this form of storytelling, but I was more use to the Donner style.

Hans Zimmer does a pretty good job with the score. The action cues are great. It is a departure from Williams’ wonderfully brilliant score from the first movie, but this new score is different from his Batman scores too. The simple few notes for the hero theme are a nice touch, but it doesn’t have the sweeping sounds of Williams’ score, and that’s fine. He takes the hero theme and twists it into different versions like his Gladiator score. I enjoyed the score for its action cues, but it lacks the emotional tones in the character scenes like Batman movies.

I also believe Zimmer is paying tribute to Goldsmith’s use of the blaster beam from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. There moments during the score with these low bass guitar riffs that sound just like TMP’s blaster beam. It is nice addition to the score and makes it stand out from the rest.

End of Part 1

 Clark:  "Thank goodness it was a short bus...wait.  Why was I riding on a short bus?"

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 This is one of the shots clearly referencing the flyby from all four old Superman movies.

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 Superman got caught uploading songs to Megaupload.  You can do many things, but you can't fight the RIAA. 

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 "Lois Lane, you're very...hot."