What is the recipe for a good sci-fi film? For starters, a must need would be a dying world. Add in a rebellion and sprinkle it with a civil war. Then, add a dramatic exit of a friendly spacecraft and to cap it off, place in Earth. Well, do not forget your love interest, your sprinkled CG battle scenes everywhere, and your intense soundtrack. Voila! You got your film - in this case Transformers, er, the Man of Steel.
Probably, you are thinking why I said that the Man of Steel was just your typical "halo-halo" film. It is a "halo-halo" film precisely because of two elements: visuals and content and similarity with other films. Because of these factors, the Man of Steel failed to stand out among other sci-fi films.
The visual effects and CG animation that was employed on the Man of Steel are actually superb and top of the line. Thanks to this, the film presented vivid and dazzling scenes of Krypton and of Earth. And under Zack Snyder's direction, the CG and animation content have breath into life what was once color drawings in a comic to a full size reality which we can see.
However, by overusing this technique, through frequent battle scenes, the story itself becomes diluted. Take for example the Transformers. Back then, the main focus of each film was to portray the battles between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The story itself was just a side dish of some sort. In return, Transformers became nothing more than robots smashing robots, albeit with the occasional interference of humans.
In the same way, the Man of Steel leans towards that kind of technique overuse; especially towards the end of the film, much of the battle scenes were turn into a montage - one battle after the another - which makes it harder for the audience to actually digest what really was happening.
I for one, experienced this. In one instance, I wasn't able to understand the transition that happened when Kal-El passed out in Zod's ship because of his inability to adapt. I wasn't able to decipher the change in the scenery. It was just later which I found out that they communicated using some sort of telepathy.
Secondly, scenes from the Man of Steel bore really uncanny similarities with other films. Scenes especially from the latter half of the film bore resemblances from Star Trek, Battle: Los Angeles, Transformers and Tron.
Perhaps I was expecting some original content from both Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder, that's why I was really surprised to see they have found inspirations from other films and incorporated it to the Man of Steel. In turn, those scenes turned out to be clichés usually employed in sci-fi movies, like massive destruction of cities and incompetent military forces.
So what was the result of these two elements? A "halo-halo" - too much content crammed into one film, topped by striking visuals and smothered with useless fight scenes.
However, what was commendable on the Man of Steel was the performances of its actors, most notably Russell Crowe. Crowe has exceptionally played Jor-El, both when he was alive and when only his consciousness remained. The way he acted highlights the role of Jor-El as a bad-ass guardian to both Kal-El and Lois Lane, especially when he was directing Lois out of Zod's ship and saying that, "This is my ship."
Amy Adams, Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon and of course, Kevin Costner can also be commended for their delivery and portrayal of their characters in the film.
So, if any of you wants to join the bandwagon in watching the latest Superman movie, please do. However, please note that disappointing scenes are bound to happen.
Friday, June 21, 2013
