A Father’s Love (Maggie, 2015)

First time film Director Henry Hobson offers up a film very different than one might expect from a guy who came out of the video game industry. Maggie is not a flashy film. It is a quiet tale of a family dealing with the fact that their daughter is becoming a zombie.

Set in a world where becoming a zombie is just an expected possibility in life, Maggie is focused on a young woman (Abigail Breslin) who is suffering from the early stages of, uh, “zombie-ism”. Her father Wade (Arnold Schwarzeneggar) and mother Caroline (Joely Richardson) are struggling to come to terms with what this means. Do they send their daughter off to Quarantine? Do they break the law and keep her until she is to far gone?

Wade struggles especially hard with the idea of what the future holds. He is continuously trying to keep Maggie connected to the living world, whenever she starts to be consumed by aggression and hunger.

You probably see Schwarzeneggar’s name and assume there must be at least one ridiculous fight scene…but Arnold really does well in this role of heartbroken father at a loss for how to help his daughter. He barely raises his voice. He is not an action hero barreling through this film. He is not a super hero. He is a good hearted and gentle guy. The connection between father and daughter is evident throughout the film…both of them knowing the path they are going down.

As I said, this is a quiet film, and moves at a fairly mellow pace. This is not a zombie apocalypse about the world falling apart. It would not be right to call it a horror movie. This is a father and daughter drama set within a zombie movie. Change Maggie’s situation to cancer and you have a heartbreaking family drama.

There are moments where the film seems to wander, but the overall film was effective as a slow burn drama. It will, not be for everyone, but if you have enjoyed a film like, say, Moon? This may be right up your alley.

July 13, 2015 0

No Way This Will Go Wrong (Jurassic World, 2015)

It has been 14 years since we saw a Jurassic Park movie. And they opted to bring us one thing we had not seen. A fully operational space station. Wait, that is not it. I meant a fully functional theme park. Considering the last two film trod similar ground (small group of people stuck on the island running from dinosaurs) it makes sense that they went bigger this time around.

It is years later and the Dinosaur Theme Park has been running for at least a few years, successfully. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is preparing the most daring exhibit yet. A genetically modified dinosaur, a creature that has never walked the earth before. Nothing could go wrong, except that her nephews are visiting the park this weekend. So Mayhem will ensue.

The plot is not really the point here (there are some big plot points that just disappear from the film entirely), it is cool dinosaur scares. And the film delivers there. There is a lot of fan service to the previous films (One I really liked was the return of BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, given a much bigger presence than the original film).

The characters seem all over the place, early on Chris Pratt’s Owen comes off as the stereotype of the charming misogynist. I find this trope absurd. Never have known a charming misogynist in the real world. But this personality trait drops pretty early, and does not resurface the rest of the film. Claire is introduced as the “Woman Who Is Sacrificing a Family To Have a Career”, but it is pretty clear when she realizes her nephews are in danger she considers them important, risking her life to save them.

From the minute characters are introduced, I started trying to figure out who was going to get eaten, and it is not to hard to tell. Faceless guys with guns, random park attendees and a couple big names because they are over confident or greedy. You can play this game in most Jurassic Park films, but the first film still invested in all the dinosaur food. We knew a lot about those people who got chomped. Little to no depth is provided here.

It probably sounds like I hated this film. But I didn’t. I actually enjoyed it. It has a very likeable cast, solid effects, cool dinosaurs and plenty of adventure. It kept me into the story, even when Claire ran super fast in high heels. It is a fun adventure, but not a deep one.

July 12, 2015 0

Drive Mad (Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015)

The Mad Max franchise went quiet after 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. That film fell a bit short of the Road Warrior, the film that we tend to mostly recall when we think of the Mad Max franchise. Talk began as far back 2003, back then it was set to star original Max Mel Gibson.

The film struggled through development, eventually announcing Tom Hardy taking over the role. I was not all that interested, to be honest. It seems like it was a sequel nobody was interested in getting and that we were all happy to to see it be a remnant of 80’s franchises.

Turns out we were all wrong. This film is the shot in the arm action franchises needed. Fury Road is an adrenaline rush. Director George Miller intended the film to be a massive chase film. And he achieves that successfully. The film pushes down the pedal almost right away, and rarely takes a break.

