Man Of Steel

I don’t know if I have the film to blame or the jackasses kicking the back of my seat through-out, but I have a splitting headache……

If the blame goes to Man of Steel, I’m going to blame it solely on the fact that there was too much action and not enough story. Can too much action in a superhero film ever be a bad thing, though? Well for me, I’m gonna have to say YES.

Man of Steel is a reboot to the Superman series very much the same way as the Batman films were. The planet Krypton is imploding and a child who could very well be the last of a civilization is shot into space to avoid the same fate as the rest of his people. That baby is named Cal-El and his shuttle crashes on a small farm on planet Earth. Raised as one of us by the couple who found him, Cal-El (given the name Clark Kent by his adoptive human parents) discovers what God-like powers he possesses and thus becomes Superman.

I’m just going to skip a few things (I feel the movie did this anyway) and get right to the things I didn’t like. Let me start with the pacing.

Baby Supes crash lands on Earth and we quickly cut to him in present day, helping a crew man a ship through a storm. Throughout the whole of Clark Kent’s introduction to audiences, we see flashbacks of Clark as a kid doing extraordinary things. That’s fine, that’s great, but before you know it, he’s wearing the Superman suit and flying into space.

The use of flashbacks and the constant jump through time in the film (it does this so much in the beginning that I wasn’t sure if Clark’s first encounter with Louis Lane was a memory or in present time) comes across as lazy to me. I wish the story of Clark growing up was more linear and straightforward, leading up to him becoming a man - and in turn leading up to him becoming Superman. His beginnings on Earth seemed lazy to me to put all in flashbacks scattered around in the film. It screams “Let’s cover as much as we can, as quickly as we can!”.

And when Clark puts on the suit for the very first time, it’s way too early. There’s no buildup to that moment, making it incredibly flat while the backdrop escalates into a pulsating score. You’re sitting there thinking…….”Already?”. We were given so little time to spend with Clark Kent before he buckles up as Superman, that I felt like I didn’t really know him. Just that he was from another planet, is super strong, and he used to get picked on (like most kids in these types of movies, big whoop). We needed to spend another 15 minutes AT LEAST with Clark just being……..human.

I wanted to see him at home, more of his life at work, what he does around town, etc…..There’s a scene after he takes on the Superman mantle where he visits a church - I would have loved to have seen Clark visiting the church before, maybe have him questioning his faith and purpose in the world. Have him establish a relationship with the priest so that the Superman vs. Jesus Christ parallel would been much stronger. Unfortunately, a lot of the emotional investment we could’ve had with the character is missing due to this rush in pacing. I wanted - no, we NEEDED - more of a character driven story with Clark Kent. We got some of that, but not enough.

Another thing I didn’t like was his relationship with Lois Lane. They meet, Clark saves her life, and besides an interrogation scene afterwards, there really isn’t enough quality time spent between the two of them alone. Amy Adams is fine in the role, but it’s a part that anyone could have played. There wasn’t really much for her to DO. I feel her scenes were cut and pasted into a series of events rather than displaying an organic relationship blossom between her and Clark on screen. By the end of the movie, I didn’t care if they became friends or not.

And please, PLEASE, stop with the shaky cam. I’m tired of it. I don’t need to be so close to the carnage to feel how crazy and dangerous it is. I took my 3D glasses off a few times just so I could make out what was happening. We don’t need shaky cam all the time. It’s too much. If filmmakers like to use it here and there, FINE. But at every chance they can get? WHY? I like to see what’s going on in all 4 corners of the screen. We don’t need it when people are just talking to each other, either. It does absolutely nothing to enhance a conversation or acting. Nothing. STOP THE MADNESS.
Ok, enough bickering and whining, let me get to the stuff I did like: Henry Cavill. Great casting choice. The dude oozes such a quiet, humble confidence as Superman and he looks perfect - I mean peeeerfect - in the suit. His jet black hair, big blue eyes, and chiseled jaw gives him the commanding look, yet trusting presence someone of great power like Superman needs. He speaks in a very direct and calculated way. He also does this thing with his head where he’ll look down in thought, then snap it back up again as if he’s made a decision. It’s little details like that that I love watching actors do on screen. What I also appreciated was the fact that Henry’s portrayal as Superman was the same as Clark Kent. He didn’t change his demeanor, or voice, or do anything with his appearance (except shave. Thanks Gillette) to try and act any different than when he’s not wearing the suit. Which was great to see; I was afraid they’d write him in as having a big ego once he discovered who he was and how he chose to use his power in the world. I’m glad that they didn’t.

All the actors did well in their roles. Michael Shannon plays General Zod - our bad guy - and he is quite menacing. He’s so good, I kept thinking to myself “Why wasn’t he in the first Star Trek movie?”. He just wants to bring back his people, his world, but obviously at the cost of ours. His last scene with Superman was a really good one. His 2nd in command is also pretty sweet, played by Antje Traue. She’s so sinister looking but so attractive at the same time. She reminded me of Evil-lyn from the Masters of the Universe movie (which I looooove) and it occurred to me we haven’t really seen a bad girl like that in quite a while. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were the perfect match for Clark’s adoptive parents. And I know it’s become “cool” to hate on Costner, but he was quite good in this. And who can forget Russell Crowe? He was in it more than I realized. Crowe plays Superman’s real father Jor-El and he’s once again in prime control of his directive as an actor. Love watching that guy on screen.

I also loved the music. It was big, loud, epic, and cued all in the right moments. Most of all, it was catchy. It had a rhythm to it that you could hum along to. I find in a lot of these superhero movies the music is just a bunch of noise exploding into a bunch of none sense. That wasn’t the case here.

The action was phenomenal (when you could see what was happening). Superman and bad guys being flung around like rag dolls destroying everything in their path. Crashing through buildings, flying through walls, being pounded into the ground - you name it, they did it. So much so, as aforementioned, I may have developed a splitting headache from the damn thing. At some point during all the buildings tumbling over and cars being whipped into the air I thought, “How are they going to top this in the sequel?”. They go all out.

In the end, as a revamped origin story, the action is big and the characters are strong, but the story itself isn’t given enough meat to satisfy this hungry camper. The little bits we got were good, we just needed more of it. Good thing Man of Steel is really entertaining and action-packed from start to finish, and Henry Cavill nails the role into the ground.

My Rating: 7/10