Just Films & That is a podcast that celebrates underrated and underseen films. In this episode, Josh chose Man of Steel - a Superman film that famously drew a lot of criticism on its release. So, what did we have to say about this one? You can listen to the full episode on Man of Steel now, and all other of episodes of Just Films & That, wherever you get your podcasts.
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00:00 They'll race behind you.
00:02 They will stumble.
00:03 They will fall.
00:06 But in time, they will join you in the sun.
00:10 Man of Steel is a Superman film from 2013,
00:13 with Henry Cavill playing Superman.
00:15 It's quite a standard Superman story.
00:17 There's Lois Lane, there's General Zod.
00:19 You know the drill.
00:20 So, Josh, you picked this one.
00:22 So tell us a bit about why you picked it.
00:24 Yeah, so I picked this because I think it's underrated
00:26 and I think it deserves more love.
00:29 So to give you an idea of why, I think that here are the scores.
00:32 On IMDb, it gets 7.1 out of 10.
00:35 The audience on Rotten Tomatoes give it 75%,
00:39 and the critics are obviously a little bit harsher,
00:41 and they give it 56%.
00:43 I just think that's too harsh.
00:45 In terms of what I like about it, I do love the aesthetic.
00:48 I love the fact that some of the camera movement
00:50 is a little bit more handheld.
00:52 There's bits of this film, don't get me wrong,
00:54 it's a big-budget Superman film, but there are bits of this film
00:56 where parts of it feel a little bit like
00:58 almost like an indie film or something like that.
01:01 Similarly, I love the production design,
01:03 so I love the look of Krypton, I love how Zod and the soldiers look,
01:06 I even like Superman's costume, which I know for some people
01:09 is a little bit controversial.
01:11 I think it's really well cast as well.
01:13 I do think Henry Cavill is a great Superman.
01:16 What do you think?
01:19 So I have a bit of a complex relationship with this film
01:23 where I can really, I can see all the flaws with it,
01:26 and there are many of them,
01:27 but for some reason I just absolutely love it.
01:29 And I don't know if that's because I loved the original Superman films
01:32 and that sort of carries it through, or why this could be.
01:35 But the main things that I do like about it are,
01:37 similar to you with the aesthetic, I think it looks very dramatic
01:40 and very immersive.
01:41 The other thing is that there are some excellent moments
01:43 throughout this where you really understand the strength of Superman,
01:47 and some of those can be quite menacing
01:49 because this version of Superman is a little bit different
01:52 to what we've seen before.
01:53 He's not necessarily the Boy Scout, he's a little bit mean,
01:56 he has a bit of a temper, and I love this.
01:59 I love this version of him,
02:01 and I think the darker the Superman, the better.
02:03 There are a lot of issues with this film,
02:05 and I won't go into all of them,
02:07 but I think the main one for me is some of the writing.
02:10 So some of the script feels very amateur,
02:13 and like the filmmakers did not trust the audience whatsoever,
02:16 and like we have to be handheld throughout the whole thing.
02:19 There is very limited show-don't-tell,
02:22 and it's just really disappointing.
02:24 The last half an hour becomes a little bit repetitive for me.
02:27 Obviously you've got the big comic book fight climax,
02:30 and it's just a bit-- they're just smashing a city up,
02:32 and it just becomes a bit of a CGI mess in places.
02:36 So a little bit of an issue there,
02:38 a little bit of an issue with the pacing towards the end as well,
02:41 but still averaging out then at 67% or 56%,
02:45 if you're considering the critics just on their own,
02:47 do you think this is underrated?
02:50 Listen, I know a lot of people don't like this film,
02:53 and like I said, I can see the flaws.
02:55 I'm not blind to them, but there's just something about it
02:58 that I thoroughly enjoy.
02:59 So yeah, I agree with you.
03:00 I do think that Man of Steel is underrated.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]