The plot is simple, Max is being a loner and gets dragged into a battle against Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne who was Toe Cutter in the original Mad Max) who is pursuing Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron in a terrific performance). She has stolen precious cargo from him, and he wants it back. The cargo is his harem. These young women do not want to bear children to be fodder for his Warboy Army.

So much stands out, the editing (the film was edited by Miller’s wife Margaret Sixel, who has never edited an action movie before…this was a wise call, as she did a bang up job), the fact that there is almost no digital work with stunts, the grim humor…this is an adrenaline rush of a film.

As with the previous incarnation’s Max inhabits a dark world. Immortan Joe rules from the citidel, where he keeps all the best for himself, throwing scraps to the people below. He rules cruelly, while his Warboys live for nothing other than to die for his glory. He has used a weird viking style religion promising glory to those he smiles upon.

Furiosa wants to rescue the young women Joe keeps to bear him children from this oppressive life. Furiosa is tough and powerful. She is a striking character who stands up to the gruff Max, and in turn winning his respect and help.

While the heroes often rely on violence to achieve their ends of getting away from the forces of Immortan Joe, what stands out to me if there is also room for the power of mercy and gentleness to bring about change on an individual level.

Mad Max Fury Road is the best action film I saw all year. It spends little time on exposition (who are the ghosts that haunt Max? How long after Thunderdome is this taking place, etc). The visuals are insanely engaging…I mean…look at this:

You either think that is the dumbest thing ever, or you love it. The world is just…, well, bonkers. Characters have names like Nux, Toast the Knowing and the Splendid Angharad. I find myself excited for the blu-ray so I can watch it again. I am curious to see the next film that they give us in Max’s story (Hardy is on for three more films).

July 11, 2015 0

A Bond By Any Other Name… (Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2015)

Like Matthew Vaughn’s previous Mark Millar adaption (Kick Ass), Kingsman: The Secret Service promises to be a bold and irreverent take on it’s genre. Kick Ass poked fun at super-heroes through excessive violence and profanity. Kingsman follows through. It is irreverent, extremely violent at times and full of profanity.

And yet, it seems to be a bit more loving of it’s target. It is as much homage to the classic spy films of the past. Colin Firth’s Galahad is older, handsome and stylish. He seems proper and speaks of manners even in a fist fight. Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is a rough hooligan lacking a sense of manners.

But when we first meet Eggsy, his father has died, and the promising future is dashed. His father was a secret agent, a member of the Kingsman organization. Heartbroken, his mother appeared to have never recovered from that loss. Eggsy gets in trouble with the police, only to meet Galahad who invites him to join the Kingsman Organization.

Unsurprisingly the other recruits are high society kids. The film focuses heavily on Eggsy going through each test, and building his friendship with Galahad. The central villain is a flamboyant tech genius named Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). His goal is to wipe out a massive number of the human population to save the world from global warning. One of his more interesting quirks is that he does not take pleasure or joy in the actual death, but he is certain that it is a worthy end.

The film is comically violent (there are at least two scenes of massive carnage) far more than any Bond film ever managed. But the film manages to be entertaining. There is good humor, and the cast has great chemistry together. I especially liked how the three women are characters, not love interests. One of his competitors, Roxy (Sophie Cookson) is his equal, and he supports her not because he wants to date her, but because they are friends.

Eggsy is a troubled guy, but he is decent, a supportive friend, cares deeply for his mother and baby sister…he has solid qualities that Galahad seeks to steer towards a greater good.

The film is, all in all, quite a bit of fun. The characters are likable, the cast is solid through and through. It is an effective action movie, even if some of the beats are somewhat predictable. The film embraces it’s super-spy inspirations and follows the conventions. It does it with fun style (Valentine’s henchwoman is pure old school Bond).

While there are moments that seem to relish the crass violence, overall this film is an effective adventure that left me smiling.

July 11, 2015 0

More Man Than Machine (Robocop, 1987)

Usually, to refer to a movie as a comic book movie is to suggest it was based on a specific comic book. There was not a Robocop comic when the film came out (although, Marvel quickly adapted it into an ongoing series). But Robocop had all the markings of a good super-hero comic. A noble lead who suffers tragedy and is reborn with great powers, forced to rediscover who they are, all while fight nefarious villains. It’s also Paul Verhoven’s one great film.

Spoilers are all over this…so if you have not seen RoboCop, but think you would like to someday? You might not want to read this.

