REVIEW - 'Man of Steel'

‘Man of Steel’ (PG-13) **1/2

From the seemingly unlikely pairing of Director Zack Snyder (‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘300’, ‘Sucker Punch’, ‘Watchmen’) and Producer Christopher Nolan (‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’, ‘Inception’, ‘Memento’) comes the latest reboot of the Superman film saga.  It’s an origin story this time around, showing the destruction of Krypton and Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara (Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer) sending their son Kal-El to Earth, and away from the clutches of General Zod (Michael Shannon).  The film goes back and forth showing Kal-El, now called Clark Kent, as an adult wandering the world looking for his place in it and as a child also trying to fit in Smallville, KA, with his adoptive parents Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane).  Clark soon realizes his destiny upon General Zod coming to Earth and delivering an ultimatum:  That Earth hand over Kal-El, or else the world as we know it will be destroyed.

The opening scene on Krypton is great.  The special effects in this movie are very good, and the movie does feature a lot of good action scenes.  Most of the actors do a fairly good job in their roles, although none really stand out.  General Zod was a good villain.  The end of the movie is great.  Not because “Thank God it’s finally the end of the movie!!!” but by the end let’s just say things have finally settled down into the usual Clark Kent/Superman that we all know and like.  While the movie is rather dark (more on that later) it does have its humorous moments. 

This movie is way too freaking long.  The middle third of the movie when it keeps jumping back and forth in time drags.  The scenes with Clark Kent as an adult was way too much like Wolverine from the X-Men movies, whereas the younger Clark Kent scenes felt a lot like ‘Spider-Man’.  In addition to dragging, it gets confusing with the constant jumps back and forth.  Some of the fights scenes cut a little quickly so sometimes it just hurts my brain to try and figure out who is fighting who and what is happening.  Amy Adams is a great actress (Watch ‘Doubt’ or ‘The Fighter’) but she just doesn’t really seem like Lois Lane.  I shouldn’t be thinking about the actors, I should be thinking about the characters.  The movie is also rather dark and kinda gritty.  Ever since the recent Batman movies made dark and gritty the way to go for superhero movies, superhero movies and reboots in general have usually gone for a darker vibe.  Lighten up movie.  It’s Superman after all.  This isnt tortured Batman.  This should be nice guy, do good, Boy Scout-like Superman. Some darker parts work, other parts towards the end don’t work. 

I haven’t really read any of the comics apart from what was left of my Dad’s old collection of comic books in the basement, so I can’t really compare it to the comics.  Comparing to other Superman movies, well, I’ve only seen one other and that one would be ‘Superman Returns’.  I remember thinking that it was all right, but it also dragged along.  ‘Man of Steel’ does have a LOT more action than ‘Superman Returns’ and Michael Shannon’s General Zod is a better villain than Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor.  Henry Caville is a better Superman, although Brandon Routh was a better Clark Kent. 

Now, comparing to the other movies that Zack Snyder movies…well, it’s a lot better than ‘Sucker Punch’.  I haven’t seen his ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remake or ‘Legend of the Guardians’.  ‘300’ is awesome and ‘Watchmen’ was also very good.  ‘Man of Steel’ is nowhere near those, but like I said it is a lot better than ‘Sucker Punch’, so take that for what it is.
 
‘Man of Steel’ is a dark, long, sometimes confusing movie (with it’s time jumps and editing) with mostly great special effects, a good villain, passable acting for the most part, and has moments of greatness.  There are better superhero movies (‘X-Men:  First Class’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Spider-man 2’, ‘Watchmen') and there are worse superhero movies (‘Batman & Robin’, ‘Batman Forever’, 'Ghost Rider')