Voices of Steel
Monday, July 23, 2012 at 10:00PM I didn't realize, watching the Man of Steel (2013) teaser before The Dark Knight Rises that I was watching only one of two versions. The virtually identical trailers have totally different voiceovers, an ingenious ploy to get people to watch the commercial twice and feel like there's added value.
Russell Crowe, the biological father Jor-El, who gives the earth a Superman. Sort of accidentally, but whatever.
Kevin Costner, the real father Jonathan Kent, who raises a super boy.
I'm not sure über somber "MY DESTINY!" tone and behold the glories of Nature and Kansas and Henry Cavill's beard visuals were the direction to go here since the whole reason people had such a hard time with Superman Returns was its contemplative soul in place of bam pow action (the super villain being a big island of Krytopnite essentially) and its humorlessness. And its Lois but... bygones! Point being: won't this just remind people of Superman Returns and their boredom regarding the Man of Steel? If we must have superheroes every 3 months my greatest wish is they all won't try to be Christopher Nolan's Whatever; different central characters demand differently toned films.
P.S. Here's my vote for Tweet of the Weekend via... Fake Terrence Malick
Reader Comments (17)
I like how the trailer(s?) is vague other than the last shot of Superman flying through the Earth's orbit; better to give people a little taste now in The Summer of Superhero Movies and then ramp up interest during, let's say, Christmas time. I am not a fan of Zack Snyder so my interest is at a lukewarm level, but we shall see.
And that Fake Terrence Malick tweet is absolutely brilliant; I keeled over laughing...great, great find.
@Nathaniel
I'm pretty sure people's problem with Superman Returns wasn't its contemplative soul, it was the lack of Superman fighting anyone, that and the repeat plot from the original Donner film. I personally liked Returns, but I can understand why it wasn't everybody's cup of tea. Anyways, if they're planning a Justice League film it actually makes sense that they would start cultivating a similar tone between all of the DC films. That's what Marvel did. Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America all felt like the same universe.
And in my opinion, they need to go in the opposite direction of what the Marvel universe was if they want to form their own identity. Marvel's universe can be quippy and light-hearted, and DC's universe can be defined by "epic realism."
Cackling @ that tweet.
I honestly don't have any faith in Zack Snyder. Zero. Not that I was ever really a fan but after the huge let-down of Watchmen and the hot mess of Sucker Punch, him going in a direction as seemingly pensive as this makes me think the worst. And Superman is one of the more dull superhero characters, on top of everything.
Interesting trailer(s) though.
Remember if there is going to be a Justice League movie Christian Bale and Henry Cavill will not be in it.
Watchmen is a near masterpiece. It makes me laugh when fans of the book hate on the movie. The movie is a near shot-for-shot recreation of the book!
thatguy: Except that angle demands one thing for masterpiece status: Everyone must deliver absolutely perfect performances and, well, Malin Ackerman was terrible and Matthew Goode was only decent. It's an...OKAY movie (B-), but it's no masterpiece. And also, on your first comment: Um...that's what makes Marvel's universe so boring, on the overall. No sprawling visual universe that has different tones, colours and visuals as you step into different corners, opting for a lock-stepped and stale cinematographic style (MARVEL at the multi-coloured circuitry bridge at the end of Thor). The Nolan colour palate and writing style works as a take on Batman, but neither work for Superman.
Random Person: Bale not being in it, I understand. He wants to distance himself from Batman. Cavill not being in it, however? He's not been in a great film yet, so what the bleep!? I mean, not that I have much confidence in this director or this approach and am STILL confused why they didn't go with the Grant Morrison pitch (he pitched All-Star Superman), but you think they'd at least get Cavill to consent to appear in the Justice League movie if they were planning it.
Mark the First: Snyder, as a director, is decent but not spectacular. He won't turn an average script into total gold (see also: Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns) like Tim Burton could at the start of his career. However...Superman as an emotionally dramatic character we're supposed to see struggle with his alienness? (Nolan-isms coming to the fore, even though they don't fit the character? Check.) Boring. Superman as a drama free whiz-bang show off like in All-Star Superman? Awesome.
I completely disagree. I thought the teaser was great. I am not a fan of Zack Synder at all, and had almost zero interest in this film because of his involvement, until I saw the Comic Con bootleg trailer and the teaser. It seems like his usual gimmicks aren't in play here - we'll see. I wish they could have shown the full length trailer as that would probably have been better for general audiences, but the movie is still a year away.
Is it bad that the only reason I want to see this movie is Diane Lane?
Everyone says that Superman is dull, but so is Batman. Both Superheros personalities are kind of dull, the only thing that makes Batman more interesting are his villians. Spiderman is the most interesting Superhero out of the main ones.
As far as Comics being a bit more fun and lighthearted. Most of all of Marvel movies are that way and I certainly don't want to see every comic book movie fun and lighthearted nor dark and serious. So I certainly don't mind the more serious realistic approach for this.
Excited for Diane Lane as Superman's mom. She needs to land more roles!
Terrence Malick? More like Michael Bay in his "Pearl Harbor," maudlin Americana phase.
Why is Clark Kent working on a fishing vote? But the trailer is intriguing and the brief shot of Superman flying is thrilling.
Zack Snyder: Meh.
Superman: Meh.
Pictures of Butterflies and Dogs at Sunset: Meh.
Plot: Kind of intriguing based on what I've seen, but if Clark Kent is going to go find himself around the world, what's to stop this from being the same movie as Batman Begins?
Voiceover: Uninteresting.
In regards to some people saying that this is too somber, I can understand that viewpoint if all you are expecting or desiring out of comic book movies is that they match the campy tone of serials between 1950-1990. However, I like the idea that a superhero movie can be a lot of different kinds of things, and I think it's actually more rare, despite the Batman reboot's success, that superhero movies take the somber, dramatic tone. Iron Man, Avengers, Green Lantern, Green Hornet, Daredevil, Elektra, etc. etc. etc. has all been big campy fun (although I'd argue that I didn't find most of them very fun -- more boring, loud, and cliche).
I love Christopher Nolan's batman for making the superhero movie transcend the genre to a certain degree by drawing influences from other mass appeal movie types: epics, war movies, Michael Mann films, crime dramas, etc. It's still a fairly uncommon move when it comes to these kinds of movies.
I'm pretty much only into this for the Amy Adams of it all. Plus Michael Shannon. And a little bit Diane Lane. Also, Adams presence pretty much guarantees Lois will be an improvement. So if the villain can just not have the most nonsensical master plan ever, and maybe give me some good shirtless/spandex shots of Cavill in the next trailer, then we'll be good to go!
All I have to say is that the only bulge we see in the teaser is that of the young Kent. I mean...perverted choice!
The only real value this film will have for me is the promise of a lot of physicality, and hopefully a revealing costume, from Michael Shannon.