“What does the ‘S’
stand for?”
Okay, it’s that time of year where a steady stream of movies
that I actually give a shit about are going to be released in theaters, and not
a single one has me more excited than “Man of Steel”. When I heard that Christopher Nolan was going
to be producing this, based on David S. Goyer’s script (both of “The Dark
Knight” trilogy fame), the fanboy in me went crazy. When Nolan announced he wanted Zack Snyder
(one of my favorite film-makers, so suck it, haters) to direct it, the fanboy in
me LOST HIS FUCKING MIND. In my opinion,
Superman has never been done justice on the big screen, and this is the perfect
team to get the job done.
The first trailer for “Man of Steel” was a brief teaser,
that really only established the tone, and that this would be a much “darker”
and “grittier” Superman than we’ve seen before.
The second trailer released with “The Hobbit” and showed a bunch of new
footage. Again, this kept with the vibe
of the teaser, and established that Kal-El, A.K.A. Clark Kent, would be feeling
very much like an outcast on this planet he learns he is not from. And now here we are, a mere two months away
from the film’s release, and the third trailer has dropped, and I can only
think of two words to accurately describe it:
HOLY SHIT.
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| Is this Earth, or the ill-fated planet of Krypton? |
Zack Snyder’s visual flare is apparent right off the bat, as
the opening shot is Jor-El watching some sort of battle on Krypton set to a
somber piano tune. After this, we see
him and his wife, Lara, sending their son to Earth to avoid some sort of cataclysmic
doom. This raises a serious question
about the fate of Krypton: will it be destroyed by its dying sun? Or will some other disaster (like a civil
war, as the opening shot suggests) ravage the planet? Goyer and Nolan have both stated that they
found a way to make Superman more “relatable”, and Snyder has recently told
Entertainment Weekly that there will be no kryptonite “Man of Steel” (Yay! Seriously, his allergic reaction to a rock
was getting sort of tired), so will this key moment be another departure from
classic Superman lore?
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| I'd be pissed if Superman got a cooler outfit than me, too. |
Another piece of evidence that leads me to believe this is a
brief shot of Michael Shannon as the villainous General Zod, who vows that he
will find Jor-El’s son, right before (I assume) being banished to the Phantom Zone. Maybe he blames the El family
for whatever calamity destroys Krypton?
As a side note, I must add that Shannon acts perfectly psychotic as the
deranged general. He probably won't utter Terence
Stamp’s classic line “Kneel before Zod”, but I don’t think this iteration is
going for campy, cheesy fun. This guy
seems all business, and hopefully, we have another great villain on our hands.
Another possible divergence is whether or not Clark will
work for the Daily Planet, and what his relationship with Lois Lane will
be. We get a voice-over from Amy Adams about
her search for Clark (or Superman, it is not clear which), where she asks how
you find someone who “has spent a lifetime covering his tracks.” Perhaps this is only about Clark’s god-like
alter ego, but that remains to be seen.
We know that Perry White is in the movie, and that Lois is a journalist
of some sort, but who knows what his affiliation with the fictional publication
will be.
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| Shirtless dudes and fire... for the ladies. |
The rest of the trailer shows of some snippets of excellent
set pieces, including explosions, alien warships, and Superman beating the piss
out of Zod while flying over Metropolis.
It ends with Lois interrogating Superman in some sort of military
facility (perhaps they are preparing to turn him over to Zod?), and she asks
what the “S” on his chest stands for, to which he replies, “it’s not an ‘S’. On my world, it means ‘hope.’” Not only does he deliver that line like a badass,
but it may prove that he will not be referred to as “Superman” at all in the
film, sort of like how Selina Kyle was not referred to as “Catwoman” in “The
Dark Knight Rises.” Again, this would not be that surprising, seeing as the film-makers are going for a more "grounded" story, and nobody under the age of 45 uses the word "super" as an adjective anymore.
Some closing comments I would like to make is that Henry
Cavill looks perfect as the Man of Steel.
So what if they ditched the signature hair-curl and the red
tighty-whiteys, I think the suit looks great.
The score sounded perfect and, if used this effectively in the actual
movie, will really help hit some of the emotional notes that I’m sure “Man of
Steel” is striving towards. Now if you’ll
excuse me, I need to go watch this on repeat for two months, er, uh, I mean, go
study some thermodynamics.
“Man of Steel” opens on June 14. You can watch the trailer over and over in
glorious HD here:
