The trailer for Man of Steel hit theaters last weekend in front of The Dark Knight Rises, and… huh. It looks like Warner Bros. was like, “Hey, Zack Snyder! Remember Batman Begins? Do that! With Superman! Also, listen to whatever Christopher Nolan tells you.” And then Christopher Nolan was like, “So, Zack. Let’s pretend Sucker Punch never happened, shall we? Right. Now, did I ever tell you how much I like Terrence Malick? Because I really, really do.” And so Zack Snyder rented Batman Begins and tried to stay awake through Tree of Life and then ta-DA! Man of Steel!
Personally I think this is a whole lot of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ—even considering that it has Kevin “I’M BACK, MOTHERFUCKERS!” Costner reading some dialogue lifted from All-Star Superman, one of my favorite superhero comics, while emo music from Lord of the Rings plays—but I’ll acknowledge maybe some people out there are alll “Whooo! Superman returns! No, not Superman Returns, that was really boring. I just meant Superman’s back!” So: TO THE URGENT POLL!
What a terribly written blog post. It’s like looking at the Facebook of a fifth-grader.
SUPERMAN IS STUPID. SO IS ZACK SNYDER. IT’S A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN.
F THE HATERS SUPERMAN RULES!!! I cried during this trailer.
IF KEVIN COSTNER IS A SELLING POINT, THEN YOU REALLY SHOULD NOT BE WRITING ABOUT MOVIES.
It’s cool man, I mean it’s you know whatever.
I’d watch it. Or not. Either way.
Oh sorry I guess I forgot caps lock
I FEEL PRETTY INDIFFERENT ABOUT IT OMG
I like Superman!
Superman is better as a symbol than as a character.
Zack Snyder is the directorial equivalent of an Axe Body Spray-stained copy of Game Informer. I do not like him.
Superman’s okay in stories like All-Star Superman or Whatever Happend to The Man of Tomorrow? where he’s allowed to die or be all Jesus-y or whatever. Most of the time he’s less good.
I would like a Martian Manhunter movie, but I think I’m alone in that.
Nah dude, this is gonna be pretty a’ight.
It looks like a continuation of those Levi’s commercials they shot in Portland a coulpe years ago.
Superman dying doesn’t make for a good story.. just look at Dan Jurgens’ Death of Superman, it was super dumb. Snyder is a bozo, but quoting All Star Superman gives me hope. Also, they would never make a Martian Manhunter movie, especially considering he isn’t a JL member in the current Canon. Ideally they follow Superman with Wonder Woman, then Flash, and then potentially try to reboot Green Lantern and wash the bad taste out of everyone’s mouth from the Reynolds debacle. Then, a JL movie.
Anyway, now I am just rambling.
Everyone cites All-Star Superman, and they should, but here’s some essential Superman reading:
Birthright
Secret Identity
Red Son
Kingdom Come
I’ll even throw in Superman for All Seasons, although I don’t like that one as much.
Aside from Dini/Timm’s “Adventures of Superman/Justice League” cartoons, it’s hard to recommend anything Superman-related since Superman II came out in the early 80s. Not Lois & Clark, not the Superboy syndicated series, definitely not the Death of Superman story-arc, or any of the crap that followed. Not Steel, not Red/Blue, none of the Crises, There’s just been loads and loads of terrible Superman stories.
Hell, I typically recommend people watch The Iron Giant if they wanna get an idea of how/why Superman works as a character. Because that robot gets it.
This trailer was a bore, which sucks, because most people think Superman is boring now, and the last movie was all sorts of boring, and here’s a trailer that looks JUST LIKE that last movie. I don’t know what they’re thinking.
nolan as producer surely kept snyder in line for this one — that’s undoubtedly why he was brought on.
the trailer itself is already far better than all of the previous movies combined.
but, yeah, ultimately it’ll still be boring — but then, that’s to be expected: it’s ‘superman’.
Oh god, I forgot all about The Death of Superman arc. Yeah, that sucked. When I said “die or be all Jesus-y” I meant that the best stories are the ones where the charcter is allowed to tanscend into symbol. The Iron Giant, I’d say, has precisely that. Kingdom Come is good, too.
My favorite incarnation of Superman is the old Max Fleischer cartoons from the 40s.
@fatboy: Red Son and Kingdom Come are both excellent reads. I haven’t read the others, I’ll check ’em out.
@human_in_training – this trailer basically IS Superman Returns.
Beautiful Landscapes
Old Guy Talking
Kid Playing on a Farm
2 seconds of semi-obscured Superman in which he breaks the sound barrier.
Giant S.
Nolan is producing not as a means to keep Snyder in line (the production was happening as he was shooting Dark Knight Rises, so he didn’t have much of a chance to ride herd over Snyder’s tendencies towards visual stampede) but more as a means to get Goyer’s ideas up on the screen. Goyer had the story idea, Nolan had the juice to get it made.
However – It wasn’t so long ago that Snyder was coming off Dawn of the Dead and 300 and people were genuinely excited to see what this guy could do. Watchmen was a valiant attempt at pulling off the impossible, That Fucking Owl Movie was pure pandering, Sucker Punch was pure indulgence. It’s possible the failures of those last two have taught Snyder a little bit of restraint and focus, bringing him back in line with the kind of filmmaker who made enjoyable pop confections like Dawn & 300.
I think the real question here is: WHY DOES SUPERMAN LEAVE A CONTRAIL???????
@ fatboy:
duly noted, and well-stated…..
it’s a shame, then, that nolan didn’t have as tight of a leash as i had assumed — i’m no nolan fanatic, but i sure do think his help is needed by someone whose best work came in the form of ‘300’ (what a fucking bowl of tripe that was)…..
‘enjoyable pop confections’ is a very apt way to describe those films…..enjoyable like eating a whole, big bag of doritos in one sitting, content with yourself until a few hours later when you’re finally forced to recognize how horrible and disgusting it all was, via stomach (or brain) pain.
Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is my all-time favorite movie. Zach Snyder did a great job with the remake. Talk about a fun movie! Let him remake Day of the Dead as well.