Man of Steel (2013)

and that's a bad thing? if it was a carbon copy ppl would be bitching about that.

 

It definitely looks better, but I still don't think I would want to watch it again .........

"What if Man of Steel was IN COLOR?"

 

About 19 people have sent me this thing in email today. It's hilarious! I respect Zach Snyder as a director, but no question I think the movie would've been fine with normal color. Far, far too many Hollywood people get enraptured by creating bizarre, twisted "looks" for theatrical films these days, and they let that get in the way of just telling an entertaining story.

 

That just made the rounds on another forum; several people commented that the Blu-ray looks nothing like the "original footage" from that video on a properly calibrated monitor.

OR SO THEY SAY

 

While that "restored" footage is tantalising in a way, it's also clearly had its colour levels pushed far beyond normal to a point where the end result is just as exaggerated as having everything in near monochrome. Also, since this video was produced from a copy of the end product, certain areas lose a lot of detail in the darker regions - fixing this problem using the original source material could lead to a far better outcome, as I seem to recall on-set images proving just how more vibrant Superman's costume in particular actually was in reality. On the other hand, I've compared this effort with my own copy of the film and there's no doubt in my mind that Man Of Steel was never that bleak. Furthermore, during the flight over a desert, would you rather the landscape was a natural shade or boosted to the point of being almost a full-on green? For better or worse, and I do agree it's probably more the latter, Zack Snyder knew the kind of work he'd get by enlisting Amir Mokri as cinematographer, with certain scenes featuring multiple lens flares or a crushed palette reminiscent of his past efforts such as the Transformers sequels, though I appreciate the final decisions would ultimately have been made in post production. By contrast (no pun intended), now he's reunited with Larry Fong, so it's no surprise that Dawn Of Justice appears to be an even more stylised affair comparable with Sucker Punch and 300. Again, this may or may not be everyone's idea of what he should do, but at least the end result is representative of what the director wants. Saying that, I do feel the change in tone might end up being too much after the tone set by its predecessor, unless DC's plan is for their cinematic universe to lack such visual consistency... If for whatever reason Larry Fong wasn't available to shoot Man Of Steel, it would have been my preference to see Christopher Nolan bring in his usual DP, Wally Pfister. Sadly, even this wouldn't have been possible, as I believe he was busy preparing to film his own directorial debut, Transcendence, around the same period.

 

Yes, it's extremely unnatural looking...unless Laurence Fishburne had a bad sunburn.

 

So does this mean we could get a color-restored dvd of "Man of Steel?"

 

I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if some hardcore fan was to distribute their own edit of the film with a more classic style colour palette, as I've seen people stating their intention to dub back in the old John Williams score - as if Man Of Steel can be so easily changed back to the tone of the Christopher Reeve era movies! Personally, I'm more interested to see if WB is going to do anything with the older Superman material for those who don't care about the new, darker approach, as interest in the character is rarely going to be higher than when Dawn Of Justice arrives next year. For starters, Richard Donner's treatment of II has the potential to be far greater with an improved CGI budget plus someone* more sympathetic to his original vision, and the international/broadcast cuts need officially releasing... While it may be something of a guilty pleasure, with a new television series on the horizon it would be a good time for Supergirl to make its HD debut as well.

*For those unaware, there's a fan editor by the name of Selutron who supposedly blew the powers that be away with their own proposal for such a thing, but to date only a handful of tantalising clips have yet to see the light of day online. I last heard they'd completed a rough full cut by rotoscoping material sourced from the DVDs, with plans to remake the whole project using the Blu-ray alternatives naturally something that will take much longer to produce to an equal standard.

 

No.

 

I'm sure there is a fan edit being worked on, if it hasn't already been done.

 

Oy. The color of this movie is really the least of its problems. Personally I thought the look of the movie was fine, actually pretty nice, and that all of its problems stem from a terrible script atrociously executed. IMO, the cinematography and colors really don't have a lot to do with that in this case. And unless I'm remembering incorrectly the actual movie doesn't look nearly as bad as it does in that video. If there is a fan edit coming I hope the first thing that gets cut is the girl who giggles about how hot Superman is. But there really is no polishing this turd.

 

I hated this movie and wasn't even aware of people's complaints regarding the color until that recent compare and contrast video was released. I believe that there is a fan edit either out there or on its way out due to the fact that there is a fan edit for just about everything these days. Just did a quick search, and, as I suspected, there are a few of them.
"Man of Steel: The Ultimate Kryptonian Cut"
http://www.fanedit.org/ifdb/compone...1123-man-of-steel-the-ultimate-kryptonian-cut

"Man of Steel: Recut v2"
http://fanedit.org/ifdb/component/content/article/79-fanedit-listings/fanfix/1000-man-of-steel-recut

 

I can't keep track of all these new superhero movies. The last Superman movie I saw had Christopher Reeve in it.

 

I really enjoyed Man of Steel. The one I hated was Superman Returns (2006).

 

I still haven't bothered to watch it yet. Never been a huge Supes fan.

 

I enjoyed Man Of Steel up until the very last "epic battle" between Supes and General Zod. It would have been perfect if all three evil Kryptonians had been killed at once, as it appeared, and Zod hadn't survived for one last half-hour of over the top destruction. I'm getting tired of these "false endings" in superhero movies, it's so predictable.

I was also rather annoyed that he's never called "Superman", and the obvious S on his chest has to be a Kryptonian glyph signifying, of course, "hope." Let Superman be Superman, dang it! Or let the "S" mean "The El's of Ellington" or whatever.

 

He is referred to as Superman in Man of Steel, "that's what they're calling him." It's fleeting, but it's there.

The crest was not an S in the Reeve movies either, it was a "house of El" symbol, I guess. Watch the first movie again, the council peeps all have different crests on their clothing.

 

I'm aware of the "house of El" pretense, which is goofy but not as goofy as the "It means 'Hope'" pretense. But it'd be funny if some random bystander quipped, "Yeah, it means 'hope' as in, 'Hope those two idiots don't destroy that skyscraper' - oh, too late!"

 

Yes, the translation in Man of Steel is a little lame.

The inconsistency about that final battle is what can stop Superman after being thrown, and what cannot. Plus you gotta love the cape issue! Very The Incredibles ("no capes!")

 

Every time I see a caped superhero I think of The Incredibles! And I think, "OK, I don't care if this guy has had a cape for 70 years, haven't we conclusively established that capes are STUPID?!"

 

That is very, very true. Very well said, Mikey.

Far too often, I've worked on projects (not this one) where it's as if the director and DP were keenly aware of the failings of the movie in terms of story and character, so they'd go nuts having me create an over-the-top look... as if a really cool, stylized look would dazzle the audience and distract them from realizing the movie was stupid.

I thought Man of Steel was a very dreary, downbeat, dud of a film that didn't need to be this depressing. It was kind of like Superman got sucked into that whole Dark Knight universe where everything was desaturated, drenched in shadow, and pretty much everybody was the enemy of the hero. Too dark for me, story wise. No amount of color correction could've overcome those problems. It's a downer, man.

NO CAPES!

 

I think Man Of Steel would be a perfect example to show to film students of how NOT to make a superhero movie. Then if they still aren't convinced, show them Superman III & IV.

 

...and "Elektra"

 

You can't shine a turd.

 

but, you can crap diamonds...I thought the 2 Superman movies were very entertaining...