Letterboxd — Your life in film

Evolution always wins we’re told, unfortunately Man of Steel is a mutant strain hopefully destined for extinction.

When you have a protagonist who is practically impossible to injure or kill, and you add a villain who’s the same; you have to think outside the box. Or just think of what they do in Superman, which is to put the damsel in distress all the time. There was one point where we were concerned Lois might get cold, otherwise she was in fine fettle! If it isn’t a damsel, then give him some friends or maybe a family. Without the vulnerable people we can relate to being put in harms way there’s nothing to hold onto your seat for.

Lengthy fight scenes suck. I cannot believe that the majority of people find two invincible characters hitting each other for 30 minutes to be interesting. Why couldn’t this be more like Transformers? Oh wait. It’s more destruction-porn for dinner again.

Character development was missing for anyone but the main character (which itself wasn't great). So when some of the characters are in distress, no one cares; not even Superman, who is unaware of their peril so it doesn’t affect the story.

Tech-cred break: When the aliens take over all of the screens on the planet to deliver their ultimatum, a military person exclaims that they’ve taken over all the RSS feeds too! Now that is technology. Google is killing RSS to protect us.

I saw this film in 3D and I didn’t once see anything flying at my head. 1.5★s.

For the most part, this isn't nearly as corny as it could've been. Ray Milland's performance stands out, bringing surprising gravitas and commitment to a goofy role. The premise is explored only very shallowly, as if there's nothing else to be done with full-spectrum vision than diagnosing tumors. On the plus side, the ending is genuinely shocking. With a bigger budget and a less oh-so-60s script, this could've been a minor classic.

A deeply strange movie. At times Happy Days, at others Psycho; Porky's, except about a serial-killer teacher. The wildly varying tone and the often hyper-cheesy humor weigh down the serious parts of the story, but this remains a bizarrely enjoyable, unique little piece of softcore/slasher messiness.

I was so convinced I was going to hate this. I mean, Arnie? Really?

But I didn't.

He's sort of got a snarky Eastwood vibe going on now that he's old, and the story was just small enough, contained enough, that it wound up being rollicking rather than ridiculous.

OK, I lie. It was still ridiculous. But it was really enjoyable.

Great cast, fabulous (if totally implausible) heist plot, and a twist I didn't see coming. Loved it.

Pretty much perfect. In 85 minutes, it creates at least 5 memorable, complex characters, winds around a plot that's always unpredictable, but also totally linear. Every line follows logically and beautifully from the one before it. An underappreciated gem.