Man of Steel - Movie Review

***WILL CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS***

Man of Steel was my most anticipated movie of the year. I have been following its progress for months before its summer release and the hype could not have been bigger. Following Nolan's successful Batman reboot and trilogy, Man of Steel gave comic book movie fans a new hope for Superman, especially after Superman Returns in 2006, which had a below average reception from general movie-goers. The main problem with that movie was that Superman never threw a punch, which meant we never got to see Superman's full potential in combat and strength. Instead we witnessed a love letter to Richard Donner's Superman 1 and Superman 2, with plot rehashes and over-played homages. This, along with a few other issues meant that Superman Returns was not successful enough to warrant a sequel. More importantly, it halted WB's progress in creating a Justice League franchise and sent them back a few years. 

After watching Man of Steel, it is very clear that they were trying to distance themselves as much as possible from previous incarnations of the character. If you are looking for nostalgic homages to the Donner movies, then this movie will disappoint you. Additionally, if you were expecting an introspective trilogy that with intense reflection on society and the role of each character in that society, similar to the Dark Knight films, this movie might leave you wanting more. However, Man of Steel has enough about it to make fans look forward to a sequel. 

Pros:

Superman: 

This is the modern Superman fans were waiting for. Henry Cavill does a great job portraying the character. He has a very good on screen presence and really makes you believe a man can fly...again. There are several scenes where he captures the perfect image of the modern superhero...standing tall and powerful, standing serious and intense, facing the unbelievable threats that challenge him. 

Story: 
The story chosen for the reboot in my opinion is the right story to tell. Instead of an alien pretending to be a human, we are shown the more human side of Superman. After all, he was raised as a human by farmers. Instead of spending twelve years in the fortress being programmed by Jor El, like in the 1978 Superman movie, this Clark Kent lives a human life, facing everyday challenges in every stage of his growth. We are shown some problems that Clark Kent faces growing up, burdened by his powers and the demands of his father to protect his secret at all cost. Not only is this world not ready to accept an alien into society, young Clark Kent is not ready to face the pressure of the world treating him as an alien. Pa Kent wants Clark to wait till the day the world needs Superman and also wait for the day he can handle it. This leads to a very rough childhood and upbringing for the character. We witness what it would actually be like for an alien child to grow up as a human. 

General Zod and The Threat: 

Never before have we seen stakes so high in a comic book movie. After Krypton's destruction, General Zod is released from the Phantom Zone and he journeys to Earth, determined to rebuild his planet over the corpses of every human being. His plan required the Codex (DNA of Krypton), sent to Earth with Superman by his father. Also, Earth was the perfect location, as its yellow Sun would give Zod and his crew unimaginable powers. The character was shown to believe the superiority of Kryptonians to Earthlings in every way. The logical next step in evolution according to him is for the weaker beings to step aside for Kryptonians to take over. This results in attempting to terraform Earth and destroy every living being in the planet, which will make it easier for Zod to recreat his home planet. 

Played by Michael Shannon, General Zod is an intense character with unbelievable determination. He gives Clark Kent a reason to reveal himself to the world and become Superman. Shannon portrays with great accuracy, a man that will stop at nothing to fight for what he believes is the greater good for his people. Furthermore, Faora played by Antje Traue steals the show with high speed action sequences, portraying the character's passion and training to kill everyone and everything that stands in between her and the goal. It is safe to say that Superman has never been tested this much physically and mentally. 

Visual Effects and Action:

Zack Snyder does a fantastic job with the visual effects starting from Krypton to Superman's first flight to every battle scene in the movie's climax. Krypton is portrayed as a high-tech civilisation with alien beasts and other living creatures. The technology used in Krypton somewhat resembles the future of nanotechnology (in real life), which poses limitless possibilities for communication and several other technological advancements. This is shown in great detail by Snyder. Furthermore, Superman's first flight scene, supported by Hans Zimmer's track is emotional and beautifully portrayed in terms of detail. This was how I'd imagine a human would feel upon learning to fly. 

The action in this movie matches that of the successful Avengers movie from last year. It is heart pounding and very fast moving. There is a lot going on and it is exaggerated to a point, where you really fear for Earth. This pushes the Superman character to the next level, where he is really tested and has to show great resilience and strength to overcome the threats posed by Zod, his army and the "World-Machine". This to me, felt a bit more suitable for a sequel. It will certainly be difficult to top in future instalments to the franchise. 