Robocop is set in a near future that seems scarily possible. Crime is rampant in Old Detroit. Companies like OCP (Omni Consumer Products) now have contracts with the police dept effectively privatizing the police force. The villains of the film fall into two groups. There are the bottom level drug dealers, thieves, murderers and rapists…and then there are high rise occupying corporate men and women. The central villain is Dick Jones (Played with malice by Ronny Cox), the second in command at OCP. After his failure with his ED 209 Urban Pacification Unit, in swoops younger go getter Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer). Bob has been working on the Robocop plan, and has the opportunity to pitch it to “The Old Man” (Dan O’Herlihy).

Peter Weller is able to convince us in a few short scenes that Alex Murphy was a decent, generous father, husband and cop. He loved his family and was devoted to his job. He also seems to get respect quickly from his sergeant (Robert DoQui) and his partner, Officer Lewis (Nancy Allen). In just a few minutes of screen time, he manages to make Murphy matter enough that when his inevitable death occurs at the hands of low life sleaze Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his gang, it’s downright painful. Granted, part of the reason for that is that Verhoven is so graphic in the film’s violence. However, for the most part, the graphic violence feels justified within the context of the story.

So, by dying, Murphy “volunteers” for the Robocop Project. This leads to a nice series of shots all from Robocop’s perspective as he is being built. This lends a nice air of mystery as you wait anxiously to see the final look of Robocop. Even when he is finished, you don’t get a good look at him as he enters the police station. When he is revealed, the transformation is surprising. You barely see the man and Weller moves like a machine in an extremely convincing manner.

This all leads to a nice series of scenes where Robocop saves people. An interesting moment is after stopping an attempted rape, the victim hugs him and is thanking Robocop…but Robocop has no emotion about stopping the crime, it’s simply what he is programmed to do. He starts directing the victim to a local rape crisis center in a cold, uncaring tone.

But as OCP has tried to suppress the man, Murphy seems to fight to be free. Nightmares of Murphy’s death jar Robocop from his “sleep”. Lewis is the first to recognize the man. And it’s her questions that trigger Robocop to search his own history. In one scene, Robocop asks Lewis about “Murphy’s” family. Murphy is the other. He is not Murphy. After she explains to him what became of his family… Robocop quietly notes that he can “feel them, but I can’t remember them.” There is a tone of mechanical desperation in that line. He can process there is something there, but his programming cannot connect with what is missing.

Robocop runs into a member of Boddicker’s gang, which triggers a curiosity. Robocop needs to investigate who killed him. This film is focused on Robocop uncovering the mystery of how he died, but then who he is, and how to regain what he lost.

Robocop’s effectiveness is in its characters. The villains are despicable, the heroes noble (but flawed). One of my favorite characters is Sergeant Reed, a passionate leader in his precinct. He will not stand for talking of a strike, he is a police officer, and that is a noble profession that can’t just go on strike. He quickly seems to accept Robocop as an officer, not merely a machine. On the other end of the spectrum is Kurtwood Smith who plays Clarence Boddicker with such evil glee, you almost like (and totally hate the bastard). Nancy Allen plays Lewis as a confident, bright and headstrong officer. Ronny Cox is so calculated and heartless in his portrayal of the power hungry Bob Jones, you hope for a worthy demise (and yeah, it’s “worthy”).

And again, Peter Weller? The suffering he must have endured in that suit never shows. Instead, he moves in such a way that you can often forget there is a man beneath it, I can’t recall a moment where he slipped up. And yet, he manages to bring a warmth to Robocop as his self realization grows. His movements are machine, but he becomes a man at heart.

I had mentioned this as Verhoven’s best film, and I stand by that. Often, his desire to shock with copious amounts of violence and nudity result in a rather flat story. And often, the themes he says he wanted to explore are barely touched upon at all. But in Robocop, his social commentary and satire on our consumerist and corporate culture pretty much hits every mark with great accuracy.

Robocop has managed to remain relevant and be entertaining even 28 years later.

July 9, 2015 0

Aunt May’s Fountain of Youth

The reports are coming out that Marisa Tomei is going to be Aunt May in the Spider-Man movies now. Which just feels crazy.

Not because she is a bad actress. Not because I dislike her. I like her a lot and think she is talented. But you know…this is Aunt May…

She is an older woman. Now granted, they made her a bit less frail in the Ultimate Spider-Man Comics. I appreciate and get that. Old does not feel quite the same in my 40’s. But when Sam Raimi made the first Spider-Man in 2002, Rosemary Harris was 75 at the time. I loved Harris in all three of Raimi’s Spider-Man films. She had a strength of spirit and a kindness, even though she was not physically imposing.

