Man Of Steel brings the return of Superman

Superman has been one of the most legendary comic book superheroes ever. Ever since Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster developed him back in 1938, Superman is the superhero most people would want to be. (Yeah, I know all you Batman fans are out there thinking no way. Remember, Batman is cool and all, but has no actual super powers. Superman, on the other hand, has a whole list. But let’s not get into these arguments right now.) The movie Man of Steel now brings Superman back into the spotlight and to new life.

 

Sure, DC Comics tried it a few years ago in the effort of Superman Returns. My opinion? The movie wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great. I thought it had a decent story, but it felt like a lot was left unexplained. There were so many gaps many audience members were confused over what was going on. I also love Kevin Spacey‘s work, but his role as Lex Luthor was poorly written and such a bad caricature of Gene Hackman‘s, from the original 1978 Superman movie, that it really worked against the film. Plus, the quintessential piece of any Superman movie, Superman himself, was played by Brandon Routh who just didn’t have the chops for a role like that. I felt his acting was very vanilla and bland. Not a good pick. The overall chemistry was all wrong. Of course, I’ve been jaded because, to me, Christopher Reeve is the true Superman.

This time, with Man of Steel the chemistry works. The group of actors chosen are an established group who are mostly recognizable: Amy Adams (Julie and Julia) as Lois Lane, Michael Shannon (Premium Rush) as General Zod, Russell Crowe (Gladiator) as Jor-el, Chris Meloni (Law & Order: SVU) as an army colonel, Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) as Jonathon Kent, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) as Perry White, and relative newcomer Henry Cavill (from The Tudors) as Superman. This group works very well together. They are very believable and their roles are well written. This adds to any movie, but when bringing Superman to life it’s deadly important.

I was very worried about this film. After seeing the trailers, and before seeing it, I wanted so much to like it a lot. I wanted the film to live up to the hype. But I was also worried it was going to crash and burn in failure like the last film. The trailers showed much of the storyline which was part of the original Superman film from 1978: Krypton, SM’s origins, Jor-El, the trial of Zod, etc. It appeared it might just be a rehash of the same story. In a way it is, but they made it better.el, the chemistry works pretty well.

The makers of this film have seemed to realize, in order to make the idea of Superman better, they needed to make him worse. They couldn’t just follow the “goody-goody” model where good and bad are black and white and no one really gets hurt. The writers took their cue from the Dark Knight series. Michael Keaton‘s Batman from the 1980s is much different than the brooding Christian Bale Dark Knight of the 2000s. Many people prefer this ‘darker,’ torn soul, version. The makers of Man of Steel needed to make Superman a little darker. They gave him deeper emotional range and made the movie overall darker than other Supermans you may have seen. It directly relates to some of the darker versions of the newer comic book series. In fact, the typical bright blue, yellow, and red costume is toned down to darker (much cooler) colors of itself and the ‘S’ on the chest is even explained in relation to Krypton (no it doesn’t stand for Superman). The film makers help out this new model by adding Zack Snyder, of 300 and Watchmen fame,  as director. Snyder has made a name for himself by making movies on the darkside. He brings these exact talents to the making of Man of Steel. Indeed, there are several shots in this film which are typical of Snyder filmmaking. The overall judgment is… it works.

Man of Steel takes the origins story of Kal-El (Superman’s Kryptonian name) and plays out the entire story including the attempted coup of Krypton, the trial and banishment, the destruction of Krypton, and the impending battle between good and evil. It all ends up on Earth with epic, city-destroying, battles and the impending doom of the planet. This is great for those of us who want to spend more time in the Krypton world learning more about his birthplace. A lot of this information gets woven into the story from there on out. Snyder revisits Clark Kent‘s child hood, but doesn’t spend time dwelling on a lot of what we already know. I was afraid they would just show you everything again, but they don’t. They seem to understand we know the story, we don’t need to see it again and a few flashbacks suffice.

