Writer: David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan (Story)
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe
Tomatometer: 56/54/82 (all critics, top critics, audience)
Spoiler-free Summary: You already know the story. Krypton, a planet in a distant galaxy, is on the brink of destruction. Jor-El, a scientist, puts his son, Kal, in a spaceship and sends him to Earth. Kal grows up to become Clark Kent, a superhuman farm boy ostracized by his peers. Meanwhile, General Zod, Krypton’s military chief, attempts to track down Kal, in hopes of furthering the Kryptonian race.
Two Cents: Man of Steel is nowhere near the class of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but the presence of Nolan’s input is clear. This is a dark and gritty version of a story that’s been told many times. Cavill plays a mysterious, nomadic version of Clark Kent, not dissimilar to Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne. Although he spends most of the movie punching bad guys, Clark’s real battle takes place inside his head. He struggles with the fact that Earth is not ready to accept an alien as its savior and the knowledge that he is Earth’s only hope against its enemies. That’s pretty much the exact same conflict that Nolan weaved into his Batman movies, and it’s becoming quite common in superhero movies, in general.
As the director of 300, Snyder took cinematic violence and gore to an unprecedented level. In Man of Steel, however, he leaves quite a bit to be desired. The Krypton scenes are cheesy, the weapons and spacecrafts look absurd, and the fights are mostly compilations of grunts and extremely loud “thwacks”. Everything in this film feels like a cheap knock-off of something we’ve seen in other comic book-inspired movies. Superman’s suit is nicely updated and badassified, but even that alteration wreaks of plagiarism, as it’s just a dark gray, armor-covered version of the famous red, blue, and yellow costume. Sound like anything else you’ve seen?
Henry Cavill does a fine job as Clark Kent, but that may have something to do with the fact that he never says anything. The few times when Cavill starts to show some personality, he comes off as awkward. Of course, that’s a function of the total lack of chemistry between Cavill and Amy Adams, who plays Lois Lane. They seem uncomfortable around each other, and the mild romance between the two characters is completely forced. Snyder works so hard to portray Clark as a modern day Jesus that the idea of various female characters seeing him as a sex symbol is rather disturbing. Adams is a terrific actress, but for chemistry’s sake, a change of lead actresses might benefit this series, and Nolan has been known to make such a move (though, Maggie Gyllenhaal is one of the few actresses who can be considered a downgrade from Katie Holmes).
Michael Shannon is a superb bad guy. He may be the best bad guy actor in Hollywood, right now. His costume is a joke, but he does a fantastic job as General Zod. This movie is greatly improved by the quality of its supporting cast. Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Meloni, and Russell Crowe all make the most of their respective small roles. Without such quality performances from these actors, the movie might have fallen off its rails. Diane Lane is fine as Clark’s mother, but her character is wasted. Snyder had a real opportunity to make Superman’s mother a strong and wise influence on her son, but Snyder left all that up to Clark’s dad, which doesn’t work out well for anyone.
Should I/Shouldn’t I: Thanks to low expectations (reviews have been mediocre, at best) and the horridness of the last Superman reboot, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It’s mostly a rip-off of various predecessors, but it’s rather entertaining. Snyder (or whomever might replace him) has a long way to go, if he hopes to make the next installment in the series a truly great superhero movie, but this is a decent start for a character who sorely needed a new look.
Sundae Rating: Two scoops
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