When they rebooted the franchise with the Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, Sally Field was 66. I liked this casting, it put a slightly younger spin, but Aunt May was still advanced in age in comparison to Peter.

But Marisa Tomei is barely 51. I mean, I guess it is not that crazy to think of a teen having an aunt in their 50’s…but for some reason this ongoing de-aging of Aunt May just feels…off.

July 9, 2015 0

The Biggest Audience Ever (Audience of One, 2007)

Several years ago, back in the 90’s, Richard Gazowsky (a Pentecostal minister) went out to the wilderness and had a vision. God wanted him to make a epic sci-fi movie. Really.

He came back to his San Francisco congregation and proposed this…and the congregation went with it. And that is when you start to wonder if you’ve been sucked into the Twilight Zone. They start a company called WYSIWYG Productions, and then the fun starts.

At first, it looks possible. I do not mean this in any sense sarcastically. The wardrobe people, comprised of the Preacher’s family and members of the congregation, seem pretty competent and knowledgeable about what will and won’t work. Gazowsky does not listen, routinely ignoring and steam rolling over anyone who tries to explain why what he wants may not be possible. One young woman even explains that she sees him as her spiritual father so if he says to do something-even if she knows he is wrong-she will do as he asked, waiting for God to correct him.

Richard talks much, along with the conceptual artists, of creating creatures we’ve never seen in their sci-fi version of Joseph and the coat of many colors(called Gravity:The Shadow of Joseph). The plans for this film are large. They are even hiring outside people for cast and crew. They are flying to Italy to film. This is no small production. The church is transformed into a fully formed production studio.

It’s in Italy that things start to take a turn. Cameras don’t work, people working on the film get stressed, and three days into filming, there has not been one second shot. It is unclear when any filming is happening at all. But what is clear is Richard gives great speeches regarding God, God’s will, what God will do for them as long as they stay focused and remember that their endeavor is to make this movie for an Audience of One. As you may suspect, that audience of one is Jesus.

Gazowsky is passionate and sincere, there is no doubt, but one seriously starts to question his grasp of the situation, as crew seem to realize that maybe there is trouble brewing. When they return to San Francisco, things seem to look up. The Church rents a large studio space from the city, a seeming blessing…until they fall behind on paying their rent. This results in more more impassioned pleas, including Richard telling about how he went to tell the city that they were behind on the rent but the money is coming. When the city asked for some proof, he told them that his word should be enough, and that they just need to believe because that’s what God wanted them to do. The money will be there, the city of San Francisco just needed to believe.

Yeah, they shut off the power.

The film’s real strength lies in it’s sympathy to these people. It doesn’t try and decide everything for you. Admittedly, towards the end, as Gazowsky lays out a ten (eight?) point plan for the church that includes multiple Christian television networks and colonizing other planets (I am not kidding) he states that it is either God or he’s just crazy… it is not hard to side with crazy.

Director Michael Jacobs has made an entertaining and fascinating character study with Audience of One, and I recommend checking it out.

July 8, 2015 0

If We Need to Be Saved from Anyone… (Lord Save Us From Your Followers, 2007)

I meant to discuss this movie a few months ago…when I first watched it. Somehow, it just got put off.

Now, if you are going into Dan Merchant’s documentary Lord, Save Us From Your Followers anticipating Jesus Camp type hi-jinks or the irreverence of Bill Maher’s Religious, you will not find it. Merchant is not exposing the darker undersides of religion or asking why people believe at all. No, Merchant is asking why we cannot simply have a dialog instead of back and forth hissy fits.

Merchant is a self identified Evangelical Christian, and he is challenging the Culture Wars. Right from the start, he touches on “What is something that Christians are known for?” and “What is something that Jesus Christ is known for?” To accomplish this, Merchant donned a painters jumpsuit covered in bumper stickers and criss-crossed the country.

The answers vary, but what Merchant notes is that the second question? The answers lean positive. Most people have positive feelings about Jesus…but Christians? You could almost tell the beliefs of the people by their answers. Christians saw Christians as kind and graceful people. Everyone else saw them as self righteous hypocrites.

But Merchant goes farther…he examines the strife here interviewing a variety of people. Some well known (Rick Santorum and Al Franken) and some not. Dan (can I call you Dan?) starts to explore how Christians interact with culture… and it isn’t pretty. His first stop is San Diego. There, a Christian group held a massive gathering of young people. It was a stadium filler full of prayer, concerts, worship, etc. And then the kids were led to “pray for San Francisco” on the steps of City Hall. This was not long after Gay Marriage was approved by City officials.

What is interesting is that the representative that sat down with Merchant (Ron Luce) plays oblivious to the controversy that erupted. Protesters met them. Shockingly, the San Diego gay community did not get a thrill out of this. Luce tries playing the typical Christian response when people show up upset by their actions. He plays that “They call us angry, but they were yelling at us!” Yet, it is entirely clear that Luce knows what they did. They got the reaction they were trying to get. By using kids. When Merchant suggests other mass media targets like Hollywood and Madison Avenue(since Revoution claims to be trying to save teens from “saturated with media influence”), he is met with a rather insincere answer about they will get to those…Merchant points out that the very next year they did the exact same thing. Suffice to say, I was left unimpressed with Luce.

The film also focuses things like inter-faith work efforts. Dan highlights a story about a mainstream radio station that teamed up with a Christian group to raise money for relief in third world countries.

Merchant and his crew put everything together with both reverence and humor. And in most cases it works. Personally, I would have cut the whole bit about renaming the cities, as it is far more alarmist than the other portions of the film. It almost caves into the “War on Christmas” style and is overly Michael Moore-ish in it’s exaggeration. I mean, really, are any atheists trying to change city names that have religious names in any great numbers? The rest of the film is so thoughtful, it feels out of place.

But the most moving moments are towards the end. Merchant caps the film off with a heart wrenching sequence of a confessional booth of a unique nature and a group with an inspirational look at a group with a unique outreach to the forgotten in their community.

The film is not trying to provide hard theological questions, but it is challenging the viewer to start a dialog, rather than a fight. To stop ignoring the needs of others because we are to focused on being “right“. It’s thought provoking, moving, challenging and well made. I would highly recommend giving Dan Merchant’s film a chance.

I wrote this a few years ago, a humorous aside, Dan Merchant is a producer on the crazy SyFy zombie show Z Nation)

July 6, 2015 0

The Oceans Turn to Blood… (The Cove, 2009)

The filmmakers follow Richard O’Barry as he takes them around Taijii, Japan. He comes across as a paranoid conspiracy theorist early on. O’Barry wears a Sars mask and hunches over as he drives to fool Japanese police as they drive by. The town of Taijii, Japan seems particularly harmless, even endearing in many ways. They seem to be obsessed with dolphins. The town is full of statues of dolphins and whales, boats are made in the shape of dolphins and whales, there is a whale museum. O’Barry, however, hates that place.

And just who is Richard? Well, he used to be one of the most foremost dolphin trainers in the world. He captured and trained the five dolphins that played Flipper. O’Barry shares a touching story of one of the dolphins dying in his arms. Dolphins are, according to some, deliberate breathers. They can simply not take another breathe. He describes it as a suicide, and some may balk at this, but the intelligence of dolphins is not exactly up for debate. But it helps you understand O’Barry’s passion.

The film challenges the captivity of dolphins quite heavily. And seeing Dolphins in their natural environment makes a strong case that they do not belong in small tanks. And what does that have to do with Taijii, Japan? Well, Taijii is where many of the worlds zoos, water parks and “swim with the Dolphins” parks get their dolphins. Every September, Japanese fisherman coral thousands of dolphins into a cove. Trapped in that cove, buyers pick the best dolphins and purchase them. It’s a very lucrative business($150,000 for a live show dolphin). You can watch this from the road. But, hidden away, in a separate cove the even larger horror occurs afterward. Little was known before the cove was released. The Cove in question is hidden away and closely guarded.

So, the filmmakers put together a special team to create unique hidden cameras and secret ops mission to bring the slaughter of the Cove to the public. Military, special effects experts, world class free divers, concert techs…all came together. And If Rick O’Barry seems paranoid, it becomes clear he is paranoid with good reason. They are clearly being filmed and followed by Japanese police. Then the fisherman show up. They try blocking the cameras and then block the crew, so they could not get a better look.

They do major recon and preparation to capture something few people are ever allowed to see.

