Man of Steel Review

Alright Superman fans, get ready to yell, scream and criticize me.  Here is my review of Man of Steel.  This is a movie I have been anticipating for a while, but I have to admit, I was seriously underwhelmed.  I am of the opinion that Christopher Nolan is the most ingenious storyteller in Hollywood and Zack Snyder creates some of the best visuals of any director working today..  So when I saw they would be producing and directing this film respectfully, I thought this would be the best superhero film this side of The Dark Knight. However, I was wrong.

This movie had flashes where it was absolutely brilliant, especially in some of the flash backs looking back to Clark's childhood and his interactions with his father, played by Kevin Costner.  However, when it came to the main story it just felt that there was something lacking most of the movie.  The story of this film is that a general banished from Krypton comes to earth seeking Clark because Clark's father gave him the key to rebuilding their race.  The only problem is this general believes that humans need to be destroyed in order to make room for the rebuilding of the Kryptonian race.  Therefore we have Superman needing to save the world from aliens that are trying to destroy earth.  In other words we have The Avengers and Green Lantern made over again, but with a tougher superhero.

Once the fighting begins, it becomes clear that Snyder is more concerned with the visuals and the effects than creating a good fight scene for a movie.  For much of the major climactic fight between Superman and General Zod you can't even see the two as the go flying through buildings.  All you see is explosions and large skyscrapers that are falling over since they went through support beams.  It seems like a bit of a cop out to me.  The effects are top notch, but it isn't enough to save the scenes.

The biggest problem I have with this film was the casting.  There are supporting roles in this film from five different Academy Award Nominees/Winners (Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Lawrence Fishburne, and Diane Lane) but ask Henry Cavill, who's biggest film role was in Immortals to carry the film.  The only problem is he does not have the screen presence to do so.  It would have been okay if others had been given bigger roles to help carry the film, but most of this film requires Henry Cavill to carry a particular scene.  Adams, Lane and Fishburne all give sub par performances by their standards.  Crowe and Costner give great performances as Clark's birth father and adopted father respectively, and their interactions with Clark are some of the more touching scenes of the movie.

Overall I was expecting greatness and came out very seriously underwhelmed.  This is a movie that I think has become a victim of it's serious hype both from media and fans, but true fans of the comics will be disappointed.  If you want mindless action you will like it, but if you, like me, enjoy the intricacies of good film making you will be sorely disappointed.  I give it a C-.