There is a lot riding on the hopeful success of ‘Man
of Steel’. This is the second time in the last decade that Warner Bros. and DC
have attempted to revive the Superman film franchise following its ‘death’ back
in the late 80’s. However, their first attempt, 2006’s ‘Superman Returns’, did
not end up getting a sequel, most likely due to audience reactions (which were
fairly split) and a rather disappointing turnout at the box office. This new
Superman film may also have to be the film that sets the stage for a ‘DC
Cinematic Universe’ a la Marvel’s ‘Cinematic Universe’, resulting in a possible
Justice League movie in the future. While the fate of that movie is unclear
right now, what about ‘Man of Steel’? It does have a good crew behind it,
including Christopher Nolan, whose work for DC’s film division needs no
introduction. However this time, Nolan is not directing. Instead, he gives the
reigns to Zack Snyder, director of ‘300’ and ‘Watchmen’ while he produces the
film (he also co-wrote the story with David S. Goyer, his writing partner on the
‘Dark Knight’ trilogy). And I’m happy to say that this new Superman film is
quite an exhilarating new take on the iconic DC superhero.
In order to protect their son from the destruction
of their home-world of Krypton, scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife
Lara (Ayelet Zurer) send the infant Kal-El away from the planet as it is
destroyed. Kal-El ends up on the planet Earth where he is adopted by Jonathan
and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, respectively) and raised as
Clark Kent. Clark (Henry Cavill) struggles to fit in on Earth because of his
unique ‘super powers’, which make him an outcast amongst others. Even when he
grows older, he spends most of his time traveling the country trying to find
his place in the world. When he soon learns of his true identity, Clark becomes
the ‘Man of Steel’, Superman, in order to protect the planet when a dangerous
Kryptonian General named Zod (Michael Shannon) invades looking to rebuild the
planet Krypton, even if it means the destruction of Earth.
Unlike ‘Superman Returns’, which attempted to be a
sequel to the first two Christopher Reeve movies, ‘Man of Steel’ is a
full-fledged reboot that is given, in a way, the same treatment that was
present in Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy. But, for the record, this is not ‘The
Dark Knight’ all over again. In this movie, Nolan’s influence is more present
in the story, because from a directing standpoint, this is a Zack Snyder film
(though thankfully some of his more notable directing habits are toned down in
this film (don’t worry, Superman doesn’t go into slow-motion to take out a bad
guy)). Overall, the writing is very good, namely through how the character of
Superman is portrayed. This is really the first Superman film to really focus
on Superman’s struggle to adapt to life on Earth because in the first Donner film,
that wasn’t really looked upon as much. A common question that I hear brought
up a lot is whether or not Superman should be more like his alter-ego Clark
Kent or, well, Superman. I believe that they are one in the same. Obviously, Superman
is a powerful superhero, but he was raised with the values of his Earth parents
and that molds him into the hero that he is. This character development is
solid throughout the movie, even though the third act is admittedly mainly just
non-stop action.
While I don’t want to compare this film to ‘Superman
Returns’ that much, one advantage that ‘Man of Steel’ has over ‘Returns’ is
that the two leads here are far superior. As Superman, Cavill is charismatic
and likable and he does a very good job getting across the character’s
emotions. As Lois Lane, Amy Adams maintains the spunky personality that defines
who Lois is and she has very good chemistry with Cavill. The rest of the cast
is fantastic as well. Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner are both great as
Superman’s two ‘fathers’. You can clearly see how both men influence Superman’s
actions and, without spoiling anything, Crowe is actually in the movie more
than you might expect, even though the story still stays fairly similar to how it
is in the comics. Finally, as General Zod, Michael Shannon is rightfully
menacing as the main villain of the film.
Right now, critics have been rather mixed on Man of
Steel, but I assure you that this new Superman film is very good. Admittedly,
it’s not perfect, primarily because the third act goes for non-stop action
instead of focusing on story but the film makes up for it in its portrayal of
Superman and how he tries to adapt to life on Earth, despite the fact that is
he actually an alien from another planet. A great cast and some very exciting
action sequences also help ‘Man of Steel’, which is a definite improvement over
the last attempted revival of the series. I will admit that I was rather
nervous about the hiring of Zack Snyder as director of this film, mainly because
his last film ‘Sucker Punch’ was so bad that it ended up being my pick for the
worst film of 2011. However, with a little help from Christopher Nolan, this is
easily one of his best films to date.
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