Hirsute “Man of Steel” trailer defies snark, loves Malick

Great news, everyone – there’s now a proper trailer for the 2013 blockbuster perhaps best described as “Terrence Malick‘s ‘Kryptonian Reverie'”

We had a first look at Zack Snyder, David Goyer and Christopher Nolan‘s “Superman” reboot, “Man of Steel” in the summer  this year when a brief, impressionistic first look was attached to prints of Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy-capper,  “The Dark Knight Rises“.  As we near the end of 2012, and next summer’s action extravaganzas are beginning to make their play for our eyes and ears, it’s no surprise that Warner Brothers have placed Krypton‘s last son front and centre with this 2 minute and twenty seconds trailer due to play before “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” from Thursday.

That Malick comparison won’t yet abate, as the imagery in the first part of the trailer which Snyder has chosen in collaboration with cinematographer Amir Mokri clearly evokes the bucolic world visuals which have become integral to Malick’s past few films.

A nice way of saying, perhaps, that it all looks very pretty and scenic for the first minute of the trailer, with the once and future Supes coming of age, developing his remarkable Kryptonian abilities and growing up into brooding, beardy boy-next-door, Henry Cavill.   The more impatient viewer might begin to drum their fingers at this point and wonder where the flipping action got to.

As is by magic, this is roughly when we bear witness to the Superman that we might reasonably expect to turn up – the alien champion of our planet, replete with redesigned uniform, super strength, gift of flight and moral compass set approximately to ‘Boy Scout’ (not that this is a bad thing, in my book – I’ve always been more of a Superman fan than a Batman devotee when it comes to DC heroes).

After doing a very reverent and perhaps underrated job of bringing “Watchmen” to the screen, it’s nice to see director Snyder getting to stage huge action sequences and not have to apologise for cutting loose with all of the toys at Warner Brothers’ disposal – this is a summer movie with $225 million to play with, so you can imagine just how eye-popping some of these quick-cut, slam-bang action moments are going to be in the end product.

Not that there was ever going to be any doubt that I would be going to see this film, but the trailer does a pretty good job of convincing me that my money will be well spent come next summer’s IMAX engagement…

Related articles

• MAN OF STEEL – Badass Full Length Trailer! (geektyrant.com)
• ‘Man of Steel’ Trailer: Zack Snyder Emphasizes the Man in Superman (slashfilm.com)
• New “Man of Steel” Trailer Offers More Hints, Keeps Us Guessing (nerdist.com)

Super Bits & Bobs…

Oh hi there, new “Superman“ movie logo.  As the text above suggests, this is the first look at the new logo for Krypton’s finest son and will be seen in his next on-screen adventure, Zack Snyder‘s “Man of Steel”, which is due for release in June 2013.

As somebody who dug the ever-living kibbles out of Bryan Singer‘s “Superman Returns”, creepy Emo-stalker Superman and all, I’m more than keen to see what Snyder does with it, just so long as it isn’t having the action take place in Amy Adams‘ head and require that everybody dress up like a fetish model.

Elsewhere in the realm of the computer-coloured and splash-panelled, enterprising YouTubist TheIrishAvengerCBM has posted the ‘Head Count’ tv spot for “The Avengers”, which gives us at least a second of face time with the mysterious alien pawns of Loki.  And SPOILERS…

This would be the Badoon, apparently.  Charming fellows, just given to planetary/dimensional jumps, weird gender schisms and first appearing in “Silver Surfer” Vol 1, number 2 if my interweb searches are to be believed.

Meanwhile, back in the realm of DC, it would appear that the possibility of an Avengers-like “Justice League” movie might still happen if the publisher and Warner Brothers can figure out how to make their – let’s face it – gloriously cinematic creations into movies which work on screen.

There’s a wee interview with “Wrath of the Titans” writer Dan Mazeau over at SuperHeroHype which alludes to his work on a “Flash” movie – ‘(He) can’t just be a guy who runs fast’.  So, a guy who runs fast and runs a street dance school, maybe?  The kids are into that, amirite?

I suspect that much of the issue may be tone – are DC going to set these films in the near-realistic Nolan universe of the “Batman” movies, which makes the likes of The Flash, Wonder Woman and J’on J’onzz that bit more difficult to incorporate or might they take a leaf out of the book of Marvel and find the science fiction in the premise to make DC’s roll-call of titans, aliens, gods and goddesses fly on screen.

Because, you know, one slightly-botched “Green Lantern” doesn’t mean that we have to give up on the idea of the DC universe in movies.