Man Of Steel

The best description of Man Of Steel I have seen comes from Cosmo Landesman, stating that this blockbuster epic was 'all steel, not enough man.'  Agreeing 100%, but such an interpretation came as a surprise to me at first. All these trailers of Man of Steel had me expecting more from supes, with the promise of humanisation and emphasis on the vulnerable psyche of someone not far from immortal. I guess such a promise was too hard to live up to, as though such themes are brushed, Zack Snyder goes back into the comfort zone and what we have is an action extravaganza of massive proportion, but many of us still wanted more. 

From the off I knew I had been led astray by clever marketing. A rich, CGI soaked Krypton sees Jor-El (Russel Crowe) and his wife give birth to Kal-el who is quickly whisked off away to Earth before their planet Krypton meets its inevitable doom. The hopes of a better future for his son are not shared however, as the intimidating General Zod (Michael Shannon) acting on Marshall law attempts to save Krypton by his own twisted means. After being imprisoned for war crimes, he sets off to Earth find Kal-el, now going by the name of Clark Kent, in order to harvest his genetic makeup to recreate Krypton using Earth as harvest. Cue our very own man of steel to attempt to save the day. Nothing here screams anything different for a supposedly new, more character driven, Superman, does it?

It would be unfair to say that they didn't attempt to build on aspects of Superman that would make him more down to earth, and some interesting points are risen such as his duality, acceptance in society and the affect of his existence on a religious and spiritual level. The only problem is that these themes are touched in little more detail than what they are shown in the trailers. Henry Cavill is a likeable Superman, and yet other than harbouring a body chiseled by Zeus himself, we have no reason to truly love him. Sure some will swoon and others scorn in jealousy, but that internal conflict we had  been promised, one that would lead us to a greater affinity with such an icon, is lacking greatly.  

Snyder seems to have fallen under old cliches of just creating enemies for Superman to fight that are somewhat formidable and similarly equal in strength, but in the end he will overcome. Never do you expect Superman to ever lose a bout, so the potential that questioning the notion behind the man of steel would have opened all different kinds of battles. Internally, psychologically, mentally. If anything it is not because the film is bad that it fails, but because it could have been so much more. Even his relationship with the modern heroine Lois Lane (Amy Adams) lacks little development, seemingly sparking out of nowhere and only forced upon in order to abide to comic book lore.

The ending does hold one great moment at the conclusion of the climactic fight with Zod, and you get a brief glimpse of the inner turmoil of Superman, but by then it's too late. You're always engrossed in the film because it's such an epic feat, and the CGI is plentiful and action intense, but it's all too much. Man of Steel will eventually join its predecessors on the shelf, instead of soaring higher as we all hoped it would. Fans will be happy for the improvement after Superman Returns, as the action was constant and unmatched in scale, but for myself, I was just happy that there was no Kryptonite to sink the narrative further to the depths. 

Director: Zack Snyder

Run Time: 143 Minutes

Nationality: American

Release Year: 2013

IMDB Rating: 8.2

My Rating:

C+