Dear Mr. Beck, Even before your review, I had refused to go see "Man of Steel". In all honesty, there was only one reason: the advertisements. The problem? The ads all seemed to portray this film as dark and dramatic, and it all felt like the movie had forgotten to take its anti-depressants. In all of the ads, Superman never smiled and nobody seemed to be even slightly goofy. It was all super-serious and dark. In all honesty, I thought it was a series of Zoloft commercials. Personally, I think this was a case of "Downer Superhero Syndrome". This is when a writer/director/both feel that the way to make audiences take their superhero film seriously, they need to make everything dark and dramatic. Sometimes that works (like "The Dark Knight" and "Watchmen"), but in other cases, I always feel like the movie is trying too hard. Like you pointed out, for Joss Whedon and "The Avengers", humor came out naturally for the characters. In all honesty, the original Superman movie worked because Christopher Reeves played Superman as if he was serious, but also kind of goofy. One final note: Your complaint that the characters were wooden is oddly enough the most common complaint about Superman characters. At least, in the earlier versions of it. Keep up the good work. Your sincere subscriber, Libertydude
I have to agree with "liberty dude." The advertisements just turned me away from the film, and also it did not seem visually appealing to me. When I saw that Christopher Nolan and Zack Synder were helping to make this film, I was a little weary. "The Dark Knight Rises" was a let down for me, and I not am a fan of Zack Synder's films.
To be honest, if you want to see a good Superman film just watch the original. Better yet, watch the cartoons that Bruce Timm made. They are probably more interesting than this film could ever be.
Dear Mr. Beck,
ReplyDeleteEven before your review, I had refused to go see "Man of Steel". In all honesty, there was only one reason: the advertisements. The problem? The ads all seemed to portray this film as dark and dramatic, and it all felt like the movie had forgotten to take its anti-depressants. In all of the ads, Superman never smiled and nobody seemed to be even slightly goofy. It was all super-serious and dark. In all honesty, I thought it was a series of Zoloft commercials.
Personally, I think this was a case of "Downer Superhero Syndrome". This is when a writer/director/both feel that the way to make audiences take their superhero film seriously, they need to make everything dark and dramatic. Sometimes that works (like "The Dark Knight" and "Watchmen"), but in other cases, I always feel like the movie is trying too hard. Like you pointed out, for Joss Whedon and "The Avengers", humor came out naturally for the characters. In all honesty, the original Superman movie worked because Christopher Reeves played Superman as if he was serious, but also kind of goofy.
One final note: Your complaint that the characters were wooden is oddly enough the most common complaint about Superman characters. At least, in the earlier versions of it. Keep up the good work.
Your sincere subscriber,
Libertydude
I have to agree with "liberty dude." The advertisements just turned me away from the film, and also it did not seem visually appealing to me. When I saw that Christopher Nolan and Zack Synder were helping to make this film, I was a little weary. "The Dark Knight Rises" was a let down for me, and I not am a fan of Zack Synder's films.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, if you want to see a good Superman film just watch the original. Better yet, watch the cartoons that Bruce Timm made. They are probably more interesting than this film could ever be.