Blog: Man of Steel: First Impression
I don’t know why, but I went from not knowing a damn thing about movies before they come out to becoming a proverbial crackhead for the hype machine. Except when it comes to the new Superman reboot: MAN OF STEEL.
My guess is, it’s because I sincerely liked Superman Returns, and I’m still kind of disappointed they decided to go full reboot with it rather than try a little harder in the follow-up. I loved the aesthetic, world, and tone of SR, and Routh IS Superman, in my opinion. We’ll see if Brit Henry Cavill has the chops like former Newsie Christian Bale did.
But my reason for writing today has to do with the new poster for MAN OF STEEL. This should be awesome. It should blow my mind. And if it was Batman in chains? I’d be like OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. And full of wonder and theories. Instead, I’m just disinterested.
I’m sure it’s important and crucial to this new attempt, and I’m sure it’s meant to blow your mind. “SUPERMAN in chains?! But… He’s Superman!” Yeah, I get it. I’m just… I’m giving it a “Meh.” I’ll still be there opening day
Agree on all points. The Superman poster evokes all the drama of an episode of Lois and Clark. I’m imagining a scenario where Superman allows himself to be arrested after accidently killing someone while trying to save them, or being framed for murder by Lex Luther or something. Ethically interesting perhaps, but hardly the makings of an epic movie. There’s no threat, because everyone knows he could just fly away if he really felt the need to. Maybe the actual plot is more badass but this poster doesn’t really give me a clue. It should feature Superman surrounded by soldiers wielding guns loaded kryptonite-based ammo. Now *that’s* compelling and implies actual danger to our hero. Admittedly not a lot of danger since he’s faster than a speeding bullet so they still couldn’t hit him but whatever at least it would be an attempt to create tension. As it is they’d be better with just an S. Or an S behind bars, or an S that’s like, crumbling or something. Whatever, be vague if you have to, just give me reason to hope it will be awesome. The Star Trek poster is a brilliant example. Really they could just grab any Batman poster post Batman Begins and convert it into a Superman poster. Bam. Done.
It just occurred to me that this Superman poster makes it look like some kind of Superman/Call of Duty crossover. They might as well have a helicopter in the background or put night vision goggles on Superman’s head.
Another note is that they’re invoking [one of many] Superman-teaches-us-how-to-be-human stories from the books that secretly were never much good.
Great points, but I really would have liked a full article where you really just beat up on this poster lol.
All good points, guys! I would have liked to have really delved into it, and maybe I’ll do that eventually. But if I wind up enjoying MOS, well… heh.