Man of Steel Trailer: Can Superman Replace Batman?
Warner Bros. Studios must be pretty happy right now. With Christopher Nolan – the director with the golden touch – The Dark Knight Rises is rolling in the cash, set to be one of the biggest opening weekends of all time. With era of The Dark Knight trilogy, superhero movies are no longer the goofy flicks of the past – heroes have problems, angst, guilt and many other emotions, as we have seen since with other films such as Captain America and TV shows like Heroes. Now, as The Dark Knight trilogy draws to a close, Warner Bros. will obviously be looking for their next long-term hit franchise (as Harry Potter also finished last year). Enter Man of Steel.
Despite the popularity of Superman in the 1980s, 2006’s Superman Returns failed to bring back Clark Kent for the long haul. But as a DC hero vacancy has just opened up – since Bruce Wayne will now be taking an indefinite hiatus (until someone decides to reboot him again) – now is the time for Superman to shine.
Since Hans Zimmer was named as Man of Steel’s composer – a composer that normally works with producer Christopher Nolan rather than the film’s director, Zack Snyder – speculation has been raised as to how much influence Nolan and his production company Syncopy Films have over the project (not to mention that David S. Goyer and Nolan created the story and screenplay, and The Dark Knight trilogy co-producers Legendary Pictures are also working on Man of Steel). With the arrival of the Man of Steel teaser trailer, it is very quickly evident that it is influenced highly by The Dark Knight trilogy – at the very least in the trailer, as no other clips have emerged yet.
The gentle music used in this trailer (with two choices of voice-over: by Jor-El or Jonathan Kent) seems to be a recycled track from The Lord of the Rings, but works well with the sombre, emotional tone of the trailer. As with Bruce Wayne’s Batman, this is going to be an apprehensive Clark Kent. One who must overcome the internal villains as well as the external ones. But how closely will he resemble the Dark Knight? Only time will tell.
And how much of Snyder’s livelier, colourful vision will be seen in amongst Nolan’s darker, slower style? Can they work in harmony?
Henry Cavill is Superman – hopefully offering a better performance than in the dire The Cold Light of Day. Russell Crowe is his biological father, Jor-El, with foster-father Jonathan Kent played by Kevin Costner. Academy Award nominee Amy Adams is playing lover Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon takes a villainous turn as General Zod.
Man of Steel releases in the UK on 13th June, 2013.