Originally I was looking forward to this new Superman reboot, so much hype went into it because Chrstopher Nolan, the director of "The Dark Knight" trilogy was involved in the project, as a producer and in the story'. Zack Snyder, the guy behind 300, Watchmen and the Dawn of the Dead remake to name a few is in the director's chair for this film.
then I started to see the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes which initially started off well, but then it oddly slumped to a near polrizing 56%. Out of curiosity I also went to see the film and, well... It sucked. If you guys liked it I won't argue with you, but it just didn't do it for me.
First off the "shaky cam" technique was distracing as hell. It only works during actions scenes, not during dialogue scenes.
Second, most of the acting was rather bland with a few minor exceptions from Henry Cavil (Kal-el/ Superman) and Michael Shannon (Zod) and Antje Traue (Faroa) at times. I really didn't care much for the other characters that were skimmed out through the story like Pete Ross who had largely nothing to do with the story.
Third, they altered some of the Superman mythology, like having Pa Kent choosing to die in a tornado instead of dying of a heart attack. It would have made more sense if Clark rescued his dad from the tornado and then died from a heart attack due to the shock of the current events. This scene was better seen as a personal family tragedy, not as a natural disaster in my opinion. Even the whole story between Lois and clark was altered, too much if I might add. They traditionally meet in the Daily Planet, not in Superman's Fortress of Solitude in the second act of the story. the "mild-mannered Clark Kent" concept was thrown out the window for the most part and saved for the very end, it just felt pointless to me.
Fourth, He's way too dark and serious.He was never like that as far as I know. Most of the stuff that made Superman a fun character is largely missing. People criticize Superman's campy funny moments, especially in the Richard Donner movies, but that's the whole point. Superman is the epitome of oldschool! He was created in 1933 and was known for his kid friendly inage. Then his story got rebooted in 1986, but essentially it was the same noble character only more mature. In the film he's a mopey loner and constantly questions his origins instead of just helping out more after realizing that he has the power do do so before getting the suit. he bacame a largely bland and generic superhero . There are scenes that do work, but the rest just falls kinda flat.
Fifth, The Fight scenes focus more on debris exploding and falling instead of focusing on the fighting itself. I wanted to see more fists flying and Superman rescuing people, not have metropolis turn into Ground Zero x10 (no offense of course). He's supposed to save the city without completely destroying it.
And finally that dumb joke in the end where a female sloldier smiles and says to her general that Superman's hot...I FACEPALMED!!! it's quite possibly the dumbest thing I've seen in a Superman film and I do acknowledge a lot of dumb moments in earlier films and TV adaptations, but they were at least funny.
I can go on and on ranting and nitpicking about this film. It's not the Superman I grew up with since I was 2 years old ,but maybe that's the whole point. Still, I've seen better origin stories in other adaptations. Here it just ends up being a rehashed recycled retelling of "Batman Begins". I have nothing against Chris Nolan, his films are amazing. Keep in mind that the problem is mostly Snyder here, not Nolan.
What I want to point out here is that dark and gritty stories only work for dark and gritty characters like Wolverine or Batman for example. Superman was never this dark. I've always seen him as a mature, triumphant, noble "boy scout" character (labeled by Batman) and always did things "...for Truth, Justice and the American way" (before getting rid of his American citizenship). He's an old school character that really can't shake off his campy past like Batman did over the years and a good amount of fans don't want him to change this drastically . This film shouldn't treat him like Batman! Apples and oranges people! They have their own mythologies.
Anyway if you enjoyed this movie, I won't question you. It has some good moments. But I prefer the old supeman movies(the first two) , the cartoons, even the Smallville TV show. I enjoyed them a lot more than this.
As for Ben Affleck as Batman in the "sequel"? It's the Michael Keaton effect all over again. I won't question it until I see it.
Seshido
I left the theater ranting about the exact same things you're talking about. I felt like Nolan thought he was making another Batman movie. I'm also not making a fuss about Ben Affleck as Batman. I'm more upset that they're making a sequel to this movie!