Well we’re back!
Hello to all you Asylum seekers and a massive welcome back to the Comic Asylum, hosted by my friend and the blogger that we deserve, but not the one we need right now, Sean (@SeanFav1) Favager and myself, the big bucket of win that is Pete (@Pete_the_Red) Barrington.
Pete spent the christmas holidays relaxing and pondering what his next blog would be.
Were back for the New Year and we hope that everyone out there had a great holiday season. I would like to say that I’ve been busy over this festive period but the fact is, I just haven’t. Unless you count being busy getting fat on turkey sandwiches since Boxing Day and spending quite a few hours with my friend Jack Daniels (This isn’t a cry for help! Honest!). In the meantime, I’ve never stopped thinking about what my next addition to the Asylum might be, I toyed with the idea of doing a ‘who could play who’ in the JLA movie and a piece about Wolverine and whether a new film could erase the terribleness of the Origins story that we were subjected to (Will.i.am was in it FFS!) but I decided to add them to my list of films to preview instead. Previews for new comic book movies had sort of become ‘my thing’ now and the fact that I have had positive feedback from the ones I’ve done (Guardians of the Galaxy and Robocop to name two, please check them out and comment!) I thought I would stick with it until Sean or our Captain of this ship @InterComics tells me not to anymore. So my next instalment involves quite possibly the most iconic character in comic book history, the man that goes by many names but is simply known as…..Superman! (Cue the music!)
Quite possibly the most iconic character in comic book history, the man that goes by many names but is simply known as…..Superman!
Unless you haven’t been around much, you would have noticed the marketing campaign on Superman’s new movie, Man of Steel, has gone into overdrive as of late, we have a teaser trailer and a full length trailer, numerous stills and set pics to feast over and what we hope is the final release date so what is everyone’s thoughts so far??
The first teaser trailer introduced us only slightly to the man himself; instead the focus was on the respective father figures in the movie. Voiceovers from Jonathan Kent and Jor-El (played by Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe) introduce us to how they believe their son should be perceived on this planet we call Earth. Kent provides the more sombre ‘you can be anything you want’ type speech while Jor-El pulls no punches with his ‘you will rule humanity’ version. Polar opposite views that tells us straight away that Clark will face tough decisions in his life. The second trailer focuses more on his Earth parents where we see Martha Kent trying to calm her infant son down and we hear one specific word from Jonathan that really stands out. After a teenage Clark is seen saving a bus full of his school chums, we hear Jonathan telling him that he needs to hide that side of himself, to which Clark asks if he was just supposed to let them die and Jonathan’s response of ‘Maybe’ literally made me rewind the video to make sure I heard it right. We have always known the Kent’s to be very down the line on what is good and what is bad, so to hear this coming from Mr Kent is sure to make people sit up and notice that this is not gonna be your atypical version of Superman. It’s gonna be dark, gritty and I highly doubt that we will see any of the plot twists that have let down Superman films in the past.
Jor-El pulls no punches with his ‘you will rule humanity’
As we know by now, Henry Cavill has landed the role of Clark Kent/Superman. What you may not know is that he was Bryan Singer’s second choice to don the cape before he cast Brandon Routh in Superman Returns, and he was also in the final 3 to play James Bond before Daniel Craig was cast. He has been referred to as the ‘nearly man’ of Hollywood for these exact reasons and there is no doubting that this is the biggest role he has ever landed, but from the pics and stills we have seen so far, it is easy to see why Director Zack Snyder has chosen him. There is no doubt he can handle the action scenes, as seen in the movie Immortals, and he certainly has the right ‘look’ for a man of Krypton, but I believe the true test will come in the softer, quieter parts of the film. Interactions with Amy Adams’ Lois Lane or even if the inevitable happens and Jonathan Kent meets his maker (although if that does happen, it’s more than likely to be with a teenage Clark instead of the more adult Cavill) will really portray his acting chops. Another aspect I am most looking forward to is seeing his interpretation of the distinction between Clark Kent and Superman. Christopher Reeve is the benchmark for this as his Clark Kent and Superman were complete opposites. There was never a time where you honestly couldn’t believe that no-one could tell them apart and that is down to Reeve’s acting ability more than different hairstyles and outfits. Dean Cain was poor at this and Brandon Routh was just about passable so how they do it will make or break it for me simply because if you want me to believe that he puts on them glasses and no-one knows, then I can get on board with that but it’s got to take more than the glasses to convince me, it’s got to take some serious acting ability and with his RSC background then I have faith that Cavill can pull it off. Smaller nods in the cast have to go to Morpheus himself, Laurence Fishburne, who is playing the Daily Planet’s Editor-in-Chief, Perry White; we know to expect a lot of shouting from him as always. Unfortunately though, there is no mention of James/Jimmy Olsen so quite who Perry White is going to be shouting at is anyone’s guess.