It’s a gut wrenching film. The sea is filled with amazing and wonderfully creatures. Among them are dolphins. One of the tragedies is the fact that most of Japan is unaware of this. The film finds many Japanese shocked to hear anyone would even eat dolphins. But in Taijii? It was served in schools. This is a health issue, not solely an animal cruelty one. The film is full of horror and tragedy. It’s tough to watch. The film culminates is allowing us to witness the dolphin slaughter. Simply put, it is nauseating.

But the final moments are inspiring, hopeful…vindicating.

The film made me ask some questions…

We know serial killers start with animals…it is there that they deaden themselves to killing. And I have come to believe that how we treat animals is reflective as to how we will ultimately treat each other. And more so…where is the passion of the religious? The environment, which is also known as creation to most religious people…seems not to be passionate…

I do not understand how people that think creation is evidence of God are so willing to turn a blind eye to its destruction in the name of capitalism and not “hindering businesses”.

How is creation, if it is evidence of God and a creator…how can people of faith be so casual about casting it aside…I just cannot connect with a notion that it does not matter.

You can learn more at.

And…there is something kind of magical about watching dolphins swim set to Bowie’s Heroes.

July 6, 2015 0

Jor-El Sent His Only Son (Man of Steel, 2013)

Preface: This is a review I wrote two years ago. I have, however, edited it a bit.

And lo, there was much controversy and arguing. So it was I saw finally got around to seeing the tale Man of Steel. Zak Snyder, David Goyer and Christopher’s grimmer take on the Superman mythos.

In a lot of ways, this is a response to the toughly reviewed Superman Returns. One of the cries was “more action” and boy do we get it.

First, the good. I think Henry Cavill did a solid job as Superman. The film spends it’s time focusing on a Superman who is not working for the Daily Planet, but rather Clark Kent roaming the planet and saving people. It is borrowing an idea from Mark Waid’s terrific Birthright…and while not quite as nicely executed, it makes sense to use it as a reference.

The film opens on Krypton, one like we have not seen in previous film or television adaptions. I am pleased to see they opted to break free of the influence of Donner for this film. It is a Krypton that has evolved to genetic engineering, something scientist Jor-El seeks to set his son free of. This happens in the midst of a military coup by General Zod (Michael Shannon). He and his followers are sent to the Phantom Zone, shortly before the destruction of Krypton.

Amy Adams is a tough and fearless Lois Lane who is on the trail of the mysterious hero. I liked her quite a bit in the role. She was aggressive and dedicated to finding her story. I also felt Zod and Faora were solid characters. As Superman’s parents, Russell Crowe, Ayelet Zurer, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are all quite strong. Lara’s role is short, but she is strong and full of courage. Crowe is mainly there for exposition, but he makes it work.

The visual effects were great, seeing Superman use his powers was exhilarating. I truly had fun watching him use his powers.

The tougher stuff…while I liked Costner, I had the same problem with Man of Steel as I did with Smallville. Pa Kent is obsessed with “keeping the secret” which extends to “let people die”. This is troubling on a lot of levels. The action in the film is relentless, giving little time to catch our breath. The characters are also given little space to grow, so we get familiar, but new sketches, rather than full blown character moments. And the destruction becomes numbing…it is just to much.

In addition, Superman never appears as Superman until after Zod arrives. Clark runs around saving people, but once he dons the costume, he saves one person directly, otherwise he is busy fighting Zod and his army. You might ask why this matters…but if we had Clark appearing in Costume before Zod arrives, saving people and stopping crime, that establishes him.

We as the audience have every reason to see Superman as the good guy. We get it, we have seen Clark use his powers to help people. But in the world of the film? The citizens of the world have no reason to trust Superman over Zod. Donner’s original Superman film had a great sequence of Superman doing all sorts of heroics. And it allowed us to see the city of Metropolis becoming excited about Superman. We have seen from the teasers that in Batman vs Superman they plan to explore the motif of hero worship. And this could have set that up.

The other problem was, this feels like Nolan filtered through Snyder. I like Nolan, I liked his take on Batman…but his Batman was grounded in a fairly real world idea. There was no room for a Superman or Wonder Woman in the Nolan Bat Universe. I also liked Watchmen by Snyder. But between the two, they created a Superman world of darkness and paranoia. Even the color schemes are digitally washed out and bleak. This is still slightly better than Stalker Superman.

In the end, I still enjoyed this more than Superman Returns. It is imperfect, but not salvageable for the continuation of Superman.

July 5, 2015 0