Man of Steel – Movie Review

Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner
Directed by Zack Snyder

When did people stop believing that a man could fly?  Somewhere in the last couple of decades, the world became a much more bitter place, therefore leaving Superman, the most iconic symbol of hope remaining in the fictional world, essentially buried and forgotten.

Sure, he has popped up here and there, most notably in 2006’s Superman Returns and TV’s Smallville, but the gravity-defying heights that Christopher Reeve placed the character at have not been seen since the early 80’s.  Somewhere around there, people simply stopped believing in the indestructible Boy Scout.

In comes Christopher Nolan and David Goyer.  They understand reviving dormant characters who have taken a drastic turn for the worse as they saved Batman from the likes of The Schumacher.  With director Zack Snyder placed firmly at the helm, their choice was to make Superman more lost, more conflicted, as he struggles to find a world that will accept him as their own…even as he clearly is not from here.  That is where our Man of Steel resides, in this somewhat dire world that is more modeled on our current state of affairs than anything planted in the comic book cosmos.

When his home planet of Krypton is seized by the tyrannical General Zod (Michael Shannon), Superman’s real father, Jor-El(Russell Crowe), rockets his newborn baby boy to the nearest habitable planet – Earth, minutes before Krypton’s destruction.  Here, a quiet and decent farm couple in the form of the Kent’s (played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) find Kal-El and decide to raise him as their own Clark Kent.  You really cannot do much better than these two as parents; decent, kind and ridiculously attractive.

The Kent’s instill a sense of decency and honor into their adopted immigrant, all-the-while reminding him that he must keep his true identity a secret, for the world is just not ready to understand.  The ‘origin’ portion of the story is told in flashbacks, which means we already find Clark (Henry Cavill) grown up and already roaming the world, searching for his true path.

When a mysterious ship is found, Clark is forced to confront his past in order to understand his future.  Along for the journey is Lois Lane (Amy Adams) as the investigative reporter she has always been, showcasing a conflicted view of whether or not the world is ready for the story of an alien with chiseled features living among us.  When General Zod and his crew find Earth and come calling for Kal-El’s head, her hand is unfortunately tipped and Superman is forced to show the world the very definition of hero.

Firstly – Cavill is a great choice for Superman.  Brandon Routh did a nice job in Returns of mimicking Christopher Reeve, but Cavill makes the character his own.  He showcases a Superman we have never seen on the big screen (I say big screen because Smallville did tackle some of these issues, they are not ‘new’), and he embodies the character with understandable doubt about his place in the world.  And when he finally becomes the man that both of his fathers have always thought he could be, well this is a Superman I would proudly stand behind.

The other characters in the film truly serve as little more than pieces of the puzzle for Clark’s world.  His two dad’s, Crowe and Costner, were both great in their respective roles.  As the two men who help define America’s greatest hero, they both handle their end with grace and pride.  Crowe is a man aware of what his son will be capable of on Earth, while Costner is a man of Earth and understands how his people react…to pretty much anything they do not understand.  If I were lost on a journey of life, these are the two I would want guiding me.

Adams as Lois handles herself well, but there honestly was very little chemistry between her and Cavill.  Their romantic angle seems a little forced, but thankfully the film truly is not about that just yet, so they have time to grow into it.  As a character, she is a determined and reputable reporter and Adams was a good choice.  Diane Lane as Ma Kent was also solid, though she had much less to do other than serve as a catalyst for a sweet action scene.  And let me tell you, it takes a lot of makeup professionals to make Diane Lane look homely, but they manage to pull it off.  That should be an Oscar in itself.

Michael Shannon as Zod I am conflicted on.  There are moments in the film where his performance is riveting and gut-wrenching…and then others where his line reading is atrocious.  Overall, his role is to be very angry and demanding and generally he handles it well.  But if I were to pick one weak link in the film, Shannon would be it in a heartbeat.

The only other concerns were with the director, Zack Snyder.  His reliance on tracking then ZOOM shots is done to distracting measures here.  I understand the choice, and at first it works great…until it is in almost every scene.  Snyder has always been a ‘visual’ director, meaning he focuses on visuals before all other things, including story.  Man of Steel is no different.  The last fight went on WAY too long and the blatant product placement (Look!  We’re at the IHOP…AGAIN!)  and a few scenes of very poorly written dialogue will make you chuckle, but shouldn’t take you out of the film. His choice to use flashback’s to tell the origin story was also a little jumbled but does come together a bit in the end.

That said, the first time Superman takes flight is one of the most fist-pumping scenes on celluloid I can recall and Snyder finally did what even Donner could not do: He took me into the eyes of what it would be like if a man truly could fly.  And when the fighting does begin, no matter how long, it is the first time we truly get to see what Superman can really do on screen.  So overall, despite the concerns expressed a paragraph ago, Snyder did a solid job and could see him growing into this franchise.

So there you have it.  Man of Steel is a slightly flawed and far from perfect modern telling of the Superman myth, but ultimately is a fun and engrossing reinterpretation of the character.  There are some tweaks here and they are, in my opinion, for the better.  You will find no bumbling Kent nor Kryptonite in this film, this is strictly Superman finding himself.  A modern Superman for today’s conflicted world.

And by the end of the film, you will believe a man can fly.

If $10 is the full price of admission, this one is worth $8.