"I Get Writer's Block If I'm Not Wearing A Flak Jacket."

[redbrunja]

I saw Man of Steel last night and really, really enjoyed it. I went with qualapec, backtothesea, and a several other nonLJ people and we had a blast.

Before getting to the spoilery stuff, I was reading an article about Henry Cavill, and it mentioned that he'd been in talks to play Superman for about ten years, so that's why it seemed like I've heard Superman + Henry Cavill for ages. That said, he's fucking perfect. And so ridiculously hot, oh my god. Several times in the movie I was just going, 'goddamn that man is hot.'

First, the few things I didn't like:

• it was about twenty minutes too long; mainly due the endless climatic sequences


• i am so bored by the beautifully tragic woman giving birth and being sad because sad things are happening trope. When that weird alien animal gave that cry right as Clark is being born, I ALMOST started singing 'it's the cir-le of of life... and it moves so slow!' in the middle of the theater.


• There was one particular scene that was really, really, REALLY Christian and qualapec almost lost it in the theater which made ME almost lose it in the theater. I'm sorry, random hot guy sitting next to me.

The good:

• LOIS FUCKING LANE, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN. She was fucking amazing. Fierce and clever and intrepid and it was so clear that the narrative was really prioritizing her importance to the narrative and the plot. I loved how they had Lois in just about every part of the movie they could manage, always doing something proactive. It wasn't at all like CA, where Peggy was only in the bunker so she and Steve could kiss in the end; Lois Lane was where the action was because Lois Lane would be where the action is.


• Lois and Clark had FUCKING AMAZING CHEMISTRY, MY GOD. Also, it was cracking me up that Lois met half of Clark's parents in this movie, which was impressive since timeline wise, at that point three quarters were dead.


• The adoption metaphor was TOP NOTCH. It said SUCH positive things about found/created/nonbiological family.


• I loved Perry White, I loved that the cast was comprised of a fuckton of people I know from other places.


• Having General Zod (who had a brilliant humanizing moment in the end) and other Kryptonians playing such a huge role was brilliant. It make the stakes feel serious, it opened up the world to other meta-human players in a way none of the other DC movies have done.


• I feel like movie was kind of a middle finger to the analysis of Superman made popular by Bill (of the Kill Bill movies) that Superman is the real person and Clark is the costume; this movie is so much about Clark the man (as opposed to Clark the superhero) that if feels really odd to refer to him as 'Superman.'

Please link me to your reviews, icons, fic, etc. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and talk about this more and, okay, honestly, I just want to read all the smut with Clark and Lois. Like, all of it. (...I may even be writing some...)

Comments

[earnmysong.livejournal.com]

A+ to all of this. Just. YES. And the Circle of Life thing? I died laughing reading that. :D

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I seriously convulsed in my seat.

[confusedkayt.livejournal.com]

I had some real ambivalence about the ending chunks of Man of Steel, which I touched on in a bit more depth here: http://confusedkayt.livejournal.com/118972.html

HOWEVER, a big old YES to your points. God, Lois Lane was so fantastic in this. Like, hilariously awesome. I also loved that Zod had a Number One who was a lady in lady armor that looked functional and neither concealed that she was a lady nor made undo hay with the bosom. I also loved Ma Kent, and her very character-capturing moment where she runs back into her wrecked house to keep track of the scrapbooks. She really reminded me of my own Mom in that moment, despite the general under-use she got in the film. Also, yay for Perry White and his general awesomeness and reasonable editorial decisions. Plus, I cannot agree more about Zod's humanizing moment. It gave so much retroactive weight to the action setpieces at the end and really hammered home the nastiness at the core of this Krypton's general social design.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I also loved that Zod had a Number One who was a lady in lady armor that looked functional and neither concealed that she was a lady nor made undo hay with the bosom.

Agreed! I loved the scenes of her just CURB-STOMPING dudes.

