Re: Man of Steel
Just got back from seeing it a second time. I actually enjoyed it a fair amount more this time around, now that expectations have been shuffled aside and I can appreciate the film for what it tried to achieve rather than how it stumbled.
I still stand behind my critique of the film from the other day, with my biggest concern involving the film's editing and pacing, but it didn't bother me as much this time now. I'm pretty sure that this whole time I didn't mind the non-linearity. I actually like the concept, but somehow it worked better in other movies than it did here. I've come to accept that what was contained in those flashbacks just weren't enough. There needed to be more content, which builds context. The tornado scene is probably the best example of how problematic the flashbacks were for me. It felt like there was at least 10 minutes of story leading up to the point where Clark says "You are not my dad." Why does Clark feel that way? Much of the backstory feels truncated.
Another issue I touched on yesterday was the how disjointed the film felt. I still feel this way, but I know why, finally -- it's because of that darn tornado scene! That darn scene, causing so much problems. Some people here have compared the non-linear storytelling in MoS to Batman Begins. Fair enough, but the difference is that BB handled all of its flashbacks prior to Bruce putting on the suit. In MoS, you get the tornado flashback immediately after Clark puts on the suit. That's a problem. So many people have talked about how deflating it was the moment Clark put on the suit, that it didn't feel right. BB handled it's character-building flashbacks much better, and when Bruce does finally put on the suit for the first time, it feels earned. It feels right.
I think with just a little reshuffling of certain scenes, and adding more meat to the flashbacks, would pretty much fix my complaints about the pacing and editing. That's it.
I wonder if the eventual home release of the movie will have a longer cut. I'd very much like to see if there are more scenes with his parents. I'd have given 10 minutes of that Supes vs. Zod fight to have 10 minutes more of young Clark and his parents.
I still don't like this version of Jonathan Kent, but I've become a bit more sympathetic to him now. I understand his side of the argument and his need to protect his son, but I don't agree with it. There's a lot of potential truth to it, assuming that the world would reject someone like Clark if they knew the truth, but if anything the film does more to reject Papa Kent's fears than support them (Pete Ross, Colonel Hardy and the military, Jenny Olsen). I side with Jor El on this, sorry.
However, I do think a sequel could pick up on this theme and run with it, especially if they introduce a better Lex Luthor, one that's less like the Donner/Singer Lex and more like the comic version(s). Then we can see how the public really feels about Superman on a broader scale, rather than a few isolated examples here (Pete Ross, Colonel Hardy and his troops, Jenny Olsen).
Anyway, all my other thoughts remain the same. Well, except for the action. I enjoyed the visuals much more this time. When it comes to action and setpieces, the film really is spectacular, especially so on an IMAX screen and sound system. I appreciated Zimmer's score a lot more this time. Yeah, a lot of percussion and horns, but the right percussion, and the right horns at the right time. That's more important to me. I think there was also a guitar riff of the MoS theme when Clark was attempting to fly for the first time. That was great. Might buy the soundtrack.
I want to love Man of Steel. I like so much about it. A lot of folks are saying it's trying too hard and failing to ape the Nolan style in those Batman movies, but I don't think that's true. There's certainly a sense of pretenciousness, but it's also very earnest (could use a little more humor though) and tries so very hard. I think the foundation was there all along, but it's just not quite put together well enough. I do like it more than most of the other Superman live-action films though. Definitely more than Superman Returns.
In hindsight, I might actually have enjoyed this more than TDKR, I dunno.
High highs, low lows. It's okay what happened at the end with Superman and Zod, etc etc.
I don't do this often (or ever), but I'm upping my original score of 6.5 to a 7.5/10.