I know we’re all worried about Zack Snyder’s Superman film revival Man of Steel , but the early buzz is that the film is everything we could have ever wanted out of a Superman flick.
Where we’re at with Man of Steel : The stills are good, the costume looks great, and the trailer was breathtaking. The talent is there. The same team that brought us The Dark Knight Trilogy (Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer) added Zack Snyder, a good director with great visual style (though when left to his own devices, makes movies like Sucker Punch ).
But there’s just some bad juju when it comes to Superman in film. Richard Donner did it once (and halfway did it twice), but that series resulted in awful and embarrassing third and fourth films. A few attempts during the 90s languished in development hell until Bryan Singer gave us Superman Returns in 2006.
Returns, starring Brandon Routh, was pretty good. It has a ton of critics, but when you view it as a love letter to the Donner films, it becomes an appropriate third film to round out a Donner-esque trilogy. Still, the film didn’t quite take with audiences, and was more of a drama than a superhero action romp.
It seems true that DC’s near-future in film really hinges on Man of Steel . Batman is, comparatively speaking, pretty easy to adapt. The Dark Knight’s story is timeless and can be viewed through dozens of different lenses. It’s not the same with Superman.
Thankfully, as Man of Steel is slowly screened for insiders, it seems that the response coming back is an encouraging sigh of relief for DC and Warner Bros. A trusted scooper tells JoBlo the following (emphasis theirs):
- Imagine a Nolan story with Snyder effects/action
- It’s the best movie of the year.
- There’s TONS of action with Superman kicking all kinds of ass in his suit.
- The cape is CG’d most of the time so it can look awesome.
- They have intentionally left out most of the the Super action in trailers to save it.
- It’s not nearly as dour and serious as the trailers suggest.
- The movie is complete, minus the 3D post-conversion, which is currently taking place
Sure, “best movie of the year” might be pre-emptive, but Germain Lussier of SlashFilm noted that the scooper is probably right, based on some of the whispers he’s been hearing around tinsel town.
“Sometimes just living in Hollywood and conversing with people you hear things. And one of the things I’ve heard is that everything this scooper told JoBlo is right. That everyone who has seen Man of Steel loves it and it’s the ass-kicking, action-packed and heartfelt Superman movie you can’t wait to see.”
I guess we’ll find out when Man of Steel comes out on June 14. Are you excited?