Man of Steel: A Solid Foundation
Krypton’s last son makes his return to the big screen this week with a primarily visual statement in Zach Snyder’s “Man of Steel.” The film, with leading man Henry Cavill playing Superman, takes us right from Krypton’s final moments all the way to Clark Kent donning the iconic insignia in order to defend the earth from General Zod, played by “Boardwalk Empire’s” Michael Shannon. The rest of the all star cast includes Amy Adams as Superman’s longtime love interest Lois Lane, Kevin Costner as Pa Kent, Russell Crowe as Jor El, and Diane Lane as Ma Kent.
The story opens with a unique cinematic experience as audiences will be treated to extensive footage of life on Krypton before it explodes, a feature that previous Superman films hadn’t really touched on before. But hardcore fans will be happy to find that the last Kryptonian’s backstory wasn’t really altered. General Zod is sentenced to the phantom zone, and the infant Kal El is shipped off in a rocket as his parents Jor El and Lara Lor-Van are left behind on an exploding Krypton. Kal El lands on earth and is found by Ma and Pa Kent, leading to a quiet life aside from the occasional use of his powers, in Smallville. This entire sequence of the film was marked both by its stunning visual effects as well as Russell Crowe’s excellent portrayal of Jor El. In his realization about Krypton’s impending destruction as well during his confrontation with Zod, fans will begin to root for Crowe as if he was Superman himself. The film rides Crowe’s performance early on, but after this, sadly, “Man of Steel’s” plot begins to fall faster than Kal El’s rocket did into Kansas.
As the film progresses, we see various scenes of Clark struggling with his powers from when he was a kid up until he reaches adulthood. One such scene is when he saves his classmates from drowning by pushing the school bus they’re in onto shore after it falls off a bridge. Pa Kent subsequently tries to convince Clark to keep this side of himself a secret while Clark juggles his identity as well as his natural affinity for doing good. The graphics were also a large factor in this section of “Man of Steel.” When showing how Clark’s x-ray vision works, audiences will get to see him examine the different muscles in a human body, blood flowing, and even a beating heart. Again, the visuals of the film were very well done. But that’s just it, for the rest of the film the plot goes on for 20 minutes at a time with nothing significant happening other than well done special effects.
Another quirk about this film that fans will note is that it fails to live up to the promise of the trailers in that we’d be seeing a more “human” and relatable Superman. His basic humanity isn’t really focused on, throughout the film there are 3-4 big scenes that all could have been catapults for Clark Kent feeling “human.” However, none of these scenes are focused on and his character suffers all the more for it. He seems to take every tragedy in his life and move on without any sort of collateral regret or pain. One would think that a film that wants to portray Superman as more human would do exactly the opposite of this but alas, that isn’t the case here. This film forgot all about the “man” and instead just showcased the “super.”
One has to wonder, where the heck was Christopher Nolan in all of this? After it was announced that he would be a producer on “Man of Steel” fans seemed to be convinced that this film would echo the stupendous plot level of his Dark Knight trilogy. Either Snyder didn’t listen to a word that Nolan said or Nolan simply peaked in superhero films once the “Dark Knight Rises” came out.
Overall the film is solid but certainly far from spectacular. Zach Snyder and Christopher Nolan set up a foundation from which a possible future “Justice League” or “World’s Finest” film could be made. But if you’re going into “Man of Steel” expecting it to pull you into the story like the “Dark Knight” trilogy did, you’ll be severely disappointed. “Man of Steel” is what it is, a fun movie and a good first try in what is hopefully the next step in DC’s catch up race to the success of Marvel’s cinematic universe.
“Man of Steel” is now playing.