This film is a constant thrill ride following the rise of one of America’s most iconic superheroes ever. Following from distant worlds to the one we know and the explosive battles which take place between our two antagonists, it’s a movie you can’t look away from because you will miss something small which is a key to who Superman really is. It is almost two and a half hours long, but none of that time is “down time”. Snyder uses every minute to weave a piece of the tale and does so successfully. This is the movie to see if you want to see the original American superhero in all his new found glory. I give Man of steel an 8 out 10.

Books to Movies: Cloud Atlas & Beautiful Creatures

Whenever I hear a new movie is being made based on a book I’ve read I always fear the worst. Books express such a deeper level of feeling and understanding of the characters and stories involved. They can do this because you can basically read the minds of those characters… their thoughts and feelings are laid open for you. You know all the backstories, the past lives.

Translating these thoughts and feelings doesn’t always work in a fully visual medium. Take, for instance, the Twilight series of books. I loved the books. Then came the first movie, Twilight. It was horrible. Let alone the bad acting, so much was hacked from the book in an apparent attempt to make a cheaper movie (it’s almost a certainty they weren’t sure the series would take off like it did and had a limited budget available). Unfortunately, the movie turned out badly.

On the flipside, The Lord of the Rings series and the newest prequel, The Hobbit, had a major budget and turned out wonderfully. The movies were expertly directed by Peter Jackson, the actors had amazing depth, the locations grandiose, and the script was almost directly from the books. The last film went on to win all 11 of it’s Academy Award nominations. It was a major success and successfully translated the books to film. Even then, any true fan of the books will tell you they prefer the written word over the films.

 

 

This leads me to two new films which make the attempt of moving a book to film: Cloud Atlas and Beautiful Creatures. They recently released on DVD/Blu-ray. What is interesting about these is the fact that I had never read the books. It was an interest in the trailers which sparked my interest in the books. I wanted to read the stories before seeing the movies. I liked the books quite a bit. Cloud Atlas quickly became one of my favorites because it successfully wove a thread throughout time of the same star-crossed lovers. Beautiful Creatures was a Twilight style story, thrilling in its own right. How well did they make the transfer to film? Read on.

 
Cloud Atlas, starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, takes us on a journey spanning several generations, but yet following the same two lovers through several reincarnations. The book is wonderfully written with each generation in two acts. The first half of the story of each generation is presented in the first half of the book leading up to a post apocalypse future. the second half of the book then back tracks the second halves of those stories, connecting the dots, and fulfilling the readers’ thirst to know what happens in each portion of the timeline. It’s finished off with a “wrap-up” chapter, further completing the storyline. The movie, instead, takes us “time-jumping” across all the time periods, sometimes in rapid succession. the directors of the Matrix, Andy and Lana Wachowski, present this version. They made a conscious decision to take this tactic. Unfortunately, it seems to fall a little flat when compared to the storytelling of the book. the movie tends to get confusing, even after reading the book, because of all the jumping around between time periods. Many of the characters lose their personalities because the depth isn’t given to them. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is still worth the watch. It’s a valuable story with a wonderful message and very interesting twists. It’s very likable because it’s very different from your average film. It involves all the same actors in every generational story. It’s amazing how they portray different characters in different times and with different makeup treatments to make them fit in with the common folkways of the eras. There is even a very amusing point when Hugo Weaving plays a “Nurse Ratchet” style nursing home attendant. Overall, the movie is good and worth watching, but it still never reaches the pinnacle of the book. I rate it an 8 out of 10.

