Man of Steel

Man of Steel (2013)

Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Meloni.
Director: Zack Snyder

 

For many years, the Superman franchise was in turmoil. From scripts that could have been written better by a five year old, to tantrum throwing and problematic lead actors, this was one superhero that seemed doomed to stay locked in limbo for a very long time.

As a kid, I grew up with the fabulous Christopher Reeve as the man in the red cape. I was never particularly keen on Margot Kidder as Louis Lane, but loved the whole concept of someone like Superman who could save the day, change history and bring mankind back from the brink. Fantastic villains like Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor and Terence Stamp as General Zod will stay in my mind for a very long time. In saying that, it was only the first movie that I really enjoyed, at a little of the second, but the subsequent follow ups were pretty abysmal.

These days, the re-working of the 1950's comic book heroes by DC and Marvel seem to aim towards showcasing current computer graphic technology and turning our heroes into hunks.

Henry Cavill is every girls dream. He is tall, chiselled, handsome and buff and donning the red cape has made him a household name, and my oh my, does he wear that cape well.

The casting for this is pretty spot on. I really loved Henry as Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman. He has the whole superhero look down pat, and with some intense training from celebrity trainer Mark Twight, managed the man of steel muscles as well. There is one scene in particular where Clark emerges from the sea without a shirt on, and I think I audibly sighed at how perfect he was. The re-worked costume for Superman is great. Really modern and well done.

Amy Adams as the smart and determined Lois Lane is much better than Margot Kidder. Amy is, in my mind, a classic Hollywood beauty. She doesn't look fake, she isn 't drop dead gorgeous, she just has that classic look about her that in Hollywood, is timeless and she is fantastic with Henry.

Russell Crowe has long been someone that I loved to hate. I had heard too many stories of his 'blokey' persona and his 'I'm better than everyone' attitude. I really think he's matured as a person as well as an actor and comes to the front in his role as Kal-Els Dad, Jor-El. He looked great in the costume and did justice to Marlon Brando's performance from the 1978 movie.

Michael Shannon was an odd choice for General Zod, but he worked in such a way that you really felt how much he put into this role.

Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were incredibly well chosen as Kal-Els earth parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent and the scene where he loses his father and is unable to help, is an emotional one.



 

After sitting through three quarters of the movie in awe of how amazing everything looked, the one thing that really bugged me ended up being the over use of CG towards the end. I realise that you are talking major damage and destruction when two aliens with incredible strength are having a bit of an argument, but I just felt too many buildings were destroyed with little to no mention of the lives that most surely would have been lost due to this epic demolition crew.

So what will Zack pull out of the bag for the sequel? At the time of writing, San Diego Comic Con 2013 has just wrapped up and Zack has revealed that two of DC's biggest will be in the sequel, Superman and Batman. Henry has already signed on to play Superman, but no word on Batman yet, with Christian Bale saying he won't don the black cape again.

I guess it's a case of "WATCH THIS SPACE"

Dredd

Dredd (2012)
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey
Director: Pete Travis

 

On the 22nd June 2013, I attended my very first Supanova Pop Culture Exhibition in Sydney. For those who don't know what Supanova is, I suggest you Google it. It is basically a weekend spent with like minded nerds, movie, tv and comic book fans and most people are not afraid to let their freak flags fly, dressing up as everything from SpongeBob Squarepants to the man himself, Judge Dredd.

I was lucky enough to actually meet Karl Urban on the Saturday and get my photo taken with him. It was brief, but he made an impression and I decided it was time I actually watched the movie that had people talking.

I had seen the 1995 version starring Sylvester Stallone, but remember very little about it apart from it being quite comical, and by comical, I don't mean in the style of the comic book, but quite corny and funny, everything Dredd shouldn't be!

Judge Dredd originated from the comic book called 2000AD and he's a pretty kick arse character who never smiles and never takes his helmet off, but takes his job as a law enforcement officer in a futurisitic world, pretty damn seriously.

This version of Dredd was really quite impressive. Karl Urban has been quoted as saying that in the tradition of 2000D, HIS version of Dredd will never be seen without his helmet. I kind of like that sort of commitment, even though it means we don't get to see Karls pretty head. *grin*

The big bad in this version is played by Lena Headey of Game of Thrones fame. Ma-Ma is the major pusher behind a new drug called 'slo-mo' which actually makes the user experience life in slow motion. The scenes where we see the drug users high on the drug are actually really well done and the effects quite stunning. Although I think I'd hate to be the ones that get injected with the drug, then thrown off a 100 story building as punishment, talk about a slow death!

Dredd and rookie Judge 'Anderson', are called to investigate the three rather flat bodies that are found at the base of one of the cities notorious building blocks and find themselves in a rather dangerous situation when the building gets locked down and the hunt begins to annihilate the two judges in the building.

The action is gruesome, lots of blood and guts, lots of explosions and complete destruction and chaos.

Very well done.