Once you see Man of Steel (and see it you should), whether you enjoyed the film or not, you’ll have to give director Zack Snyder credit for one thing. With the help of veteran screenwriter David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) and producer Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises), he’s crafted an Superman epic unlike any we’ve ever seen in the character’s 75-year existence.
It’s a grand, breathtaking spectacle, full of awe-inspiring moments and tremendous challenges worthy of Earth’s greatest superhero. In fact, everything that gets thrown at Superman during this film might prove to be too much to handle, even with the film running at just over 2 hours and 20 minutes. Just so much happens so quickly that audiences may feel certain moments, particularly character relationships, to be rushed or glossed over. It’s that flaw that keeps Man of Steel from being a truly great film. It’s good, certainly, but great? Not quite.
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Going into this film, put aside those fond memories of the Christopher Reeve films or the misguided sequel/love letter to those films that was 2006′s Superman Returns. This film starts over from scratch, and though it covers some similar ground as far as Superman’s origins — being sent away from a dying Krypton in a spaceship by his parents, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara (Ayalet Zurer), being raised on Earth in Smallville, Kansas by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, respectively), for example — the ways that Snyder presents these story beats to us visually makes them feel new and fresh. The film’s opening scenes on Krypton are particularly spectacular, as the film’s production designers succeed in presenting a vision of Krypton and its eventual destruction unlike any previous one.
Once the story transitions to Earth, Snyder opts to show Kal-El/Clark’s childhood and adolescence with the Kents mostly through flashback, while the adult Clark (Henry Cavill) travels the world alone, living on the fringes of society and hiding his abilities unless there are lives to be saved. It’s here that the most crucial changes to the Superman mythos start to appear, as the guidance provided by the Kents and Clark’s initial contact with the Daily Planet’s star reporter, Lois Lane, unfold in ways far different than what even casual fans of Superman and his story are familiar with. The changes reflect a more pessimistic (some might say ‘realistic’) view of the world and how people tend to react to what they do not understand: with fear and apprehension. No doubt, the fanboys and girls out there will either be the most vocal defenders or the harshest critics of these changes. But in terms of the story Snyder seems to want to tell, that of a Superman who truly feels alienated and apart from the humanity that he’s lived amongst all his life, the changes work because they present a challenge that Clark cannot overcome with his strength or his heat vision. He has to earn humanity’s trust once he makes his presence known to the world, and you just know that in this world, that won’t be easy.
To make matters worse, the Man of Steel must also contend with the arrival on Earth of Jor-El’s old adversary, General Zod (Michael Shannon), who with his followers in Krypton’s military attempted a coup during the planet’s final days that was foiled in part by Jor-El. Once freed from their prison by Krypton’s destruction, Zod and his people come in search of Clark and demand that the people of Earth surrender him or else face destruction. Thus our hero comes face-to-face with his alien heritage, and has a chance to forge his destiny.
As stated earlier, the film moves along at a very brisk pace, leading to a third act that is almost entirely one relentless action sequence after the next, featuring both brutal toe-to-toe fights between Clark and Zod and his soldiers and Clark taking on the General’s enormous spaceships. It’s here that the film earns its PG-13 rating for “intense sequences of sci-fi violence,” as Snyder throws one insurmountable obstacle after another at Superman, and he of course rises to each new challenge. It’s also here that actor Henry Cavill shows he truly has the mettle to wear the “S”. Without a charismatic actor in place to make you care about the character in the midst of all that super-powered brawling, massive explosions, and top-notch CGI-powered mayhem crafted by those post-production wizards at WETA (the SFX house that gave The Lord of the Rings), it would be easy to get lost in all the sensory overload. Thankfully, Cavill is here to save the day.
With both his physicality and his soft-spoken yet authoritative voice, Cavill meets the challenge of bringing to life a conflicted, complex Clark Kent. He makes Superman relatable, and that’s no mean feat considering that the character has in recent decades lost popularity because of his perceived lack of vulnerabilities and his “big blue boy scout” image. Today’s audiences, particularly younger ones, prefer their heroes to be more human, more flawed, and more pragmatic, and so Superman is a harder sell than say his Gotham City counterpart or any of the heroes the guys at Marvel are making movies about these days. This depiction of Superman, and Cavill’s efforts at making it work, should overcome those prejudices. His is a Superman for the 21st Century: faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and all that, but also, just like the humans he seeks to protect, searching for his role, struggling to figure out who he is and how to live up to who he’s supposed to be.
The rest of the principal cast does well with what they’re given. In particular, Michael Shannon stands out playing a very different, more restrained Zod than the one Terrance Stamp played in Superman II more than two decades ago, and Amy Adams finds a very believable and effective balance between plucky and vulnerable in her take on Lois Lane. The one disappointing performance comes from Russell Crowe, who delivers a phoned-in effort as Jor-El. There’s nothing bad about the performance, per se, but it’s not memorable, either, and one would think Crowe, as accomplished and talented as he is, would gladly accept the challenge of taking on a role once inhabited by Marlon Brando and make it his own.
If there’s any other real criticism to made here aside from how rushed certain plot elements feel — watch closely how the relationship between Superman and Lois develops over the course of the film and you’ll feel like you must have missed something, for example — there’s also the relative lack of humor in the script. Yes, it’s clear Snyder, Nolan, Goyer and everyone behind this film wanted to make a serious Superman film devoid of camp, and that’s fine. But a little bit of laughter here and there to break up the intensity and the heaviness of the proceedings would have been welcome.
Maybe they’ll have more of that in the sequel, if there is one. But don’t let that stop you from seeing it. Man of Steel should be seen on the big screen or in IMAX – don’t wait for this one on home video. It’s a fine piece of entertainment that will thrill and delight you if you let it, and its a strong return to cinema for the Last Son of Krypton.
Score: 4 out of 5
Man of Steel
Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, and Russell Crowe. Directed by Zack Snyder.
Running Time: 143 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, and for some language.
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