There's almost 0% of a chance that the movie will be decent. And yet . . it is probably one of the few movies I will go to see the movie theaters in 2016. I guess there's the prospect of Han Solo parking the Millennium Falcon in a handicap spot to look forward to, too.
I'm not a fan of The Man of Steel movie at all, and that trailer looks like it's going to double down on a major problem---the creators' fervent wish that Superman comics were a little less cheesy and more angsty and dark.
Superman has always been pure Americana cheesiness. He's a boy scout, who fights for truth, justice and the American way, and everyone from the President on down knows it and trusts him. He doesn't have the same ambivalent relationship with the public like Batman. The man is loved and hailed as a hero by adoring crowds, welcomed in the Oval Office, etc.
If you want to make Superman work on screen, like Christopher Reeves did, you gotta get over the embarrassment and embrace the hokiness. You can't make Superman something he's not. Kevin Costner was wrong---the public is ready for Superman, even if Hollywood isn't.
I am a fan of Man of Steel. I thought that it was a good modern take of Superman as an American. He's from Kansas, how much more American can he get? And yet he isn't going the PC "Citizen of the World" route. I thought it worked pretty good.
Here is how a fight between Batman and Superman ought to go. Superman flies into Batman at Mach 2, Batman is atomized.
It's funny, but what you think they're going to try and do, go the Batman/X-Men route, is what I think they tried to do with Man of Steel. I actually deleted a sentence making that point because my post was overly long as it was comic-book movie commentary.....
...or:Here is how a fight between Batman and Superman ought to go. Superman flies into Batman at Mach 2, Batman is atomized. Of course Superman isn't a killer so he should find another way to subdue Batman. But of course that wouldn't make a good movie, but I would bet 10 bucks that Batman has a krptonite infused batsuit. Boring.
...or:
Superman flies toward Batman at Mach 2, and suddenly fall to the ground rolling like a plane wreck. Batman pulls a green glowing crystal out of his utility belt and starts monologing (in a low gravelly voice) as to how no can be trusted. So he wondered what if a 'super' alien with nearly god like power came to earth. How could he be stopped, how could he be destroyed.... Batman was always about intellect and detective work (aka the world' greatest detective') so how he'd try to beat Superman would necessarily be a long those lines. Reason out, who is is where he came from, reason out that if Earth has elements that can hurt earthmen, then Krypton should have elements that can hurt Krytonians and then come up with a practical way to weaponize it, in a non-lethal but debilitating form.
Dramatic tension comes from the villian, who left clues to convince Batman that Superman was threat, waiting until Superman is immobilized to take out both heros in one coup de grace wile monologing about his brillance. Batman, apparently, dead or otherwise imobilized, gets up and along with Superman defeats villain because Batman noticed inconsistancies in the villain's plot and so only appeared to bring down Superman to draw out the villain.
How did they do that with Man of Steel? There was a period where he had to establish trust with Earth but they quickly moved past it.
I thought it was a good movie. Good action, good subplots, I like how they portrayed Clark as getting his values from Costner and Crowe picking up where he left off. I also thought the extended part at the beginning with more insight into what happened on Krypton was really good.
(...sorry had to work ...)...or:
Superman flies toward Batman at Mach 2, and suddenly fall to the ground rolling like a plane wreck. Batman pulls a green glowing crystal out of his utility belt and starts monologing (in a low gravelly voice) as to how no can be trusted. So he wondered what if a 'super' alien with nearly god like power came to earth. How could he be stopped, how could he be destroyed.... Batman was always about intellect and detective work (aka the world' greatest detective') so how he'd try to beat Superman would necessarily be a long those lines. Reason out, who is is where he came from, reason out that if Earth has elements that can hurt earthmen, then Krypton should have elements that can hurt Krytonians and then come up with a practical way to weaponize it, in a non-lethal but debilitating form.
Dramatic tension comes from the villian, who left clues to convince Batman that Superman was threat, waiting until Superman is immobilized to take out both heros in one coup de grace wile monologing about his brillance. Batman, apparently, dead or otherwise imobilized, gets up and along with Superman defeats villain because Batman noticed inconsistancies in the villain's plot and so only appeared to bring down Superman to draw out the villain.
Ah. I see we have interpreted Earth's reaction differently. I thought events proved Costner's fear may have been right. I know when the hit the fan, after he surrendered, there were folks who trusted him. But that is the same as in X-Men and Bat man. I seem to remember it being ambiguous at the end---some love him and some fear him. Maybe that's off? I disliked it so I only watched it the once. Bottom line, just having it be so large a part of the plot at all (it was the theme set down by his own dad) was off for me. It just isn't supposed to really even be an open question with Superman. He's universally loved. President for life if he likes, etc.
I know that because I have seen the movie! Good flick, with Christooher Reeves, Gene Hackman and even Marlon Brandon.