Movie Reviews- Lone Ranger & Man of Steel

In the last few weeks, I have seen 2 movies which are remarkably similar and both have about the same problems, but, in watching them, one of them rises over the other for one simple reason: fun. All told, I had fun with one of them and thought the other was boring and tedious with great moments, but not much fun.

Man of Steel- I will admit that, in the world of superheroes, I am much more like my wife- I like them dark and tortured and human. It is for this reason that I am drawn much more to Batman than Superman because Superman is too bright and happy and cheerful, in general, and not much can harm him, so where is the danger and the concern that Superman will not be able to accomplish what he sets out to do? I was excited by the prospect that Christopher Nolan and David Goyer were attempting to darken up Supes. However, I was also concerned that Zack Snyder (of Watchmen and Sucker Punch fame) was directing. I was hoping that Nolan and Goyer could even out Snyder.

I was wrong.

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)

When I first heard that we were getting another origin story of Superman, I was concerned. I thought, Do we really need another origin story? But, again, I was hopeful.
My first thought upon seeing the newly imagined Krypton was- “This is Zack Snyder’s audition for Star wars Episode 8.” The planet of Krypton has been reimagined to fit into the Star Wars Universe with its color schemes and creatures and pure CGI.
While watching the new scenes of Kal-El being rescued and sent away by his parents (and later with the “teaching” of the older Kal-El by his dad’s image, I realized something. I don’t care about his origins. I never have. I always hated the Krypton flashbacks in the few Superman comics that I have read, and I have hated all of the Krypton parts of both this and even Richard Donner’s 1977 version. I have always found them boring and tedious. While I will admit that they are done well here, especially Russell Crowe as Jor-El, I just didn’t care and was bored.
I did however, really like the scenes of young Clark Kent with his earthly parents played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. These scenes really brought what it would be like to be an alien with these powers on Earth and how necessary it would be to keep them under control while growing up. The bus crash sequence was very well done, the young Clark twisting the metal post of a fence so that he didn’t retaliate against the bullies, was very well done. Diane Lane talking him down from hearing and feeling everything in the classroom around him was well-done. I really, really liked these scenes.
Henry Cavill as the older Clark kent/ Kal-El gives a very nice, nuanced, and balanced performance as he saves oilmen from an exploding oil rig, lets his frustrations out on a trucker, “meets” his dad and Lois Lane, deals with the military, and attempts to come to terms with General Zod. Definitely not playing the part as “cutesy”, I was perfectly fine with this version of the character and thought he brought great depth to the character.
Amy Adams, as Lois Lane, has finally given us a Lois Lane to care about and believe that she could be a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. I liked her search for the man who would help people in trouble and then disappear. This part of the story intrigued me. I also liked how she was able to leak her story on the internet, bringing into play the world of journalism today (play and day rhyme, maybe I should move one of them to the second sentence???).
Michael Shannon as general Zod was a very menacing presence and he made a great “Big Bad”, I just didn’t care about his “Villain’s plan” to turn Earth into Krypton. It was, again, basically a land deal and many people were criticizing Superman Returns as having another Lex Luthor land grab scheme, but, when it boils down, isn’t that essentially what Zod’s plan in this film is?
As said before, the parts where Lois and Kal-El team up to make him known to the military and to attempt to bring himself to the forefront without bringing fear to the world were the best parts of the film (however, having major cast members from The West Wing, law & Order:SVU, and Dollhouse all on screen at the same time broke my brain a bit). While I love Laurence Fishburne, he was not given enough to do as Perry White in this film, but is obviously being set up to have a larger role in the sequels.
The problem was the action. How often is it said that there was “too much action”? About the last hour of the film is the “final confrontation” and it was too much with not enough variety. To me, it seemed like the last half of the film consisted of ‘punch, punch, punch’, ‘punch, punch, punch’, ‘You throw me through a building and I’ll shake the dust off, now I’ll throw you through a building and you can shake the dust off’, lather, rinse, repeat.
Some people are saying that the battle caused too much destruction and the loss of life must have been huge. I think there is some validity to that, because except for the female Daily Planet reporter who is in danger of becoming collateral damage, there never seems to be any human stakes at all in this film.
I do find it interesting that, had this film come out 11 years ago or so, it would have been ripped on for causing so much destruction to a major city and it would have been boycotted by being “too close to the horrible events of 9/11”. However, now, it is perfectly fine to show this destruction. (Please do not read too much into this- I would have found these complaint silly then and now- I am just pointing out the discrepancy of knee-jerk reactions to violence in the media.)
At the end of the day, I just felt that Zack Snyder as a director had all this control to really reboot Superman, and even had the script to do so (I understand that not liking the Krypton parts of the Superman story are all mine and not a fault of the film, but I still felt that the script could have been tightened and tuned up and focused more which could have been done by a better director at the helm), but he had no real vision and imagination. He spent millions on visual effects and the toppling of buildings, and destruction of Smallville (let alone Smallville’s IHOP and Sears), and I got bored, closed my eyes a few times, looked at my watch, and just wanted it to be over.
I did really like the conflict which has been caused to Supe’s psyche by breaking Zod’s neck to save a family (how did he do that again when all the punching and throwing through buildings didn’t cause Zod’s neck to break, but Supe’s strength somehow overcame the same strength that Zod’s bones would have had to resist the breaking of the neck???- oh, never mind- I’m thinking about it way more than Goyer and Snyder did), but I still don’t quite buy the darkening of the Superman story.
I will admit that the final scene of Clark getting a job, being introduced to Lois (who obviously knows who he is so we don’t have to play the whole ‘he has glasses on which blinds me to the fact that he’s actually Superman’ game) and Lois of welcoming to the Planet, made for a fabulously perfect ending sequence, but by that time 2 ½ hours had passed and I was ready to be done. I think that 45 minutes could have been trimmed to make this a leaner, meaner Man of Steel instead of in the flabby shape it was delivered to us.
Again, don’t read into this that I hated ‘Man of Steel’- I was just greatly disappointed by it. I think it has some great building blocks for a new series of Superman movies, but I am more excited for the possibilities of the sequels than I am to ever watch this again.

