SILVER SCREENWIPE; Man of Steel, World War Z & After Earth

Hi folks. In lieu of having a life, I spend a lot of time at the cinema. Lalita has therefore sent me on a mission to review some of this summer's most eagerly anticipated movies. 

Personally I don't need to be asked twice to sit on my arse in a darkened room and eat junk food, so naturally I jumped at the chance. 

So here you have it, my reviews of Man of Steel, World War Z and After Earth. Enjoy.

Man of Steel 

Man of Steel is the latest in the trend of superhero reboots, and this time it's Superman. So now Henry Cavill dons the cape in the latest mega-budget, mega-hyped Superman movie. What Superman needs is a Batman Begins- a movie to take the franchise in a different direction with a different interpretation of Supes' story. Superman Begins, if you like. 

This movie concentrates on Superman's origins from baby Kal-El, escapee of his dying planet Krypton, to childhood Clarke discovering his powers and fearing he will be shunned and ostracised by others, to adult Clarke Kent, a directionless wanderer having yet to discover his roots. So in many ways this IS Superman Begins. 

Russell Crowe

The supporting cast are impressive, with Russell Crowe playing Jor-El, Kal-El's biological father back on Krypton, Michael Shannon camping it up as chief baddie General Zod, Laurence Fishburne playing Perry White the Editor at the Daily Planet, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane. 

Laurence Fishburne and Amy Adams

The movie begins with Kent (unable to fit in anywhere he goes) drifting from place to place, hiding his powers until he finds humans whose lives are in peril, saving them, then moving on. The movie starts very strongly, being grittier and more realistic than some of it's predecessors. We also see a Clarke who is dark, angry and distrustful of people, yet still having the inescapable urge to help those in trouble. 

The movie regularly flashes back to Clarke's childhood, and the advice he received from his adopted father, adequately played by Kevin Costner, to explain adult Clarke's cynicism of the world. Cue baddie-in-chief General Zod to arrive at Earth with all kinds of evil machinations, forcing Clarke to accept his superpowers and come out of hiding to save the world etc. 

A Superman movie is seen by some as a poisoned chalice, due to iconic Superman actor Christopher Reeves' sad and untimely death. After Reeves, no actor was ever going to be able to measure up, and as a result any other Superman movie since will be harshly, and perhaps unfairly judged. Now, he may be no Christopher Reeves, but Henry Cavill still does an excellent turn, and should be credited accordingly. Not to mention you get to see his muscles at every possible opportunity. This will please fans of his, but after a while you're left thinking "OK congratulations son, you're built like a tank. Can we now just move on please?" 

Where the movie starts to falter is that the original gritty realistic start is soon forgotten, and it therefore quickly descends to glossy and generic summer blockbuster territory, as a result losing the originality the franchise desperately needs. On a positive note, there is enough action and spectacular special effects to gloss over astonishingly large holes in the plot making this a perfect popcorn movie. The action is prolonged and breathtaking, with numerous skyscrapers in Metropolis being demolished. Thankfully the story ended when it did, because Metropolis was starting to resemble Hiroshima after the atomic explosion. 

Man of Steel cast

Overall, this is a pretty good reboot attempt, and given that Warner Bros has already fast-tracked a  sequel, with rumours of a 2014 release, Man of Steel is on a solid footing to expand on this Superman story. Hopefully with the next installment the director will avoid the temptation of going down the mediocre blockbuster route, and will return to the grounded, grittier style Man of Steel began so promisingly with.

Rating: 7/10

World War Z

Next Up is the much hyped World War Z... 

Now a quick disclaimer. I haven't read the book by Max Brooks, and so I can only take the movie on it's own merits, which is perhaps a good thing, as there will be no book-reader bias. 

World War Z stars Brad Pitt as UN investigator Gerry Lane, tasked with travelling the World in search of the origins of a new rabies-type infection which very quickly ravages the entire planet. 

At the start of the movie Lane guides his family to safety from overrun Philadelphia City (Glasgow) and decides that the best course of action is to drive straight into overrun Newark (Glasgow), as you do in these situations. 