Plus, I cannot agree more about Zod's humanizing moment. It gave so much retroactive weight to the action setpieces at the end and really hammered home the nastiness at the core of this Krypton's general social design.

Yeah, you could really see the ways in which the social engineering of Kyrpton failed.

[just-shai.livejournal.com]

The wandering around thing was good for character building. But when he said he was 33? I facepalmed.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

To me, that was SO FAR down on my list of ridiculous religious references.

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

YES YES AND YES.

Superman is hard to do well and they did it well.

Lois and Clark had FUCKING AMAZING CHEMISTRY, MY GOD.

Their chemistry was A+. And I realize, she met his adoptive MOTHER and his bio FATHER and they both more or less approved of her (loved Clark's mom teasing him about "his reporter friend").

I feel like movie was kind of a middle finger to the analysis of Superman made popular by Bill (of the Kill Bill movies) that Superman is the real person and Clark is the costume; this movie is so much about Clark the man (as opposed to Clark the superhero) that if feels really odd to refer to him as 'Superman.'

I didn't think about this, but it is so true. This movie threw a lot of classic comic book wisdom out the window in a really good way. The scene where Clark killed Zod was built up to so well and it said so much about who Clark was that he was willing to do that, even though he struggled with it. It was a brilliant way to update the character

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

And I realize, she met his adoptive MOTHER and his bio FATHER and they both more or less approved of her (loved Clark's mom teasing him about "his reporter friend").

Exactly!

I didn't think about this, but it is so true. This movie threw a lot of classic comic book wisdom out the window in a really good way.

Yeah, the whole movie was really solidly built around Clark as a character, not Superman. As much as I could have down with a little less backstory, I think one reason they had so much of it was that focus on the man, not the myth.

[lokifan]

I haven't seen it yet, and now when I do I'll be dying of the urge to do circle of life. Maybe if I go to a 9am showing...

I feel like movie was kind of a middle finger to the analysis of Superman made popular by Bill (of the Kill Bill movies) that Superman is the real person and Clark is the costume; this movie is so much about Clark the man (as opposed to Clark the superhero) that if feels really odd to refer to him as 'Superman.'

Awesome, because that is a stupid analysis. The received wisdom around DC fandom, I understand, is very much that while Bruce Wayne is really Batman, Superman is really Clark Kent, which I like.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

The received wisdom around DC fandom, I understand, is very much that while Bruce Wayne is really Batman, Superman is really Clark Kent, which I like.

It generally is, although you'll get a few outliers. Also skewing the whole issue... I'm now realizing... Bruce Wayne is SUCH a creation to throw suspicion away from him being Batman... and SO MANY (all excluding Alfred, I'd say) of his personal relationships are made when he's Batman.

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

I never agreed with Bill on that either. A Superman done well should be more Clark Kent than Superman or he's not really relatable IMO.

Lois was fantastic but the movie dragged a bit for me and the action sequences needed a serious trimming. I want to like it more than I do. My fav scene was where he cauterized her wound using heat vision. And any part with Lois. I liked Zod's right hand woman too she was good.

Meanwhile this movie is doing fantastically and DC announced a Wonder Woman/Superman book today. ::slow clap:: Way to know what the people want, morons.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Lois was fantastic but the movie dragged a bit for me and the action sequences needed a serious trimming. I want to like it more than I do. My fav scene was where he cauterized her wound using heat vision. And any part with Lois. I liked Zod's right hand woman too she was good.

Zod's right hand woman was AMAZING. And I also loved that scene where Clark cauterizes Lois' wound.

Meanwhile this movie is doing fantastically and DC announced a Wonder Woman/Superman book today. ::slow clap:: Way to know what the people want, morons.

Ah, the comics industry. Still slowly lumbering to its death.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I loved that scene too. I know a lot of people are pissed that the writers went there, but I fucking loved it.

[phemyscira.livejournal.com]

Warning: Over excited fan at three o'clock:

http://phemyscira.livejournal.com/32954.html