Man of Steel (2013)
Every once in a while, you will encounter the movie that is the perfect summer blockbuster: Terrific visuals, compelling story, deep characters.
Man of Steel is not that movie.
Man of Steel follows the titular man of steel (Henry Cavill) in yet another telling of his origin, being sent to Earth by Jor-El (Russell Crowe) just before the destruction of Krypton. As Clark Kent tries to understand himself, General Zod (Michael Shannon), another survivor from Krypton comes in an attempt to take the Earth over to bring about the rebirth of the Kryptonian race.
Right there, you should essentially be expecting a remake that is an amalgamation of Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman II (1981). Superman’s origin has probably been beaten into the heads of most Americans.
I very much was in awe of the movie’s special effects, particularly in the early scenes showing Krypton in its last days. In general, I felt Kryptonian society received far more development than it did in the Reeve-era movies (I will warn you now this review will be full of (perhaps unfair) comparisons to the Christopher Reeve Superman movies.). Zach Snyder, who previously directed 300, had firmly established himself as a master of visuals, and the latter half of the movie, which showed the battle between Superman and Zod, easily put The Avengers (itself nominated for an Oscar for special effects) to shame.
While the movie was very pretty to look at, I went through a good chunk of it feeling a little empty. A lot of it stemmed from the fact that I thought Superman himself really lacked personality, an unfortunate trait that survived from Superman Returns (2006), where he was played by Brandon Routh. I remember Christopher Reeve’s Superman having to do a significant amount of talking (of which Henry Cavill did very little), and thus actually requiring a personality. In the case of Man of Steel, it seemed like Superman himself actually took a backseat to the movie’s special effects.
Amy Adams, who was Lois Lane in this iteration, was in every way the anti-Kate Bosworth. While Kate Bosworth was perhaps the prettiest Lois, she demonstrated an inability to act her way out of a paperbag. On the other hand, while I didn’t ever feel like Amy Adams to be a drop-dead gorgeous actress, she demonstrated herself to be a capable one in movies like The Muppets and was definitely a better Lois than Kate Bosworth. However, like Henry Cavill and Christopher Reeve, I felt Adams simply lacked the on-screen presence that Margot Kidder did in the Reeve era. Once again, I would say the script was to blame; Adams did the the best she could.
With both of those in mind, my favorite character by and far was Jor-El. Russell Crowe has in general firmly established himself to be a very good actor, and he was the only character given adequate attention. Hell, even in death, he was more badass than Superman ever was.
In general, there were times where Man of Steel tried to have the parts where Clark was unable to control his powers a la The Amazing Spider-Man, others where he had a moral crisis like Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, and finally where the special effects orgy of The Avengers. For that reason, it suffered the same problem as The Purge in that the story didn’t really know what it wanted to be.
Overall, while I have a hard time falling in love with Man of Steel, I have a hard time really disliking it as well. It will probably be the biggest blockbuster of the summer, but it is nowhere the best movie I have seen as of yet. So far, that honor still goes to Star Trek Into Darkness, and that movie still also has the best villain I have seen so far this year. General Zod, try as he might, didn’t quite measure up.
Score: 2/4
Three thoughts come to mind after reading this. First, very happy to hear this has got nothing on Star Trek. I really liked Into Darkness and as funny as it sounds, just like I felt with Inception in 2010, I would like the good feeling from that to last for a while, if you know what I mean. On the other hand, I’m kind of disappointed to hear this was another miss by Nolan. I wasn’t floored by TDKR, although I had enjoyed it. However, at the same time, I’m not too surprised. Superman has always been kind of campy, and I think that can be difficult to work with. I still really admire Nolan and all his work, that hasn’t changed, but I also don’t have high expectations for this one mostly because the trailer and promos I’ve seen for it haven’t really caught me. Then again, who knows! I’ve been surprised before. I will be seeing it tomorrow, regardless, if only to support Nolan as a fan who appreciates his work.
Considering Nolan wrote the story, I was admittedly surprised it wasn’t as compelling as it could have been. I think the issue may lie with the fact that Nolan usually writes stories about very human characters (i.e. Bruce Wayne, Inception’s Cobb, etc.). I think he just had a hard time coming up with a struggle for an unkillable alien to deal with. I think that’s one reason many of the better Superman stories involve him battling Lex Luthor (an ordinary human), where it’s a contest of brains instead of brawn.
Was Amy Adams a better Lois Lane than Teri Hatcher?
I actually don’t know. I haven’t seen Lois and Clark and thus I’m very unfamiliar with Hatcher’s portrayal of Lois. However, I was thinking of getting started on that series now that I have seen Man of Steel. Lois and Clark is the only bit of mainstream Superman media I’m actually completely unfamiliar with.
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