I was really excited for this one. Despite my feelings on him as a person, Max Landis really delivered a take on Superman that had lots of heart, soul, and wit in American Alien. Now, a few years later, Superman: Man of Tomorrow takes that story and wrings it dry.
It's not a direct adaptation, but the elements are clearly borrowed from Clark's sleepover as a child, to his initial Superman costume, to settings like LexCorp, and Lobo being his first fight against an alien. And I get it, adapting Max's work is rightly controversial, but I wish they had stuck it a little closer to the original comic than trying to make an original story out of his initial concepts.
What made American Alien work vs Man of Tomorrow is that it allowed Clark to be more experimental and full of personality. He got drunk, he reveled in how popular he was becoming, and sometimes he feared how powerful he actually was. Man of Tomorrow Clark feels dull, monotone, and completely lacking of charisma. I thought Darren Criss was a great choice for Clark, but I entirely put the blame on the direction rather than the choice of actor.
Even Lobo, one of the most bombastic personalities of DC, feels oddly stripped of his fun-ness as the score of the movie sticks itself into ambiance and silence rather than a big bodacious overture.
Tone, or lack there of, seems to be the biggest detractor of this film, making an hour and 26 minute film drag longer than 2 hour blockbusters, yet also feeling like its missing scenes that add any heart. I get it, Clark feels like an alien and is afraid to reveal his identity as one - but is that really the lesson you were adopting from American Alien?
I still await a Superman origin film that really encapsulates that "Kal-El" is the boy scout puffing his chest and Clark is the real American man underneath.
Also, making Parasite a Godzilla clone was just plain dumb. His death feels directly stolen from Shin Godzilla.
It's not a direct adaptation, but the elements are clearly borrowed from Clark's sleepover as a child, to his initial Superman costume, to settings like LexCorp, and Lobo being his first fight against an alien. And I get it, adapting Max's work is rightly controversial, but I wish they had stuck it a little closer to the original comic than trying to make an original story out of his initial concepts.
What made American Alien work vs Man of Tomorrow is that it allowed Clark to be more experimental and full of personality. He got drunk, he reveled in how popular he was becoming, and sometimes he feared how powerful he actually was. Man of Tomorrow Clark feels dull, monotone, and completely lacking of charisma. I thought Darren Criss was a great choice for Clark, but I entirely put the blame on the direction rather than the choice of actor.
Even Lobo, one of the most bombastic personalities of DC, feels oddly stripped of his fun-ness as the score of the movie sticks itself into ambiance and silence rather than a big bodacious overture.
Tone, or lack there of, seems to be the biggest detractor of this film, making an hour and 26 minute film drag longer than 2 hour blockbusters, yet also feeling like its missing scenes that add any heart. I get it, Clark feels like an alien and is afraid to reveal his identity as one - but is that really the lesson you were adopting from American Alien?
I still await a Superman origin film that really encapsulates that "Kal-El" is the boy scout puffing his chest and Clark is the real American man underneath.
Also, making Parasite a Godzilla clone was just plain dumb. His death feels directly stolen from Shin Godzilla.