Tuesday 25 June 2013

Film: 'MAN OF STEEL' (in 3D)

Where's all the fun gone?

Austere, over-earnest, ear-splitting (what's new?), sprawling take on story of Superman's genesis - shot, in large part, in harsh, metallic tints. A damn serious business this is!

Henry Cavill just about acceptable as the po-faced hero, with Russell Crowe his extra-terrestrial Dad, annoyingly popping up with alarming frequency, post-death like Lazarus, complete with cut-glass Professor Higgins articulation and 'propah' English accent..

Very little light and shade in this version. I badly missed comic touches of Clark Kent gaucheries in his 'mortal' Daily Planet reporter persona, as well as the pantomime villainy of a Lex Luthor - though there is the strong hint of at least the former of these in a sequel. If a further film does transpire, boy, are they stringing this out! Anyway, to let the cloak and tights-clad Steel-man have even a hint of a humorous side in any future projects he'd have to be a very different creature from the strait-laced character he is here.

Having said all that, I did find that this film occasionally prodded my mind into a state of wakefulness - or perhaps that was merely the effect on my bombarded tympani. 

Maybe it would be an advantage to have little or no knowledge of the original Superman of comic fame. I still remember avidly reading the comics in the 1950s, getting a weekly dose of exciting tingles at his 'save-the-world' feats. I also recall, in that same medium, his be-spectacled, superficially naive, alter ego - and his flirty (not too much - we were just boys!) exchanges with Lois Lane.
I did like the 1978 Christopher Reeve film, which captured his dual nature remarkably well - something which is all but absent here, sacrificed at the expense of huge-scale special effects and noise. So boring!

I'm not aware of any reviews which are spitting out superlatives, but as at this moment I see on the IMDb site that the average score given by viewers is a hefty '8'. Good for anyone who enjoys it more than I did. I wouldn't wish to decry anyone who derives a lot of pleasure from it. Not for the first (or last time) am I 'out of the loop', though it was hardly aimed for the likes of me.
Even though it's only a few hours since I saw it, the experience has already faded far more than my memory of the film of 35 years ago.

I offer 'Man of Steel' a just less than money's worth..........................4/10 

4 comments:

  1. I find most superhero films a bore
    So I won't be going...even though mr crowe has lovely floppy hair

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    1. I feel that way too. All special effects and little content. The accent these days is to go for 'thrills' but I find that the more they can do with C.G.I. (which is just about everything), the less involving the film is.

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  2. I suppose every generation gets the fiction characters it needs (or reflects). I see this again and again in characters getting redone every decade or so. I am not suprised to hear this Superman sounds too contemporary and too much like the other nowadays superheros.
    I am sticking with the Mr. Reeve version - bright and clear and clean cut.

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    1. Right on! Let's hear it for the late and much-missed Mr Reeve, who captured the original comic-book character pretty well perfectly.

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