Review: Man Of Steel

Zack Snyder takes the story of one the biggest heroes and amps it up with appealing visuals, a decent story, muscles farther than the eye can see, and everything in between.

Director: Zack Snyder

Writer: David S. Goyer

Released: June 14, 2013

Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Antje Traue, Harry Lennix, Richard Schiff, Christopher Meloni, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne

Plot: Clark Kent is from outer space and has been sent to earth by his biological parents from Krypton. His whole life he has had to keep his secret until a seemingly unstoppable force threatens earth’s existence. Clark has to decide between keeping his secret and saving the human race.

2/5 Tonies

”You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Whoever that man is, he’s going to change the world.”

Okay. Let’s get this started. Now, class we will be discussing the recent box office hit: Man of Steel. This isn’t a class but it should be because you’re about to get schooled. Bam! I’m kidding . . . mostly.

So, Man of Steel follows Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) after he has been sent to earth by his Kryptonian father Jor-El (Russell Crowe). His whole life he has been imprisoned under a secret of preternatural abilities. Growing up on earth must have been hard. He keeps his secret until a seemingly unstoppable force threatens all life on earth. Clark must face this foe while simultaneously dealing with the secretive nature of his powers. Well, after reading all of that I trust that you understand this story is just like every other Superman film—just with a bit more oomph. Director Zack Snyder took this film and created a whole new world for the goody-good superhero we have come to know as Superman. The past films have all been somewhat over the top. They tended to be quite boring and preposterous; however, with this film, Snyder added a whole new story that is relatable (somewhat), interesting, and enjoyable. But that is all this movie ever amounts to: enjoyable.

You might have heard that this film is probably one of the best movies of the year or something equivalently exaggerated. This is definitely not the case. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a horrible movie but it definitely was not a great one either. I will say this: it was good for a Superman movie—which isn’t saying all that much.

Let’s get this started.

The biggest issue with the film is its pacing. The movie sped by and left no room for development. They got all the key points that the audience needed to see but went about them the wrong way. It might as well been a movie about The Flash, seriously. Each scene went by so quickly it was as if you weren’t watching a movie at all. Not only is the pacing too fast but the story felt completely jumbled. There was so much in such a short amount of time that it stumbled all over the place. The flashback scenes were decent at best and they seemed to happen at the most inappropriate of times. For example: Clark Kent would be in the middle of a simple everyday task, like washing dishes, and he’d have some flashback about the deep philosophical meanings of life departed to him by his parents (this didn’t happen, but it was something along those lines). These things just made the movie kind of uninteresting.

Another thing is the relationships between the characters were bland. This doesn’t mean the acting was bad just the relationships. They never seem to give you an emotional connection. It all felt like a scene where they all yell: “I LOVE YOU!” “I LOVE YOU TOO!” “Cool.” There was nothing there, no substance to draw you in or make you care for the characters. The short screen time given to each actor definitely didn’t help. It just seemed as if the whole movie was scripted with one-liners. This becomes very dull, very fast.

The movie felt like one running fight scene. There was a constant flow of destruction and punches; yes, it was entertaining but also extremely repetitive. Not to mention really unimaginative. You can go make a full dinner, eat dessert, catch another movie and when you get back Superman will still be punching something.

It wasn’t all bad, though. It presented a great origin story that could break into a great series. The tale seemed to have a lot more than just Superman saving the world and everything being perfectly fine. It gave us a story to understand. It showed how Clark Kent struggled his whole life to keep a secret. How hard it is to be accepted. And if you put your soul into altruistic pursuits people will accept you for who you are.

The visuals and CGI were great. They were the key elements of the movie. It really helped draw the audience into a film that would have otherwise been a complete bore. Yes, I said the fight scenes become repetitive but without them this film would not be what it is.

An exceedingly enjoyable part of the film was the main character, Michael Shannon . . . oh, he wasn’t the main character? I apologize; there was just a whole lot of Michael Shannon. So, back to the main point, Henry Cavill (our actual main character) gave us an above average performance. He was great switching off between Clark Kent and Superman. He really become our famous hero and carried him all the way through the film. There is a lack of emotion but he definitely was not awful. He just was also not the best. With this said: if they were to go back and recast the film, Cavill should continue to play Clark Kent/Superman. Thank you, Henry.

This film had a lot to offer as a part of the Superman arc. That’s it. It was a great film for the fans; it was what they wanted to see. As a fan I enjoyed it and you may enjoy it as well but as a film alone it was not successful. The bad outweighed the good. It was not a horrible movie; don’t take this rant to heart. I still recommend that anyone and everyone go and watch this film. You will be guaranteed a good time. But looking at this from the perspective of a standalone piece (apart from the world of Superman) and just as a film it didn’t add up. Let’s see what you have to say.

Written by Anthony Centeno