emlogomain.jpg

Main
Facebook
Tumblr
News/ Updates
DVD Reviews
Blu-ray Reviews
Movie Reviews
TV
Interviews
TV show review: CONTINUUM season 4
PHOTOGRAPHY

MAN OF STEEL

Blu-ray review by David Blackwell

 

DETAILS:  143 minutes (rated PG-13), featurettes, animated short, maximum movie mode, DVD, digital copy, 64 page book

VIDEO:  2.40:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen) 1080p High Definition

AUDIO (Blu-ray):  English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Chinese 5.1, Portuguese 5.1

Subtitles:  English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese

Subtitles (Blu-ray disc 2): English SDH

 

STUDIO:  Warner Bros. Pictures/ DC Entertainment/ Legendary Pictures/ Syncopy

Theatrical RELEASE DATE:  6-14-2013

Blu-ray/DVD RELEASE DATE:  11-12-2013

 

STARRING Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Laurence Fishburne, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Christopher Meloni

WRITTEN by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan (story credit only)

DIRECTED by Zack Snyder

MAN OF STEEL is an interesting and action-packed reboot of the Superman mythos.  It isn’t quite balanced as BATMAN BEGINS, but the casting and music score (by Hans Zimmer) is on target.  The only thing I didn’t like is the overuse of CGI in the fight sequences between Superman and Zod.   I think the Zod and Superman fight in Superman II is superior to the MAN OF STEEL fight since you can see the characters actually fighting and not be a mess of CGI figures fighting it out.   

 

Russell Crowe brings a gravitas and cool to the role of Jor-El that Marlon Brando never could (Marlon seems stiff and too stately compared to Crowe’s take and Crowe seems like more of a great father figure).  Michael Shannon brings a more grounded approach to General Zod, the military man who believes what he is doing is right for the future of the Krypton race, and I like it more than the over-the-top performance of Terrance Stamp’s memorable take as Zod.   Michael does as much as he can with the underdeveloped role of Zod as the rest of his military followers have zero development (including the really cool badass Faora).  The characters in this movie that are the most developed are Clark/ Superman, Lois Lane (who is very independent and I love how she quickly discovers who Superman is), Jor-El, Martha Kent, Jonathan Kent (which is amazing given how little screen time that Kevin Costner has), and Perry White (someone who doesn’t really need development other than play the role of the editor-in-chief at The Daily Planet).   That brings me to how Henry Cavill nails the conflict inside Clark Kent/ Superman and being the loner/ outsider who is trying to discover his role on his adopted world.   I know the relationship between Clark and Lois Lane comes out of the blue too quickly (and I wonder how much of their story ended up on the cutting room floor since Zack Snyder has mentioned he had a three hour version of this movie before he edited it down to its current length).  I think Amy Adams currently is my second favorite actress to play Lois Lane (behind Erica Durance on the Smallville TV series) and I will be watching to see where she takes it in the sequel.

 

The opening scenes on Krypton are amazing before the movie launching into a disjointed journey for Clark Kent aka Kal-El aka Superman before General Zod shows up (and the plot kick starts again).  I do think MAN OF STEEL does portray the doubts of Clark Kent well as he struggles with his role of being a hero and doing what is right, but it isn’t as cool as say Bruce Wayne’s path to become Batman in BATMAN BEGINS.  Still I like the path of Clark being the outcast who embraces his path by the end of the movie and joining the world again with his alter ego of Superman.  This origin story is more about Clark Kent becoming Superman and less about how Clark Kent (since he isn’t even a reporter in this movie).   I am excited to see where the sequel will go and I hope they rely less on CGI for the fight scenes and backgrounds next time.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

BLU-RAY DISC 1-

STRONG CHARACTERS, LEGENDARY ROLES (25 minutes)- promotional making-of featurette on the characters, story, and the production of the movie

ALL-OUT ACTION (26 min)-  this featurette first focuses on the training that Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon, and others went through to get into top physical shape before moving onto the action sequences being a combo of practical and CGI effects.   Also Michael Shannon wore a motion capture suit for many of his scenes (his armor was CGI) and the fight scenes were lots of physical to CGI action transitions.

KRYPTON DECODED (6 minutes)- actor Dylan Sprayberry (Clark Kent age 13) interviews VFX Supervisor John “DJ” Desjardin about the Krypton technology and the visual effects.

SUPERMAN 75th Anniversary animated short is a two minute tour through the 75 year history of Superman in comics, film, and TV.

NEW ZEALAND: HOME OF MIDDLE EARTH has no place on the disc except for being a promo for THE HOBBIT films.

 

BLU-RAY DISC 2-

JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY: CREATING MAN OF STEEL is a Maximum Movie mode version of the film as director Zack Snyder, cast and crew talk about making the film with various behind-the-scenes footage and artwork which interrupts the movie and even plays behind-the-scenes footage and interviews alongside the movie in this two hour and 54 minute enhanced making-of.  Cast and crew share some interesting stories about the movie and their characters in addition to Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe telling the story of how they first met years before making MAN OF STEEL (and how Russell’s words stuck with Henry).

PLANET KRYPTON is an exploration of Krypton and its lost society via the format of a news documentary program that aired on TV in Superman’s world after the events in MAN OF STEEL.

 

X-RAY VISION (Target exclusive behind-the-scenes featurettes which run about 30 minutes total):

THE DESTRUCTION OF KRYPTON- a look at the making of the opening scenes shows the destruction of Krypton

CLARK DISCOVERS THE SCOUT SHIP- a behind-the-scenes look at the scene when Clark finds the ancient Krypton scout ship

BATTLE ON THE STREETS OF SMALLVILLE- a behind-the-scenes look at all the practical effects work that went into that action sequence

THE MILITARY MIGHT OF MAN OF STEEL- a look at how the military contributed to the authenticity of the military in the movie

ATTACK ON METROPOLIS- a behind-the-scenes look at the combo of practical filming and CGI work that went into the making of the climatic action scenes

 

Also the Target exclusive version of the Blu-ray/ DVD combo come sin a book format which features a 64 page book which has a selection of imagery from the MAN OF STEEL: INSIDE THE LEGENDARY WORLD OF SUPERMAN by Dan Wallace

 

Rounding out the combo pack is a code for Digital HD Ultraviolet copy of MAN OF STEEL and the movie in standard definition on DVD.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:   MAN OF STEEL is a different take on the superman origin which I enjoyed and the Blu-ray set has various behind-the-scenes extras that give a good look at the making of MAN OF STEEL

 

This blu-ray review is (c)11-15-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com