“Man of Steel,” the new Superman franchise reboot, is the typical summer entertainment, but with substance.
Zack Snyder, the director of “300,” “Watchmen” and “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” also takes on Superman’s origin story. This script works well for Snyder’s abilities. He also gets to showcase his love of capes, as viewers of the movie “300” will recall. His past films clearly show a passion for stories on a grand scale, whether all of them were successful as films or not. Snyder brings that same grand scale to “Man of Steel.”
This film also marks the first time, at least for me, that the Superman character has been made emotionally interesting. It also seems more realistic to me. “Man of Steel” turns the focus from “look at all the cool stuff he can do” – although that’s still there – and instead explores what it would actually look like if a super being announced his existence to the whole of the human population.
That approach is what finally made the Superman story interesting to me. The general mistrust of the human race is a problem that can’t be solved by punching his way through it. What would really happen if the world suddenly knew that humans weren’t alone in the universe? So what if the alien says he means us no harm? Humans would be fools to automatically believe that.
The main conflict of “Man of Steel” is human nature, essentially.
Another great thing the film does is focus in on individuals that are on the ground, running for their lives as buildings collapse around them due to several super beings bashing each other into them. It’s very smartly done by introducing the audience to Lois Lane’s co-workers and following them as they deal with the emergency. It’s a nice way to bring it home in a film that’s mostly about nearly invincible aliens.
A large portion of the running time of the film is taken up by fight scenes. They’re well done; Snyder directs action sequences excellently. The fact that there are so many becomes a little problematic when considering the lack of character development for Lois Lane. While she’s arguably a very dedicated journalist and fierce person, that’s all the audience gets to see. She’s not boring per se, just a little flat. This particular issue is probably a matter of pacing. It’s pretty clear that Synder wanted this film to be fast-paced and action heavy.
Besides the lack of character development for minor characters, the movie does suffer slightly from the predictable use of clichés. But it is a Superman movie, so they were bound to show up.
The performances are well done for the most part. Henry Cavill plays Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent, and he’s extremely easy on the eyes. Aside from his visual appeal, Cavill is also a very capable actor. In fact, most of the cast consists of actors who are solid and reliable, such as Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Michael Shannon as bad guy General Zod, Diane Lane as Martha Kent – Clark’s human mother – and Russell Crowe as Jor-El – Clark’s alien dad. The only questionable choice is Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Clark’s human dad. Costner just isn’t all that likeable for me.
“Man of Steel” found a way to make Superman interesting. The film focuses in on Clark’s humanity and human nature in general. It looks at what we are and then what we can be.