Cons:

The Pacing and Character Development

For an origin movie, I felt that too much was rushed and skipped in favour of getting Superman (with a cape) on screen. The movie had great ideas, as I have mentioned, but many of these ideas were underplayed and underdeveloped. For example, we see the death of Pa Kent in an emotional Tornado scene, but we are not shown how that death has affected the character of Clark and how his life changes because of it. It is merely an emotional idea that is presented as a highlight of the character's growth to adulthood. Too much of this movie, "just happens", instead of showing how the character got there. He is just seen in places and seen doing things without developed intentions and motives. The use of flashbacks is fine, when done correctly. This movie used the flashbacks to bullet point the important parts of the character's childhood, instead of developing them and instilling them into the character's present day actions. It was very "here is young Clark when he was experiencing problems with his super-hearing. Here is him, when he finds out he is an alien. Here is him when his father dies" and lift off! We have a Superman! "Link the rest yourself, I'm not telling you the full story". The link between scenes is missing for me. 

As a result, we have a lack of emotional build up. If we don't know what drives the character, then it is hard feel for him and root for him in the final battle. All we have are these great ideas thrown at us at speed, hoping they make an impact. By rushing through the origin, we really don't see the journey of the character. Remember the scene of Bruce Wayne climbing that cold mountain to train with the League of Shadows in Batman Begins? That scene spent some time developing the setting, showing us the character's determination to find answers, showing us the will power of the character. In Man of Steel, Clark is just seen here and there, so we don't really know the "how" of it and we know very little of the "why". Instead we just know the "what". This certainly left me a bit frustrated, as there was a lot that was unexplored, because of the pacing. 

The Dialogue

Another problem for me was the lack of new dialogue that I haven't seen in the trailers. They hid the story pretty well in the trailers, but they have given away all the great dialogue that this movie has to offer. Nothing else really stood out in the movie. The dialogue wasn't very quotable or memorable and it failed to really give the heroics of Superman a boost. The dialogue in Nolan's Dark Knight franchise really emphasised on the unbelievable sacrifice and heroics Batman was performing. It really portrayed the reaction of Gotham to this Bat Creature through conversations between main characters. Man of Steel really lacks these conversations that amplify the heroics or existence of this Super-Man or conversations that build the situation at hand for Superman. 

Here are two examples of the kind of conversation I am talking about:

Furthermore, the dialogue is monotonous. There is an attempt to make everything very serious and very plot-oriented. Even in Batman movies, where it's all serious and people complain it's too dark...there are witty, comedic lines between Alfred, Fox and Bruce that have nothing to do with Bruce's inner demons or the threat or anything serious...it's just light. The clip posted above with Selina and Bruce ends with some humour. If you skip on this light chatter, you get a monotonous movie. Humour or light dialogue in serious comic book movies is used to separate the serious from the "not so serious". This makes the serious feel even more serious, when the time is right. If everything is serious, then nothing is really elevated into a memorable level of seriousness. The dialogue needed some redrafting in my opinion. 

Please note, I am not calling out for a romantic comedy...I wanted a really serious movie with high stakes. But even the most serious of movies, needs something light to engage the audience. This is a superhero movie after-all not a drama for the Oscars. 

Supporting Characters and Relationships:

Other than Jor El, Lois and Faora, the supporting characters in this movie are underdeveloped. More importantly, the relationships are underdeveloped. We are rushed through the relationship development between Lois and Clark, which ends with a very awkward kiss. For the approach they took, it would've been better to leave that for the sequel. We are rush through the relationship between Clark and his father, where we only get to see the protective side of Pa Kent and not the supportive, nurturing father that Pa Kent should be. We get very little of Perry White and even less of Jenny Olsen. Then we are expected to really care for the near death situation they face in the movie's climax. This comes off as a bit forced, because of the underdevelopment that takes place. Nevertheless, the scene is still powerful. 

To conclude, it is safe to say I expected a lot more from this movie. However, there are several redeeming qualities in this movie that overshadow the frustrating aspects. Man of Steel is a successful reboot of the Superman character, placing him in the heart of a realistic world and portraying the difficulties of being an alien with such incredible power. Zack Snyder created a heart pounding action movie with Superman, which is what fans of the character have been wanting for over a decade. In doing so, there is a feeling that he over-compensates for the lack of such action in Superman Returns. The reception to this will vary according to the different tastes and expectations of the audience. There are also a few controversial moments, such as Superman snapping Zod's neck to defeat him, which may irritate a few fans. These things did not bother me at all. For me, resolving the pacing issues and improving the dialogue solves about eighty percent of the problems I had with this movie. Furthermore, it brings hope for a possible Justice League franchise, as Snyder and Goyer have left several Easter Eggs for fans in hope of seeing all these fantastic heroes on screen. *Hint: Keep an eye on the satellites. 

Lastly, I want to say that I am looking forward to the sequel. I want them to focus on the characters a lot more and really build the hero. After the mess left in the final battle  between Zod and Superman, Lex Luthor would be a great villain to pick up the pieces and really enforce his hatred towards Superman. 

Rating: 7/10