It has been an extremely long time since we got a truly satisfying Superman film. That’s why when the trailers for Man of Steel came out and it looked good, everyone got very excited. There was still some apprehensiveness about the film though as the previous Superman film, Superman Returns, was more than a little disappointing. Nonetheless excitement continued to build among the fans as the trailers continued to come out, and the anticipation grew to a frenzy. Now that the film has finally arrived, is it the film we have been hoping for, or is it another colossal disappointment? Well, let’s find out…
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
The cast of the film is very good and there really aren’t any truly bad performances. Laurence Fishburne turns in a decent performance in a limited role as Perry White. Richard Schiff and Christopher Meloni turn in serviceable performances as Dr Emil Hamilton and Colonel Hardy respectively. Although being severely underused in their roles, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner turn in good performances as Clark’s loving parents Martha and Jonathan Kent. Surprisingly, Russell Crowe puts in a very good performance as Clark’s biological father Jor-El. He is a very important part of the story and does a good job of coming across as a wise, caring, and helpful character, even if he is a bit overused. While not particularly riveting, Amy Adams turns in a good performance as Lois Lane. She mostly has the mannerisms of the character down and seems like a good fit, but does come across as slightly bland. This problem could be partially due to problems in the script however. Antje Traue is intimidating and merciless as the cold villainess Faora-Ul. Our main villain, General Zod, is played expertly by Michael Shannon. Much like his lieutenant Faora, Zod is intimidating, brutal, and merciless. However there is an intelligence about the character and he isn’t just some dumb thug, but rather an intelligent and cruel general. There is even a bit of sympathy to be felt for the character, as not only is his main goal the survival of his people, but it’s his designed purpose. When his plans are foiled he loses his purpose in life and essentially has no real reason for being alive. Although the way he was going to go about his plan was terrible and what the plan entailed was genocide, you could understand why he would do such things. Also you do feel bad for him when he loses his entire purpose for living. This brings us to our main character and focus of the film, Clark Kent/Superman. Superman is played brilliantly by Henry Cavill and it appears that he was the perfect choice for the role. Not only does he look exactly like the character, but he nails pretty much every aspect of the character. The virtuous nature of Superman is expertly conveyed through Cavill’s performance and you really do believe it coming from him. He develops continuously throughout the film by learning from his experiences and the teachings both his fathers have given him, and eventually becomes the hero we know and love. His struggle with deciding what the right thing to do is, is very compelling and culminates in his ultimate decision to be the great protector of the Earth from all threats and to be the ideal for the people of Earth to strive towards.
Besides the cast, there are many things to like about the film. Although very simple, the story is decent and works pretty well for the film. As stated above the character of Superman was very well done and Henry Cavill IS Superman. It was also nice to see that he was not completely invincible and that it was possible for him to get his butt kicked a little bit by his villains. The villains are very good and believable as a legitimate threat to Superman and the planet. The scenes on Krypton are very well done and even very exciting, making for a good opening to the film. Krypton’s science and technology was also very interesting and well done. Overall, the film is very pleasing to look at. The suits of Superman and the other Kryptonians are very good and the visuals showing the effects of the unfocused powers of the Kryptonians are amazing. However, the highlight of the film is of course the action. It is the best action of any Superman film and some of the best action in any comic book movie to date. Each action scene has a very large scale to it and the destruction is massive. The battle in Smallville and the final showdown with Superman and Zod are the obvious highlights of the film.
However, the film is far from perfect. Despite his direction for the most part being very good, Zack Snyder’s decision to use a large amount of “shaky cam” was not a good one, as at times it was very distracting. Also there seems to be strangely high amount of spotlighting and lens flares used throughout the film. The CGI, despite being good for the most part, is sometimes a little odd and occasionally pretty bad. At times the film can take itself a little too seriously and could use a little lightening up. Some of the religious allegories are a little too on the nose, such as the talk of being the savior of mankind and some poses that are very Jesus like. Character development in the film is also very brief and for certain characters almost non-existent. Jonathan Kent dies in a very dumb way and the death is glanced over pretty quickly, leaving the question of why they would do it in that way. Some items require more discussion such as Jor-El’s role in the film, the flashback scenes, and the pacing of the film.
Jor-El is in the movie a ton, and this is kind of a blessing and a curse. He obviously is very important in the beginning of the film as he is a huge part of Superman’s origin. Also it was very important that he play a role in Clark discovering who he was after visiting the fortress through the coded hologram/consciousness he programmed into the ship. It would have been perfectly fine for him to just be in these scenes and maybe another one later in the film at the fortress or something, but this is not the case. He is in several more scenes in the film and is used as essentially a plot device. In just about every complex or dangerous situation he is there to provide his help to the main characters and give out important information to them. There are even parts of the film where he has full on conversations with characters somehow through the program. This leads to him being way too important to the plot and overstaying his welcome. It would have been much better if he wouldn’t have been in the film so much and the other characters were allowed to solve things for themselves instead.
The flashbacks in the film are also kind of a mixed bag. They are an interesting way to tell the story of Clark’s younger years without having to do a complete rehash of the story in a long chunk of the movie. This was actually a clever way to tell that story and I actually appreciated it. The last flashback was also quite possibly the most powerful scene in the entire film and was just beautiful. However, there are some problems with using the flashbacks Although they for the most part had good content, some of them (such as the death of Pa Kent) had content that either wasn’t very good or seemingly pointless. Also, they tended to grind the pace of the film to a screeching halt at times, taking momentum away when the film was moving along at a good pace.
Pacing is a big problem for the movie. While it’s good that it doesn’t feel like a 2 and a half hour move, the film does move a little too fast at times. This leads to a lack of great character development as the film seems to just fly by things. There are also huge jumps in the story, such as when we go from Clark arriving on Earth as a baby to being a full grown man on a fishing boat in a matter of seconds. Things like the relationship between Clark and Lois as well as Clark’s “secret identity” reveal at the end are rushed and essentially come out of nowhere. It also leads to a glancing over of the death of Jonathan Kent, which really should have had more time devoted to it so it could have more of an impact. Plot points seemed to be barely explained in favor of just moving on to the next action scene at times. However, it’s not just too quick of a pace that’s a problem. At times the flashbacks to Clark’s past grind the pace to a halt when we have good momentum going in the story. These problems would seem to stem from David Goyer’s script mainly. It seems like he was trying to tell the story as quickly as possible to get to the next action scene without really taking time to make the events have a little more weight.
Despite its flaws, I really enjoyed this movie a lot. The action and acting were fantastic, and the story was just good enough to give it meaning. This by far the best Superman movie in the last 30 years and is the movie we have been waiting on for a long time. Zack Snyder did a very good job for the most part directing the film and definitely should be given a chance to come back for the sequel. It was a very good Superman film, and is hopefully the stepping stone to finally getting a shared DC movie universe.
8.7/10