Thursday, June 27, 2013

People are afraid of what they don't understand



I watched Man of Steel this morning - shed a few tears, jumped a couple of times in my seat...
Emotionally, this film inevitably delivers, even if via trite lines such as:

You're not just anyone. One day, you're going to have to make a choice. You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be. Whoever that man is, good character or bad, it's going to change the world.

Yet we must remember that when remaking a franchise as legendary, monumental and meaningful to millions as Superman, such quotes, albeit hackneyed, are also CLASSIC and need to be incorporated -

You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.

Because of this, it is easier to forgive the implausibilities that crop out throughout the film ('How are you, Clark, only minimally surprised to see your biological father materialize out of nothingness in front of you inside an insular ice cave?' 'How are you, Lois, only marginally disturbed by being inside an alien spacecraft?").

Likewise, it is also preferable to gloss over the minor flaws - such as the extensive fight scenes (maybe this is just me) and recurrent resurrections of Russel Crowe - and allow oneself to be absorbed by the film's spectacular cinematography and grandness.

Henry Cavill presents to us a different Superman - 'darker,' as critics are calling it - the same way Zack Snyder and the rest of his team (NOLAN) give us a deeper insight into Clark Kent's past and his scruples ... 

The film isn't solely a Superman-pity party; we are given opportunities to peer at the 'other side,' realize that (insert 'poor') Zod was conceived by AI and assigned to his patriotic fate, and sympathize. Let's not forget that he also has the best villain accent ever... something about his hard-edged tone is so boulder-y and stone-y (okay I'll stop).

James Franco wrote a review of Man of Steel too, although he somehow found yet another way to make the review 80% about himself (I still love him, though).

So, the film: Impactful? Definitely. A spectacle? Yes. But superbly honed? Debatable... yet infinitely forgivable for its flaws.