Movie Rating- 4
Film rating- 6



Lone Ranger- Again, Major Spoilers Ahead!!!!!

Lone Ranger has several of the same problems as Man of Steel. It is also just a hair under 2 ½ hours and could have used a substantial trimming to its runtime. Again, at an hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours, it would have helped the movie flow so much better. I also did not care about getting another origin story for The Masked Man (although I admit freely that the Lone Ranger’s origin story is significantly less well-known than Superman’s). While the scope and detail is extremely impressive, not all of it is needed.
The Lone Ranger finds Johnny Depp playing Tonto, an outcast Commanche who is attempting to kill Butch Cavendish. He is, however stopped by the new county prosecutor, John Reid (Armie Hammer). When Cavendish escapes, John joins a posse with his brother Dan Reid. While on the hunt for the outlaw, the entire posse is ambushed and killed, including John and Dan.
The bodies are found by Tonto and buried. However, a spirit horse, who will eventually become Silver, tells Tonto to bring John back from the dead since John is a Spirit Walker, one who cannot be killed in battle. (If John was actually dead or just very close to it is never specified and left to the viewer, but it seemed to me that John was just close to death and was just helped by Tonto and not actually brought back from the dead.)
Once brought back, John is told that since he is thought to be dead, by wearing a mask he can keep his identity secret and seek vengeance on those that killed him.This origin story takes about 40-45 minutes. The next hour is a basic “buddy” movie where there is drama as the two investigate why the Ranger Posse was killed, and where we meet many more random characters, many of whom could be edited out and streamline the storytelling.
We also get a backstory on Tonto and why he wants to kill Cavendish himself and why Tonto keeps feeding the dead crow he wears as part of his hat. This, to me, was the only truly effective part of the backstories that each character has.
During this hour and 45 minute section, it is never flat out boring, as I felt portions of Man of Steel were, but it could have been tightened a lot in the editing room and made this first part quite breezy and fun instead of entertaining enough and plodding, as it is now.
However, the last 30-40 minutes features an amazingly fun and spry train car chase that starts with The William Tell Overture and The Lone Ranger and Silver rearing up and it never slows down from that point on. The climax chase escalates from one chase into a series of chases and almost feels like a live action Looney Tunes cartoon- and I mean that as a compliment.
The whole film is bookended by a very elderly Tonto telling the story to a child at a County Fair exhibit. Again, while a nice idea, it just pads the running time and is not really needed. This bookending device also does the same thing that the ending of Life of Pi did, in that Tonto asks the boy if The Lone Ranger is a true story or a myth, and then never answers the question- a very unnecessary piece of the storytelling puzzle.
While I do have massive issues with the script (including tons of historical inaccuracies and subplots that really go nowhere- the scorpions, anyone?), I cannot find fault with any of the acting or cinematography. The actors leave it all on the screen (to borrow and modify a sports term). While some actors play their characters very over the top, I feel that it is in the spirit of the old time westerns. Others, like Rachel Wilson who plays Dan’s widow, almost downplays her role, and Depp plays Tonto as a long range relative of jack Sparrow, which is again not a bad thing.
The cinematography is also superb by showing off southern Utah on the big screen again in service of a western storyline- and it does not disappoint. (Except for the fact that we are continually told that we are in texas at “Promontory Summit” and it is clearly Monument Valley, but I digress).
To sum up, while The Lone Ranger would have been helped immensely by a tightening of the film through editing, it does not have the same major problems that Man of Steel has, and is able to still bring a ton of entertainment and fun to this reboot of the classic character.
It’s just waaaaaaaaay too long.

Movie Rating- 7
Film rating- 6