Most of the movie is spent in various locations, such as South Korea, Jerusalem and Cardiff. For some reason this seemed to get a huge laugh from the cinema audience, so I can only assume that people find the idea of the Welsh holding the key to curing the Zombie apocalypse laughable, which is slightly unfair. I'm sure there are plenty of
clever people in Wales. 

Pitt puts in a solid performance as usual, but there isn't much chemistry between him and the rest of his family. There is a scene where they are stuck in a traffic jam and they are playing a guessing game. It is more reminiscent of a man abducting a few total strangers in a car and threatening them to act like a family or he'll start cutting pieces off them. 

There is a lot of drama and incidental music, which is extremely effective as times, and at other times has completely the opposite effect. The action sequences are fantastic and enthralling, and overall the sight of a zombie plague bearing down on you is quite frightening. 

There is something fundamentally wrong with the zombies however. I'm not sure if it's the fact that every last one of them could outrun Usain Bolt, regardless of age and weight. Perhaps it's the fact that they all seem to be quite partial to mindlessly headbutting glass windows when they have perfectly adequate fists. Or perhaps it's the fact that there is something strangely un-scary and quite comical about them. You're left thinking, regardless of speed; "Yeah, one-on-one I'd fancy my chances with any of them. Bring it on". 

Overall the movie is definitely worth seeing, but due to the far-fetched nature of the film and certain plot holes, it all seems quite superficial with little time spent on character development. It doesn't quite live up to the hype. 

Paramount has confirmed that a sequel has been given the go ahead, and I for one can't wait to see where Gerry Lane goes next. May I be the first to suggest New York, Istanbul and Aberystwyth.

Rating: 6/10

After Earth

There is an urban legend that every single Will Smith movie must feature his son Jaden or else Holywood will burst into flames, and After Earth is no different. 

Smith Snr stars as living legend Ranger Corps General Cypher Raige (possibly the most contrived name since Pussy Galore) and Smith Jnr as his Ranger cadet son Kitai. 

The film is set over 1000 years in the future where man has expanded into new galaxies after finally knackering Earth beyond repair. The Smith's are on a routine space trip when their ship gets the shit kicked out of it by a meteor storm. It crash lands on a hostile planet teaming with wildlife which has evolved to kill humans. We join Jnr when he wakes amid the wreckage of the spaceship which has split in half, and finds Snr with 2 broken legs and a bump on the noggin. The only way to signal for rescue is to set off a beacon located in the tail part of the ship which landed 100 kilometres away. It is at this point Snr informs us that the hostile planet is in fact, Earth. 

Inexperienced cadet Jnr must therefore venture out into the wilds alone and somehow make it to the tail section whilst surviving attacks by all manner of nasty beasts, and enduring freakish weather patterns whilst being guided by Snr who is resting up and getting merry with the painkillers. 

This is a solid enough movie, with decent acting from father and son, because although they spend the majority of it talking to one another over a futuristic walkie-talkie, you still sense the chemistry between a judgmental and distant father and the son who is desperate to live up to his expectations. 

The CGI animals are at times a bit ropey looking, but on the whole they are passable. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the movie is that the original concept was a strong one, and the film could have been so much more, but after some truly terrible films (The Happening, for example) director M. Night Shyamalan can tuck this solid movie under his belt and move onto better things. 

There are of course plenty of points to ponder. If Earth has been completely stripped of it's natural resources and war/industrialisation ravaged the planet to the point of it being uninhabitable, then why do they crash land in a massive rain forest teeming with life, food etc? Isn't it handy that in a huge spaceship the only 2 survivors just happen to be a father/son combo? Is Jaden a beneficiary or ultimately a victim of Holywood nepotism? Perhaps one day these questions will be answered. Or perhaps we don't care. 

Rumour has it that Will Smith has signed on to star in a remake of Cast Away. He will reprise Tom Hanks' role, with 2 broken legs but lots of painkillers, and Jaden will feature as Wilson, the volleyball with the face painted on it...

Rating: 5/10 

So there you have it folks, my review of some of what's in the cinema right now. So go and see them. Or don't. Whatever. 

Kieran x