My preparation for Man of Steel has been mostly torturing with
me hating the last three Superman films with a passion. I wasn’t sure whether
or not this film is where I should go next but only decided to watch this
simply because I enjoyed the ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ films from 2012 and this
year. I can happily say that Superman vs Doomsday is a surprisingly
entertaining film that shows us the characters of Kal-El, Lois Lane and Lex
Luthor far better than they were shown in Superman Returns and in some ways,
brings back old memories.
Superman/Doomsday tells the story of Superman, on a quest to
bring peace to Metropolis, realizes that he has found a new enemy called
Doomsday, a genetically engineered warrior. During a fight, Superman manages to
defeat Doomsday but succumbs to his injuries. Following his death, whilst the
residents of Metropolis mourn his death, Lex Luthor has begun an all new and
terrifying plot against Metropolis.
Whilst the introduction involving the title was disappointing as
it didn’t contain the traditional John Williams score, I was surprised that the
theme composed for this film was surprisingly good and showed an extremely
emotional side to it. The film begins with a sequence where Lex Luthor talks
about god and compares him to Superman and states that even God must die
sometimes. I thought that this was a truly fantastic way and intriguing way to
open up the film. It immediately brought our attention on the story and made us
loathe Lex a bit more than we had done in the past. It was a rather powerful
beginning.
The story in this film is generally fantastic, giving us many
great sequences and full of surprises. I had always viewed Lex Luthor as a
rather bland character but here, he seems a little more energetic and seems
clever. His plot in this film is an extremely unique one and though it may
sound cheesy, comes off rather well in the film. Lex, after Superman’s supposed
death, creates clones of Superman as he makes his army of ‘Supermen’ to rule
Metropolis. I thought that this was a completely awesome idea and worked a lot
better than the plots to Superman III, IV and Superman Returns.
The action sequences in this film are generally exciting though
some action sequences do go on for quite sometime, to the extent where you
wonder how it could possibly stuff. The best action scene is quite possibly the
scene involving Doomsday and Superman who fight, as Lois and Jimmy are on the
plane. This scene had the most surprises and was rather short, quick and
extremely effective. The most drawn out scene was the fight scene right at the
end with clone Superman and Superman.
The voice acting in the film was done extremely well. Adam
Baldwin was fantastic as Superman and his voice for even Dark Superman was
good. Anne Heche did a good job as Lois Lane, providing a much stronger and
courageous Superman than Kate Bosworth’s terrible performance the year earlier.
James Marsters did a great job voicing Lex Luthor, giving a powerful voice.
However, this movie is far from perfect even though it is the
best Superman film since Superman II, that I’ve seen. The vision of Metropolis
didn’t necessarily meet my expectations and I was disappointed. I’m not sure
how loyal this film is to its comic book and I’m not sure how the Daily Planet
looks in the comics, but here it seems too spacious and seems like an important
place. I wasn’t pleased by this aspect of the film but it makes up by several
other great aspects such as voic acting, action scenes and some great character
moments such as Superman explaining to Lois that he cannot give away his secret
identity because of her own safety which links back to Superman II.
Though I was definitely pleased with the story and Lex’s plot, I
was truly disappointed at how quickly Doomsday was finished in this film. He
made for a great villain and I thought that if he could’ve returned and still
being Lex’s puppet it would’ve been great, considering he is one of the
toughest enemies Superman has faced thus far- Hopefully, Michael Shannon’s Zod
continues Terrence Stamp’s Zod.
Overall, on my quest to experience different Superman films I
was truly happy to stumble upon this one. It gives us a new take on the
character of Superman and thus so, in a great and entertaining way. Even if a
few action sequences go on a bit too long, an interesting story and some great
characters make up for a great comic book film.
Grade- 7/10
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