Movie Review: Man of Steel

I think we lost something in "Man of Steel", and I suppose it's all there in the title, where was Superman. I suppose it all depends what you think Superman is that will determine the level of enjoyment you have while watching "Man of Steel", I feel like I'm a generation behind. "Man of Steel" is meant to be a reboot, it's meant to cater to those who were not satisfied with the non-violent exploits of Bryan Singer's homage to the Christopher Reeve films "Superman Returns". This new Superman will throw a punch, again, and again, and again, and again, he will also destroy most of Metropolis, and part of Kansas. That's all well and good, it's fun seeing Superman kick some serious alien ass, and destroy some big giant alien technology, in fact this is the most alien intergalactic Superman yet, which is what I liked about it. But I was not fully satisfied, in favor of spectacle and action, they gave way to that bit of heart and sincerity that made people care about Superman.

The beginning of the film gets our attention right away retelling Superman's origin story, with an impressive and expansive look at a dying Krypton. There we meet Supe's father Jor-El (Russel Crowe looking very stoic and Shakespearean). It turns out Jor-El and his wife have had the first natural birth of a Kryptonian in ages. This doesn't sit well with General Zod (Michael Shannon who gives a menacing but one-note performance), who establishes a coup on Krypton and considers Jor-El an enemy. Jor-El quickly escapes Zod and rushes off to send his new born son off the Earth. Jor-El than dies at the hands of Zod, and Zod along with his soldiers are banished in the phantom zone. All this, along with Krypton's destruction seem to happen so quickly, but I suppose it has to if we're ever going to get to the real story.

We meet Jor-El's grown up son, Kal-El (Henry Cavill) not yet Superman, but drifting through the world trying to discover who he is. We learn through flashbacks, we was brought up by the Kents (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane both of whom I wished were in this film more) and named Clark. Clark learns of his super powers at a young age, something that he learned how to control through the help of his adoptive parents. There is a great scene of a young Clark in a class becoming scared and confused when he discovers his ability of x-ray vision, and super hearing, he runs away frightened only to be coaxed out by his calming mother.

Soon Clark finds a Kryptonian spaceship that has been uncovered by the military, and he learns from a conscious projection of Jor-El who he really is. It's now time to put on the cape and suit (tights excluded this time) and become Superman. There's a quick montage of him testing his limits and learning to fly, something that could've been more entertaining if it wasn't so rushed, but there's still more story to get through.

It turns out Zod and his army have escaped the Phantom Zone after Krypton was destroyed and made their way to Earth. There plan is to use Earth as another Kypton and destroying mankind in the process, this is something Superman can not abide, and that's when the ass kicking commences.

Let's start with the look of the film, I actually liked the darker tones which is nice contrast to the earlier classic Christopher Reeve films, and later in Singer's film, this is a grittier story, with the world at stake, we get the feeling that this Superman is in a post 9/11 world. The special effects are all dazzling, I mentioned earlier of the impressive look of Krypton which has never looked better, it has the scope of anything you could see in the most recent "Star Wars" films. The space ships and alien technology also look very inventive and state of the art, there is a machine in one the films' many climaxes that Superman must destroy in order for Zod's army to be put back into the Phantom Zone that was a high light.

But despite all this new fun showing this new Superman universe, I ultimately found the film too heavy handed. Here the mythology of Superman is taken way too seriously, and that probably has something to do with the creative team behind it. The producer was Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy which were great films but hardly what you would call light and breezy), with his writer David Goyer ("Batman Begins") and director Zack Snyder ("300", "The Watchmen"). They were tasked to create a marketable version of Superman for wider audiences, and maybe that's cynical of me to say that, but I did feel an underlining cynicism with the whole new approach to this character.

The dialogue by Goyer becomes very flat and wooden as if sometimes he was taking a cue from recent James Cameron or George Lucas screenplays. He relies too much on explaining the mythology of the universe that he forgot to give people anything interesting to say. Gone is any wit or charm, pros like Crowe and Costner come off the best when reciting ridiculous bits of dialogue, but most actors look embarrassed or bored.

Probably most disappointing was the performance of Amy Adams as Lois Lane. Adams has always been the type to light up a room with her performances going all the way to her breakthrough role in "Junebug", I was most excited to see her step in the role as Lois Lane, but this version of the character doesn't play to her strengths. She's still the ambitious "anything for a story" reporter, but she's clamped down to a grounded reality that doesn't let her play around. Even her scenes with editor Perry White (Lawrence Fishburne) should play like fireworks, but they are instead stale, Snyder seems to have problems getting these character scenes come to life.

For his part, Cavill is a credible Superman, he keeps him humble and charming, plus he has that Superman look just on his face. But gone is the sunny, witty, and yes....romantic performance of Christopher Reeve who no doubt does not belong in this Superman universe, I don't put that on Cavill's shoulders, he works great with what's given to him.

The fights in "Man of Steel" are impressive at the beginning, but soon they become monotonous. They are faster, and more destructive than the last time Superman fought Zod in "Superman 2", but if you look at that earlier film, the fights seemed to be more inventive by playing around with visual gags, rather than just two practically invincible aliens clobbering each other with their fists.

I suppose "Man of Steel" represents a new mentality to comic book movies, and one I'm not fully comfortable with, I felt much of the fun, and spirit of Superman was left to the wayside in favor of more action and violence. I don't mind action and violence, when it's motivated, but now it's something to be expected, and it's used almost to the extent that they were overcompensating for the failure of "Superman Returns". There is even an unexpected twist to the Superman character near the end of the film, which I suppose was implemented to make him into a more darker and complex character, but for me it seemed like a cynical move and disturbed me to see it.

I suppose you can't expect things to stay the same, I wasn't expecting a re imagining of the classic Christopher Reeve films, I felt I got that with Bryan Singer's version which wasn't perfect, but did keep the warmth, humour, and romantic relationship alive between Superman and Lois. I was impressed with the scope of "Man of Steel", but less impressed that the creators felt compelled to do away with the good hearted joy of seeing a Superman film. If there's a heart to this film, then it's made of steel.