Another aspect I am most looking forward to is seeing his interpretation of the distinction between Clark Kent and Superman.
The big bad villain in this piece appears to be a standalone villain, which is kind of out of the norm for comic book films these days, there seems to be a trend recently where there is always someone bigger and badder in the background, see Avengers and Dark Knight Rises for two examples. So to bring in General Zod certainly tells us that this new spin on the Man of Tomorrow is gonna start off big! It is my feeling that we won’t see Zod for quite a bit in the film as both trailers show us an adult Clark that seems to be wanting to escape his hero life (or perhaps avoid taking it up in the first place) by doing various things such as working on fishing boats and hitchhiking across country, a consequence perhaps of a certain family member dying?! The one thing I am happy about is the apparent lack of Lex Luthor in this film. I love that character but he has been too overdone in film and TV with 4 of the previous 5 films and almost 10 years of Smallville including him as the main protagonist. I can’t argue with the fact that he is Superman’s most recognisable villain but by no means is he the most powerful, I mean all he ever has in mind is another real estate scam, seriously, that guy is all about the property market! And when you have a back catalogue of villains such as Braniac, Apokolips and even Zod himself, there is so much for Superman to be involved with without even hearing the name Luthor. I am, however, certain that there will be a small mention or cameo from him somewhere in this flick and small nods of the cap to him is ok by me, just as long as the focus is on a very powerful Zod and if casting rumours are to be believed, his female accomplice, Faora. The casting of Zod was of some intrigue to me as Terence Stamp made the role his own but to bring it up to date, it had to be someone very good and someone that could make Zod seem like he could actually achieve his goals. The man chosen is Michael Shannon. I have only seen him in Boardwalk Empire but the pics I have seen of him as Zod looks like he is gonna be very menacing and will cause a whole heck of trouble for our titular hero.
The casting of Zod was of some intrigue to me as Terence Stamp made the role his own but to bring it up to date, it had to be someone very good and someone that could make Zod seem like he could actually achieve his goals.
I want to finish this off by talking about what is next after this film has been released. If this film is a hit then we are looking at a possible franchise including some of the villains I mentioned above, however if this film does not hit well at the box office then I believe this will be the last Superman film we will see in a long time, not to mention the knock-on effects this will have for a Justice League movie. Can anyone seriously see them piling so much money into a JLA film off the back of a poorly received Superman movie? I can’t. Especially if the stories I’ve heard turn out to be true, namely a Joseph Gordon-Levitt Batman and a Wonder Woman cameo on the cards that will set up that future film. Snyder went on record early in this films production to state that his film will not have any connections to a JLA film but his stance has notably receded recently on this and the fact that this film was originally slated for a December 2012 release but was pushed back for unknown reasons. Could those reasons include filming these cameo scenes and maybe adding a few more that allows for the viewer to see a possible team coming together? Honest answer is I don’t know. It could simply be because they wanted a big summer release instead of being swallowed up by the holiday seasonal movies that tend to come out around December. I for one believe this movie is going to be huge. Snyder’s previous foray into the comic book world has brought us Watchmen and 300, both visually stunning films and very true to the source material. That alone should stand this film in very good stead amongst the other potential offerings for the summer of 2013.
It’s gonna be dark, gritty and I highly doubt that we will see any of the plot twists that have let down Superman films in the past.
All this and I haven’t even mentioned that Christopher Nolan is producing!!
The reason I even have an interest in comic books and the whole comic world is because of Richard Donner and the Superman film that started it all back in the 70’s and my interest in Kal-El has not waned one bit and I am constantly on the lookout for anything connected to Superman.
I know he is not everyone’s favourite superhero and I truly believe that is because people think he is too perfect and can’t be beat but from what we have seen so far from this film in the trailers and pictures is that this will be a very challenging chapter in his history of the Man of Steel and it will not be what we expect to see!
Thanks for reading.
I’m off to put on my cape and red underwear over my jeans…
I’m off to put on my cape and red underwear over my jeans…What? He doesn’t wear them in this movie? What a crock of shit, I’m out!
Find me on twitter at @Pete_the_Red if you want to talk anything Superman!
Posted on January 11th, 2013
Category: NEWS & VIEWS, THE COMIC ASYLUM
Tags: Christopher Nolan, Clark Kent, Comic Asylum, DC Comics, Film Reviews, Henry Cavill, Kevin Costner, Man Of Steel Preview, Pete Barrington, Russell Crowe, Sean Favager, Superman