Man of Steel Movie Review

It’s been seven long years since we last saw the world’s most famous superhero land on the silver screen with Superman Returns. The film rounded off the original saga nicely whilst keeping in spirit of the character. Now Man of Steel is taking a cue from The Dark Knight and reimagining the superhero in a more serious sense. It’s a recipe that’s sure to bode well for superhero movie fans but in execution, something is undeniably amiss about this retelling of the legendary Superman.

Man of Steel serves as an origins story for Superman, chronicling his beginnings on the planet Krypton and his first exploits on planet Earth. The film begins on the protagonist’s home planet where Jor-El (Russel Crowe) jettisons his son Kal-El into space, just moments before the planet is destroyed in a fiery explosion. In the ensuing carnage, General Zod (Michael Shannon) escapes and vows to hunt down Superman. Given how it was inspired by a similar trilogy of films by Christopher Nolan, Man of Steel takes some heavy liberties with the current trend of superhero movies; the story is told in both past and present, utilising flash backs that work with both success and detriment. On the one hand it’s good that audiences don’t have to sit through half a film about the protagonist’s origin story like they did with Batman Begins but on the flipside they also make the film very disjointed and as such interrupt the present day action time and time again. Other idiosyncrasies also pollute the plot; over the years we’ve been reminded many times that Superman is opposed to death and brutality but in Man of Steel he launches head-on into deadly combat, only caring about the people of Earth when the plot requires him to. Superman’s confrontation with Zod also seems to throw all logic out the window as the city of Metropolis is destroyed, but is then suddenly rebuilt in about five minutes, making the film’s conclusion completely nonsensical. It’s as if Snyder got so excited about filming the action sequences that he forgot to add in proper structure and sense to the story. Audiences will be able to follow the plot well enough, but the pile of niggling narrative flaws can be too distracting at times.

The casting of Man of Steel is hit-and-miss at best; Henry Cavill does a serviceable job as the titular character as he learns of his purpose and then rises to the lofty task of defeating Zod. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is decent too; in an interesting twist she doesn’t start off instantly falling in love with Kal-El but it instead builds over the course of the film. Despite mostly being present in flash backs Kevin Costner makes the best impression in a highly emotive and sincere portrayal of Superman’s adoptive father, Jonathon Kent, just how you’d want him to be. But other than these actors, the rest are quite a let-down. Michael Shannon doesn’t bring much depth to the main antagonist, Zod; he’s just a loud and angry villain bent on destruction and nothing more. The other actors, including Russell Crowe and Laurence Fishburne as Editor Perry are either underplayed or don’t contribute much to make their presence felt, a huge disappointment, given the actor’s excellent reputations. The performances in general also reveal the biggest problem with Superman’s latest outing; there’s little to no emotion or drama going on. Long gone are the quiet and sombre moments when Superman would really reflect on his actions and his place in the universe, now he thunders from one action scene to the next for fear that the audience will get bored. Instead it falls upon the flash back sequences to deliver the heart, which they do but when everything else in the film is too serious for its own good, these moments don’t come nearly enough.

If there’s one thing ‘’Man of Steel’’ does undeniably well it’s the special effects. The set designs of Krypton look incredible, even for the short amount of screen time they take up and the final fight in Metropolis shows off some awesome destruction physics. In terms of spectacle, Man of Steel is unsurpassed; the scene where Superman first takes flight is amazing to watch and really does highlight how far we’ve come in the superhero genre. The music compositions by Hans Zimmer are just as epic as they were for Batman, perfectly complimenting the Man of Steel’s rise to being the guardian of Earth. Like the plot though, there also exists little things that really drag the film down to Earth. While it is refreshing to see Superman actually getting involved in battle (and the action is mostly well-shot!), the more straightforward and violent fight scenes in ‘’Man of Steel’’ really don’t work too well for the titular hero; all it amounts to is Superman putting in a few punches, getting knocked down or through a building and then attacking again, then rinse and repeat for the next fifteen minutes. In these sequences, both the effects and even Superman himself seem to forget about the innocent civilians caught up in the battles and there really isn’t much tension throughout, seeing as how the Man of Steel is practically invulnerable. The presentation of Superman’s latest adventure is dazzling to behold but it isn’t without its issues.

‘’Man of Steel’’ tries too hard to be super serious and in doing so forgets to balance out its tone with the emotion and heart that make the best superhero movies. It’s big on scale and spectacle but in the face of the new trend of superheroes the film is merely average.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars