I don’t know what it is, but I can’t stop
watching the latest “Man of Steel” trailer.
Maybe it’s the look and tone of the film, maybe it’s the cast, and maybe
it’s the fact that good or bad Zack Snyder has always made entertaining
films. Or maybe it’s the desire to see a
really good Superman movie, because we haven’t really had one since 1979. But in the end I think I just enjoy a really good
trailer. The ones that pull you in with
interesting visuals and great snippets of scenes that make you want, or need to
see them in their entirety.
In this
particular case this film pushes the nostalgia buttons with a character that is
about to turn 75 years old. Think about
that for a moment. Besides the ones in
novels, can you think of a fictional character that has had that kind of
lasting power? The only time a trailer
has rocked me to the core is the one for “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom
Menace”. When I first saw a young
Obi-Wan spinning a lightsaber, I was transported to 1983 watching what I
thought was going to be the last adventure in a galaxy far, far away. I didn’t know how much I missed it. Now this is not exactly the same thing, the
last Superman movie was only seven years ago.
And while it was not the best version Superman that Bryan Singer brought
to the screen. I still enjoy watching
it.
Back to the
trailer, it feels amazing, and not only hits the nostalgia with the re-telling
of the origin of the man of steel, but you also get the great line readings
with the images of a school bus going into a river, and the woman saying “My
son was in the bus…he saw what Clark did.”
And what is my favorite moment in the trailer where Kevin Costner as Pa
Kent cracks when he utters the line “You are my son.” I still get goose bumps thinking about
it. I’m reminded of my favorite scene in
the ’79 “Superman” where young Clark tells Ma Kent that he has to go away, “North.” The dialogue, the fear of Clark’s future, the
beautiful sweeping shot of the field, to the embrace at the end as the John
Williams score ramps up. Goose bumps
again.
When I was a kid I used to love a different
scene, where Superman catches Lois Lane, then a helicopter as his theme
plays. Which leads me to the action in
the latest Superman. Zack Snyder
style. Some of it looks to move a little
too fast, but if he sticks to his signature slo-mo shots, it will be balanced enough. We also finally have someone and something
(that big octopus looking thing) that Superman gets to fight. Not a bald human billionaire, the nuclear
race, or nuclear man for that matter, and not Richard Pryor. Superman gets to get unleashed, as the shot
of him punching someone, over and over in mi-air. This may very well be what we were missing
all these years, not to mention the fact that Christopher Nolan is in the mix
as well.
If you
remember, Episode I did not go well for the Star Wars franchise. But I still have that trailer and now I have
the “Man of Steel” trailer. Will the
film live up to the trailer? I’ll just
remember what I learned this year a mere 10 years after Episode III. There is going to be another Star Wars.
Superman is
older than the computer, McDonalds, hula hoops, color television, and jet
airplanes. He is not just a man of
steel, he is a man of forever.
--Robert L.
Castillo
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