Man of Steel Review

Superman and tanks in Man of Steel

Photo Credit: Warner Brothers Pictures

Man of Steel

B-

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

After many years rejuvenating Superman has finally returned to screen. For the first time in Zach Snyder’s interpretation of the classic character the Donner playbook has gone straight out the window. There’s no more of John Williams’ soaring theme, Metropolis is a lot darker, and the film resembles more of an alien action adventure then a traditional superhero movie. The idea is strong through the first hour giving great pieces of mystery and expository detail that are fantastic to watch. By the end of that hour though the film takes a nosedive into generic action film territory making it a likeable but horribly disappointing attempt to revive the man of steel.

Man of Steel opens with its best reimagining of the beginnings of the first two Superman films and for the most part succeeds. The Krypton scenes are phenomenally imagined being beautifully recreated with a meticulous eye giving the planet, for the first time, a distinct visual flair. The scenes (who’s plot I’m not going to run over because at this point it’s pretty common knowledge) are also elevated by some of Russell Crowe’s best acting work in quite a while. There is none of the cold distance from when Marlin Brando ran away with a quick paycheck but instead there is an actual human performance to be had here. Crowe brings a human side to the character and provides the film with the set up it needs, one that grips the viewer in ways that prior Superman films weren’t able to in the past.

The other portion of the set up that works is the use of flashbacks to describe Superman’s adaptation of the world. Particularly well done are the sequences involving Clark’s (Played in this film by Henry Cavill) (let’s just use that name for Superman at the moment shall we) earth father Jonathan played spectacularly by Kevin Cosner and each sequence between the two of them is a treat to watch. The sequences that make up largely the first hour of the film, in general regarding Clark’s adaptation to the new world he finds himself in, are generally very good. It seems for the first hour that writer David Goyer and director Zach Snyder are trying to humanize the man of steel and it seems to be working to a good extent.

Unfortunately the film shows its true cards just as the film becomes interesting. Suddenly, with General Zod’s (Micheal Shannon) arrival the film stops all of its interesting character development and story and becomes a generic action peluza (quick POTENTIAL VERY MINOR SPOILER IN THE BRACKETS: that end’s again in a fist fight) that, while very solid visually, lacks any sort of notion of actually being anything fun or remotely interesting. Suddenly the film becomes a big pile of explosions with no characters that have been developed enough to care about at that point. The film becomes a very mediocre version of an action film that falls into all the traps that many a mediocre action film has fallen into in the past.

The chief of those issues is that there is not enough set up to allow me to care about any of these characters, including Lois Lane. For example what the heck is Lawrence Fishborne’s character (whose name I do believe is Perry White) even doing in this film? And why do I care? The film spends time during its action sequences focusing on characters such as Perry who have no prior development at all and are just there to fill space. It’s really frustrating as these scenes could have been taken out and put into actual character development and more set up that could have made the film better. Instead everything freezes and we get a generic string of action sequences featuring characters that are static and uninteresting.

The other problem is that the film stops the plot just as Superman begins to become human for the first time. The seeds are planted, the character exposition is actually interesting, and then the action hits and all of the interesting bits get shut down suddenly. Superman becomes a non character again and the entire payoff that the character exposition that was so interesting at the start of the film is completely wasted. What’s worse is that what it’s wasted for is a string of action scene’s whose plot is very glossed over and uninteresting. If the film had been able to carry an interesting plot and villain then maybe it can be forgiven, but it never clicks and it ultimately feels like the film just stops mid way through.

For as little as he gets to do Henry Cavill does do good work as Clark and Superman. He has a wonderful charm that makes him very appealing as the man in the suit. Amy Adams is horribly miscast as Lois Lane. It might be that she doesn’t get anything to do at all (like nothing at all) but for the most part it seems like she’s there just to be a generic foil, and unfortunately Adams plays her as that and that only. I love Michael Shannon but he also feels really poorly written into the role of Zod. This character is a fun villain and gives the chance for Michael Shannon to overact his face off (which is always fun to watch) but he doesn’t feel like he lives up to the character of Zod. He’s just an angry villain with no sole, which is good at times but he’s held back by having to be Zod instead of a less iconic Krypton enemy. It’s a fun scene chewing performance that unfortunately feels like a wasted opportunity instead of something truly interesting.

At least the film looks and sounds spectacular. The action sequences are very well filmed, are fun of watch, and are never confusing. When the scenes are present they are big, bombastic and fun to watch. They feel consistently well made and fun to watch. The darker visual aesthetic in general seems to work for the film and overall even as the film changes its direction on a dime the style is always consistent and beautiful to watch. The score is very Hans Zimmer as it’s big, bold and brassy but yet allows itself to be able to blend in the background. It works but can unfortunately never shake the feeling of being slightly generic.

Man of Steel had the initial building blocks to be something truly special, it really did. The film has a very good character set up that has the potential to make a more human Superman than ever. Unfortunately it takes a left turn and becomes a generic and very mediocre action film. The film stops everything that was potentially interesting and becomes something all to unfortunate; it becomes another generic Zach Snyder film.