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Man of Steel

TheBigBlackBat

14 June 2013

Release Date

12 June 2013

Budget

$225 Million

Box Office

$668 Million

Superman for a new generation!

After reading the reviews for this film I was more than interested to see for myself exactly what all the fuss was about, I’m more of a Batman fan than a Superman fan but all the same I’m still a fan of the ‘All American Hero’, whether he’s wearing his underpants on the outside or not!

Lets touch on the subject of Superman’s red briefs before we head on in to what I thought of the film. I have to say I miss them. I’ve been reading a few Superman comics lately and to me Superman will always be the iconic hero who has the red briefs, yes I know it’s probably outdated but with his bright blue costume it’s his red briefs that breaks up the mass of blue, plus they offset his boots and cape perfectly making up the iconic visual of, well… Superman!

However, I have to say what the costume designers have come up with for this iteration of the ‘Man of Steel’ is, in my view phenomenal. Yes I still say that without the briefs it’s a massive amount of blue and on first look I still think something is missing in the mid section, but once I’ve got used to them not being there, I think Henry Cavel is stunning in the new costume.

The designers have incorporated a luxurious and regal cape that perfectly drapes and hangs beautifully off his shoulders is striking. The visual of Superman standing is in my view, staggering. The way the effects team have CGI’d Superman’s cape for every flight sequence and movement in the air, imitating how the artists have drawn the waves and wrinkles in his cape for years. You can literally pick out every classic Superman visual from many of the comics, especially when he’s floating in the air or floating down from the sky with his cape bellowing behind him.

The updated version of the ’S’ shield is beautifully crafted. The designers have made something almost ‘organic’ out of a classic 2 colour logo and then carried this through to the material of his body suit… look closer at the design of his body suit and notice that it’s made up of miniature Superman logos and various Kryptonian symbols.

The film starts of giving the audience a new take on the destruction of Krypton and of how his parents decide to send the infant Kal-El out into the stars and eventually to Earth.

Krypton is shown as this amazingly technologically advanced civilisation but rather than a ‘space age’ society, it’s more of an ‘Organic’ look and feel. Everything is made to look and feel as if it’s grown from something rather than put together with nuts and bolts. Even the space ships look as if they are a living entity, like huge ‘bugs’. There are no computer screens, instead we have what can only be described as bowls of graphite, that information is shown in three dimensional representations that form straight out of the graphite.

The film follows the comics with Jor-El and major characters in it’s society wearing a form of the Superman costume. The blue body suit, with Jor-El wearing the family crest, the ’S’ shield on his chest and then when we see General Zod for the first time, he is also wearing the ‘Crest’ on his chest that presumably represents his family, along with the other members of the army all displaying the particular emblems of their own families.

One of the best scenes here is when Jor-El suites up for battle and we see this wonderful organic, almost bone like armour that is locked in to position on and and around the ’S’ shield on his chest … this battle sequence ultimately leads to the death of Jor-El at the hands of General Zoe and the complete destruction of the planet.

To be continued...

Published in the DC Movies articles

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