Saturday, June 15, 2013

Man of Steel Review



There's something inherently fun about Superman, and despite quite a few people dismissing him because of the extent of his power, I have always found him to be incredibly interesting. That's why I've always considered him to be my second favorite superhero behind Spider-Man when people inevitably force me to rank them. Yet, although the early movies are excellent in their own right, they are clearly products of their time and never make it seem like it's awesome to be Superman. And Man of Steel definitely remedies that with ease. But whether or not I consider Man of Steel to be the best Superman movie ever is an argument that I continue to have in my head over 12 hours after leaving the theater. Hit the jump to read my review.


The movie opens on Krypton, as Lara is giving birth to her son Kal-El, with Jor-El (Russell Crowe) at her side. Following the birth, Jor-El is shown speaking to the Kryptonian council urging them to find ways to avoid the destruction of  the planet. During this discussion, General Zod (Michael Shannon) shows up, in an attempted coup, resulting in a lot of violence and Jor-El heading back to his home to make preparations to ship Kal-El off to Earth. And the entire sequence illustrates the biggest problem with the entire movie: pacing.

Synder attempts to cover so much plot in a compressed amount of time that any moments of character are quickly pushed aside to move the plot forward. The entire coup and the repercussions take about 15 minutes of screen time but are paced as such that all these complicated actions take about what seems to be an hour in movie time. It's strange and jarring and while everything has an incredible visual quality, I find myself a little taken out of the movie since the sequences are not really given time to breathe.

Following the extended sequence on Krypton (which really was the first time I've looked at Krypton as a truly "alien" world), we cut to Clark (Henry Cavill) as an adult, drifting from place to place, saving people who need saving, and trying to understand who he is. And during this time, we occasionally flashback to his time as a child, and these moments are the ones that elevate the movie to such an extent that I feel it's a tragedy that there weren't more of them. Kevin Costner in particular gives a fantastic performance as Jonathan Kent, a man whose understanding of the world around him provides for a complexity that is missing in previous live action performances of Pa Kent. He's a man that doesn't want Clark to hide forever, but understands that Clark cannot reveal himself to the world until the world is ready and that Clark is the one who will have to make a deliberate choice in that regard. And until that moment comes, he simply wants to keep Clark safe, no matter the consequences or sacrifices. If the movie had about 15 more minutes of Jonathan Kent, and a little bit more focus on that father-adopted son relationship, the movie would have been elevated to a level that it just can't quite reach under its current incarnation.

Diane Lane as Martha Kent is also an incredible choice and shines every moment she's on screen. One moment in particular when Clark is back on the farm as an adult, her mix of subtle emotions brings a much needed emotional weight in a movie that could have used a little more.

As for the rest of the cast, they all deliver satisfactory performances, starting with Amy Adams's Lois Lane, who is given little to do other than move the plot forward. Sure, she is straightforward and aggressive in pursuing her stories, and there are clearly hints at an interesting character, but she never feels fully fleshed out. Maybe in a six hour version of the movie, she would be given more to do than simply chase leads. Because walking away from this movie, you never think she's anything else other than "reporter." A great reporter, sure, but still just a reporter. And the same could be said for Perry White (Laurence Fishburn). The man clearly has gravitas in spades, but his appearance is largely superfluous and an extended action sequence near the end honestly only seems there to give him screen time. And I'd rather not even start talking about the pointlessness of who appears to be Jenny Olsen. I couldn't care less about swapping the gender of Jimmy Olsen, but at least give her something to do. In fact, I don't even know if the movie ever even confirms that's who she is.

But to swing back to the pacing issues, approximately every 45 minutes, a character provides movie stopping exposition that the audience should already be aware of. I don't need Jor-El to explain to me the attempted coup by Zod because I already saw it in the extended prologue. And as awesome as Michael Shannon is, I don't need him to explain to me what his mission is because I already understand it. With only two and a half hours of movie real estate to work with, you really shouldn't spend a significant portion of it rehashing points you've already addressed, no matter how many visual flourishes you place on top of it.

Despite all these issues, there are truly moments of brilliance. The aforementioned Smallville flashbacks. Clark honing his powers when he makes the decision to embrace his Kryptonian heritage. The scale of the battles that dominate the last 45 minutes of the movie. The final three minutes that give you a glimpse of what the future movies will look like. With so many incredible, incredible moments, it's frustrating when the movie seems to be less than the sum of its parts. And while Snyder continues to grow as a filmmaker, subtlety is simply not his strong suit. He showed this to be the case in his version of Watchmen, which was fun to watch but seemed to be missing the strength of the voice that made the book so fantastic. This lack of skill is evident here, but there's definitely improvement over his previous directorial endeavors. If he continues to evolve as a filmmaker, the Man of Steel sequel could be a masterpiece.

Above all, this movie made it seem like being Superman is cool. In none of the previous versions did I feel like Superman actually enjoyed having his powers until this movie. On "Smallville" for the most part they were a burden, and in the Reeve films, as well as Superman Returns, it was just kind of no big deal. (I actually had to come back and edit this paragraph for a passing mention of Superman Returns, since during this entire review, I completely forgot it existed. That movie sure stood the test of time.) They were the things he could do. Here, he enjoys it. He's really getting into it. He's never had to fight before, so against the trained soldiers of Zod's minions, he's at a disadvantage but he learns very quickly. Especially because he understands his own powers a lot more than they do. And Cavill plays it with ease and proves himself as a modern Superman.

The strongest part of the movie is just the visual assault that starts from minute one and seemingly never lets up throughout the duration of the film. While there were a few shoddy CG scenes where characters were obviously CG, for the most part, it was just an overwhelming onslaught of destruction that is leaps and bounds above almost any superhero movie that's come before it. Honestly, despite all the issues I had with character, the sheer spectacle is almost worth the price of admission.

When it comes down to it, and I break the movie down scene for scene, there's a lot more memorable about this movie than any other Superman movie that's come before. It addresses things that have never been addressed, it asks questions that have yet to be asked in a Superman movie, and sets up a unique universe that I honestly cannot wait to see explored in subsequent sequels. But as a whole? It's missing a consistency that, for all their corniness, the Donner films seemed to be able to grasp. That being said, I could not be happier that a Superman movie like this one exists and I'm looking forward to seeing it a few more times.

GRADE: B+

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