Zack Snyder's Man of Steel gets another mythic trailer...

I'm genuinely surprised that they didn't just release the Comic Con footage as a second trailer, but kudos to Warner Bros. for cutting something new anyway.  There's not much to say other than how primal and effective this is.  Obviously the use of soaring music (from Gladiator, I've just been informed) is almost cheating, but it's clear that Snyder and Nolan are going for a genuinely grandly epic tale of a God come to Earth to serve rather than lead.  I still think there is much that seems like it comes from Superman: Birthright, and that's a good thing.  I still like that the trailer spends little time on the usual 'action montage', giving away only bits and pieces while introducing both Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as General Zod in brief glimpses (along with Chris Meloni, Richard Schiff).  Anyway, this is still at the top of my 'must see' list for summer 2013.  Yes, the general outline arguably follows the Batman Begins template (overly reverent and real-world origin story), but more importantly we are hopefully looking at a superhero adventure by way of Terrence Malick, something that actually feels like a grand myth, a true story of legend, with pathos honestly not seen since, yes, Richard Donner's Superman.  And it's doing it without the iconic John Williams themes.  Man of Steel opens on June 13, 2013.  As always, we'll see, but I frankly can't wait.

Scott Mendelson

Review: Premium Rush (2012) peaks too early and struggles to fill its feature-length running time.

Premium Rush

2012
90 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

The first thirty minutes and last twenty minutes of David Koepp's Premium Rush have the makings of a pretty great B-movie.  It has all the ingredients of a solid piece of genre, with engaging heroes, a terrific villain, and some genuinely entertaining and fresh action sequences.  For its first third, it powers along with an uncommon confidence, establishing its central conflict while dazzling the viewer with stunts that are all the more impressive for being real.  But at around the thirty minute mark, the film slams on the brakes and spends an unholy amount of time with expository flashbacks and needless exposition, testing the viewer's patience and leaving us waiting to get back to the chase.  The film eventually kicks back into gear in time for the relatively successful climax, which both satisfies and makes us realize that the proceeding half-hour or so was all the more needless.  Premium Rush would have made an excellent hour-long short film, but as a feature-length motion picture, it frankly doesn't have enough meat on its bones.