Man of Adamantium – a double movie review *SPOILER FREE*

So I went to the cinemas a few times during the holidays which have just passed and decided to drop a double review of the two super hero movies most recent to Hollywood cinema. Those of course being Man of Steel and The Wolverine.

Now whenever I give my opinions on films I tend to be quite impartial. I don’t like stepping on peoples toes with my views, I mean don’t get me wrong, these impartial views are very much true and my opinion but if I take a side I try not to alienate most of the people I’m talking to just incase their views are opposing mine. In this case I’m going to throw that all out of the window. Or try to, at least.

Also note that these reviews are spoiler free so you won’t be finding me after class and beating my face in because I told you that Superman’s actually a- OH, right. Yeah sorry. So let’s jump in!

Man of Steel – Directed by Zack Snyder (boo) starring Henry Cavill (yum)

First of all I’d like point out that I was not a fan of Zack Snyder coming into this film but I really tried to wipe the slate clean seeing as this was going to be the new take on a realistic superhero movie that Chistopher Nolan’s Dark Knight series so excellently established. I’d also like to point out that I’m not a fan of Superman either. I think he’s quite a dumb hero but that’s because I read the comics and whatnot. Not liking comic superman didn’t mean that I already didn’t like movie Superman. And how can you not?

Mmmm if you took me to a restaurant and asked me what I’d like to eat… Yeah

So it’s been painfully established that Henry Cavill is hot. Okay. Agreed, now can we move on?

Two seconds…

Not only is he a bit of eye candy, he’s also a great actor. I think he did a great job and his acting was very convincing. All round the entire cast acted amazingly. That being said…

The narrative and more importantly the plot was veryyyy frustrating? confusing? ridiculous? I’m not sure but it weren’t great. I think the attempt to bring Superman into a real world much like the Dark Knight did caused some complications. First of all, as far as the semi-linked universe of  Man of Steel and Dark Knight go, people be humans. Bruce Wayne is a human with human capabilities, his enemies are also humans with human capabilities that they’ve tweaked but still remain possible. That’s when we get into a pickle. Superman is an alien, he flies and shoots laser beams from his eyes. What story could one possibly write about a world unknown to the extravagance of extra terrestrial life? What story could follow a man outcast by society for possessing supernatural abilities but is ultimately aiming to help the people around him?

Oh that position looks a little familiar…

Yes the story feels very… biblical without giving too much away. The film also very very explicitly confirms this in a certain scene which really ticked me off.

Not only did the overall narrative hurt my head but the wealth of plotholes or rather confounding plot scenes just had me laughing by the end of the movie. You really have to see it for yourself.

Now all of that negativity out of the way, the aesthetics of the film were very Snyder-like. Very beautiful and serene while the special effects were tremendous. A little too action-heavy for me but hey America- I mean the world is in danger here…

Now let’s move on to the latter of the two films…

The Wolverine – Directed by James Mangold (who?) starring Hugh Jackman (maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate)

Alright this film had the privilege to be the unspoken ‘sequel’ to a horrible, horrible movie. So expectations were about as high as Kevin Rudd’s popularity growth percentage. So I sat down with a much clearer mind than I did when I saw Man of Steel. I’ve never been as big a Marvel fan as I have DC in terms of comics but I know on average, their films score much better with critics than DC. Whatever.

I sat through this movie the whole way only chuckling at its silliness 2 or 3 times. It was a pretty solid film and played it VERY safely. The narrative is very comic-book like and it remains that way. There’s isn’t much negativity to being about this film other than the classic Asian actor dun no how spik inglit and I can say that well, because.

 The best part of my Wolverine experience though was the scene after credits that Marvel films have made a signature in their films. Not revealing anything. It’s just super awesome. Go watch.

Final Verdict

I think Man of Steel’s major flaw of being set in a world unknown to the notion of superheroes creates a lot of confusion while The Wolverine’s universe is very much aware of the existence of mutants and that makes it that much bareable to watch. I have to say though, the acting in Man of Steel far superior than that in The Wolverine. Not saying that the acting is bad it’s just. Asians.

But overall the experience was much more enjoyable in The Wolverine mainly because it plays it so safe. That classic Marvel formula that never goes wrong. So yeah, the winner?

Wolverine