Audiences have been having an on-again, off-again relationship with franchise reboots for the past decade. Sometimes they treat us right, sometimes they surprise us, and sometimes we wish we’d never met. Man of Steel is the next reboot on the horizon – should we be excited?
In a little less than 2 weeks, Clark Kent aka Superman will make his way back on to the big screen. The last time he made a play for our hearts, many of us weren’t exactly impressed. This time definitely feels different already.
Here are six reasons why Man of Steel could be the reboot of our dreams:
1. The first trailer
Sometimes Sheryl Crow is right and the first cut is the deepest. Seeing the first teaser in theaters before The Dark Knight Rises, was a quintessential movie theater moment. Watching something kind of ambiguous, but undeniably epic and then slowly realizing that it was Superman gave audiences the exact feelings a teaser trailer is supposed to give – intrigue, excitement, and anger that we won’t know more for a long while.
2. Henry Cavill as the man himself
Casting an unknown is a tricky thing. Audiences aren’t all that trusting when iconic characters are being taken on by strangers – ask Brandon Routh. Although Cavill has been around since the early 2000s and even made impressions on audiences on Showtime’s The Tudors, for many he is a very new face. Lucky for him (and us) that face looks unexpectedly like Clark Kent. He’s a little slimmer than we’re used to and even a little grittier, but it’s more intriguing than off-putting. As executive producer Christopher Nolan might contend, he’s not the hero we expected, but the one we deserve… or something like that.
3. Hans Zimmer as composer
“Epicness” increases tenfold when he’s around. It just does.
4. The dream cast we never thought of
Russell Crowe as Jor-El has “we forgive you for Les Mis” written all over it.
Amy Adams has proven to be infinitely trustworthy. Her Lois Lane looks a lot more like the type of woman who would capture the heart of a super hero from another planet than the Lois Lanes we’ve seen in past reboots.
Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as John and Martha Kent just feels right.
Michael Shannon as Zod… We’ll get there.
A supporting cast filled out by the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Meloni, and Richard Schiff make it hard to see what could go wrong.
5. General Zod and NOT Lex Luthor
General Zod is such an important villain in the Superman universe because he is from Krypton, meaning he has the same supernatural abilities as our hero.
Casting Michael Shannon in the role automatically ups the stakes. Shannon is terrifyingly enigmatic and if the trailers are any indication of what he has in store, it looks like we are going to have an epic battle on our hands.
Obviously Lex Luthor is Superman’s flagship enemy, but we’ve seen him before and we already know that story. Leaving Lex out of the equation (as far as we know) also builds up anticipation for his arrival and of course lays groundwork for a sequel.
6. Reimagining vs. Redoing
Bryan Singer’s reboot with Brandon Routh donning the red cape felt more like a tribute than a reimagining. Routh looked like Clark Kent and Kate Bosworth like Lois Lane (well, sort of) and so on, but something just didn’t click. All the parts were there but they weren’t very effective.
This time, Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) is in the director’s seat and he has Chris Nolan and David S. Goyer fresh off of a much loved batman reboot backing him up. This is a truly new take on Superman. There are no wigs or bright blue spandex here. The ads and trailers have shown what looks to be an artistic, supernatural, but grounded take on the high flying hero and his supporting cast. There is always room for disappointment, but so far they have us way more excited than skeptical.
Man of Steel opens June 14.