Man of Steel

Review #199, Movie #269
Man Of Steel

Year Of Release
2013

Director
Zack Snyder

Producer
Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Deborah Snyder

Writer
David S Goyer, Christopher Nolan

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The planet Krypton is dying... and at the brink of their destruction, General Zod makes war against those who are responsible for the predicament that is faced by the entire populous of the planet.

Jor-El, a scientist on the planet has warned the heads of Krypton of this fate, but he was ignored and has become a target of Zod as he has launched his infant son Kal-El to safety where he can hide in peace on Earth.

After Krypton's destruction, Zod makes it his mission to hunt Kal-El across the stars and retrieve a very particular piece of technology that was sent to Earth with Kal-El and destroy Earth to build an new Krypton... but after 33 years of living with Humans, Kal-El, now known as Clark Kent, will have to make a choice...

... to join Zod and allow his people to live again... or stand against the General and his hoard and become a saviour for mankind.

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Ok... slammed by many, revered by others... scale wise, the second half of Man Of Steel is exactly what most Superhero Movies should be.

Many have hammered the lack of cheese and fun of the other Superman films of years gone by... I say, forget those films for now... Man Of Steel isn't meant to be those films... and many forget that Superman The Movie had almost a musical number stuck in the middle...

... I'd like to see the faces of those slamming Man Of Steel if they'd included a scene like that in this film
There are also a few action scenes that seem to have come from the original Christopher Reeve films Superman The Movie and Superman II... in particular Clark getting bullied by a Trucker and a burly brawl in Smallville between bad guys and the Military.

The other thing... is that Man Of Steel... spoiler alert guys... fits in perfectly with The Dark Knight Trilogy... and a connection is implied within the third act as well

Now...
The epic scale battles and fist fights, explosions, gunfights and other bodyslamming action scenes that make up most of the second half of the film is something that has been missing from a Superman film since, well, ever really.

The overall Global size of the action, I don't think, has ever been seen on screen before in many films apart from maybe 2012 or Independence Day... it's huge.
The kind of scale to expect is something that is normally only seen on the pages of the comics themselves.

Much of the action takes place throughout Metropolis and Smallville... but there are other set pieces included in the destruction when Zod get his plan together that give just that extra touch of epicness that make Man Of Steel stand apart from other Superhero films.

The overall effects department hasn't been spared either. By far the most effective, erm, effects I have yet to see in an action film... Steel almost appears to have rewritten some of the computer-whizz rulebooks, it's that well put together in the CGI and Practical Effects stakes.
It's by far the most destructive film I've seen in a long, long time.

The choreography is also top drawer and backs up the action fantastically and excitingly... with the exception of two things...
1) Snyder's overuse of close-ups during burly brawls between The Supe and whichever evil Kryptonian he is currently trading punches with. It knocks the viewer sideways at times and gets disorientating.
2) Snyder's overuse of fast zooming with a handheld camera whenever something in the distance does anything. Similar to JJ Abrams' fast zooming whenever the Starship Enterprise goes into warp...

Other than those two faults, which don't really take much away from the good points... Steel does have one major problem... most of the first half of the film.

The writing is substandard character wise... the first half is mainly one -long excuse note made up of flashbacks that tell Kal-El's story, Krypton's history, and Clark's early life on Earth with his overprotective father Jonathan.
There's also little audience to character connections... you don't really get to care enough about the leads... especially, sadly, the story between Clark and Lois Lane...

Now, all the actors involved do an absolute top job. They're all giving 101%... but the poor scripting and lack of character building and connection making screenplay within the first half, it makes the whole film feel hollow to an extent. There are some characters that everyone knows and loves that have been rewritten as well and it feels highly gimmicky. Again though, the actors involved are at the top of their game, it's the scripting that lets it down.

It's almost as if character-character and audience-character connection is simply a given and the writers... Goyer and Nolan... haven't really tried to write those connections because they thought that past connections and maybe a touch of nostalgia and knowledge on the audience's behalf would have been enough.
I can see how that approach would work, but it makes some of the character emotions a little non-universal.

However:
Cavill is perfect as Clark/Kal/Superman... I had difficulty at the very beginning seeing him as Superman, but as the movie progressed, I fell in love with this new performance... especially as Cavill appears to be learning the role, as the character learns his new powers. That is one thing that does work well with the writing. Cavill's physique is also bang on the money.

Amy Adams is also on top form... she has less to do than Cavill though, and sadly, like I said, the poor character writing makes the connection between her and Cavill sketchy at best.
Her role within Superman/Clark's life has also been rewritten along with some of the other rewritten characters.

Back up comes from Antje Traue as Zod's right-hand girl Faora... and from Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent... neither are seen enough tbh, I loved them in these roles, especially Costner... they're extremely likeable and are near to being the best written of the lot.
More backup comes from Lawrence Fishburne as a rewritten Perry White and Russell Crowe as Jor-El.
Crowe is mainly seen as a hologram though and his role is very generic throughout. Crowe does a pretty decent job though.

The standout role though is Michael Shannon as General Zod. Shannon absolutely makes this film. He's threatening when needed, holds his weight against Cavill's muscled Super Man... I loved Shannon's take as Zod, he beats Terrence Stamp by miles... that's something I never thought I'd say.

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All in all... the tremendous acting makes up for the badly written script and screenplay in the first half...

... the explosive second half more than makes up for any problems in the first half as well... if they had just taken more time with the writing in that first hour, this could easily, quite easily, be a film pushing the 100% barrier... sadly I have to mark it down due to lack of actual character.
But still...
... top effects, probably the best I've ever seen... top action, great acting and visual/action epicness usually only seen on comicbook pages.

My rating: 91%