Where Cloud Atlas becomes somewhat successful with the leap to film, Beautiful Creatures falls sadly short. BC involves a teenage boy who meets the girl of his dreams, literally. He has dreamed of her for months. When she moves into town, he immediately falls for her because there is a connection between the two, their destinies are intertwined. He finds out very quickly that she is a ‘caster’, a witch, for lack of a better term. Her family is full of good and evil members who all have powers. When she reaches her 16th birthday, she will be ‘claimed’ for evil or for good. She apparently has no choice in which way she goes. This is the basis of the story. Read the book to find how it ends, I recommend it. I enjoyed the book almost as much as the Twilight series. It felt a little more raw and unfinished, but still a good story of the supernatural with different twists. As for the film, several liberties are taken with the story. Some of the major characters in the book are now minor characters, and some of the most important scenes are dropped from the movie or become afterthoughts in the director’s story. And other scenes are completely rewritten for the screen and are almost unrecognizable. Many of the ‘caster’ family members are straight up caricatures. It’s disappointing because Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson play two of the leading characters. I want the film to be so much more because they are fine actors. Unfortunately, it’s not a good vehicle for them. The lead character, Ethan, has a voice and mannerisms that are truly annoying. The lead actress, Alice Englert, appears to be very good, but this movie doesn’t let her shine. To make a long story short, this film could be likable. Maybe, if you haven’t read the book, the film will be something better for you. If you’ve read the book, it is most likely disappointing. I give it 6.5 out of 10.

In the end, the movie is never better than the book. It only saves you reading large chunks of material and the time spent on the written word. Books allow you to completely immerse yourself into a world completely different than your own. If you can, always read the book before seeing the film.

Be aware, some films will still turn out great, even from books, but some just can’t make this leap from page to screen successfully. Take, for example, Harry Potter. The films have been wonderful additions to bring the books to life. We will also see what the future has in store for books to movies. Next month World War Z comes to the big screen. I’m currently in the midst of the book, but I can’t imagine the style it is written in transferring well. The trailer appears to focus on one family whereas the book is a mash-up of many stories.

Read the books, see the movies, and you make the judgement.

Sucker Punch! (the movie)

**If you like anime, steam-punk, The Matrix, hot chicks in skirts, action, Inception, Alice in Wonderland, The Lord of the Rings, and some really kicking tunes or even all of those combined, then Sucker Punch is the movie for you!**

Just finished watching the movie Sucker Punch. I don’t know where to begin. I love this movie! Is it going to be in my top ten? Probably not. But visuals and action are stellar and the stories have stories.

The movie is directed by Zack Snyder who directed The Watchmen and 300. And the style is right along the same lines. Add a kick a** soundtrack backing all the scenes produced by Marius de Vries who was also musical director for Moulin Rouge… Now do you get the picture? Let me go a little deeper…

The plot is pretty straight forward: girl institutuionalized, girl plots to escape, etc etc. There are even some predictable plot points. (I picked out a few in the first 10 minutes) But there are others that are really ‘twisty.’ (Yeah, that’s a word… I just said it didn’t I?) This includes the fact there are different layers to the story. Imagine Inception on meth. One person called it “Alice In Wonderland with machine guns,” and I tend to agree.

OK, now the important parts (see if these appeal to you):

The movie tends to blend so many different visual and action elements together with bass thumping alt-tunes (including a remake of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit) that I’m not even sure where to start. That alone makes it unique. And there seems to be something for everyone. Well, maybe not your Aunt Hilda who prefers Gone With the Wind, but if she likes The Wizard of Oz meets One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest with a mash-up of I Want It All and We Will Rock You by Queen with Rap by Armageddon aka Geddy, well then Aunt Hilda rocks!

The action involves 5 very attractive women in very small outfits fighting their way out of impossible situations. And it’s not just “hot chicks in skirts.” These women kick some serious butt with some very Matrix-style moves and some the Matrix could only aspire to.  The battles these women have aren’t your everyday battles. They transcend time and motifs. One battle occurs in a World War II time period with steam-punk Nazis and anime style battle vehicles. Another… well imagine three attractive women in short skirts mowing down all the orcs of Mordor (The Lord of the Rings!) with machine guns and swords and then taking on Smaug the dragon!! And then move into the future and fight I, Robot style mechanized men! And don’t forget the giant samurai! Whew! Now don’t let me confuse you.

Sucker Punch keeps the action going and the story moving. It does it with very visually stimulating storytelling and never lets you catch your breath. I recommend it. 🙂