Man of Steel 2013 Movie Review

Ah, Man of Steel. It’s about time someone posted a review on the Simpleton, eh? But because the movie isn’t even out of theaters yet, I’d be a bad guy if I didn’t warn you that there’s going to be slight spoilers, so stop reading if you want to keep the movie a secret until you watch it.

Writing a review alone to a character that everyone knows so well and has been done over so many times is tricky, so I can only imagine the level of difficulty it was to actually piece the script together for this movie. Do we keep this? Do we scrap this? What can we do that will piss fan boys off the LEAST?

To be fair, the movie had many more plot holes than I have fingers, but that’s an entirely different article. In fact, the movie even had many more events that would piss off classic Superman fans than I can count on my fingers as well, but that’s also an entirely different article. So take this review for what it is worth before the Simpleton is flooded with Superman reviews, opinions, and gossip.

I want to take this time to review the movie itself, disregarding all that previous mumbo jumbo… at least for now.

The tone of the movie definitely highlighted what Superman is all about: hope. The writers of the movie went to great lengths to have the audience take it for its dramatic value. There was nothing “Tony Stark” about it. The problem we face, though, is that they didn’t want to turn the Man of Steel completely into The Dark Knight, and thus the humor they did add seemed hopelessly forced. I felt the movie theater audience shudder in awkwardness as Lois Lane made a joke after her lips just left Superman’s and General Zod (Michael Shannon) destroyed the city of Metropolis. That wasn’t the only joke, though, but none of them hit home the way they wanted to. The movie shouldn’t have been humorous, and believe me – it wasn’t.

One thing that matched the dark tone of Man of Steel was the gloomy lighting. Even in sunny farm scenes the atmosphere appeared unrealistically dark, but that didn’t bother me nearly as much as the overexposed lens flares, especially in the outer space scenes. Some parts were like a friggin’ video game.

And while I am complaining, the ending fight scene dragged on for way too long. Sure, General Zod came from Krypton and was essentially Superman’s equal – thus disserving a huge battle, but I’ve never actually gotten bored in a huge fight scene. About half way through it seemed over, but ruthless Zod obviously wasn’t finished until his neck was snapped twenty minutes later. The resolution wrapped up the movie in a good five minutes though, so it made up for the dragging fight scene a little bit.

But don’t get me wrong – all of the essential Superman elements were there. A dark villain posed as a strong match for our full-of-hope protagonist takes place, as long as the farm, the Daily Planet, and of course, Supe’s love interest, played by Amy Adams.

Adams did an adequate job in her portrayal of Lois Lane. The problem, for me, was in the writing. Director Zach Snyder and writer David S. Goyer’s Lois Lane seemed incredibly lacking. We never really get to know who her character is, and after the brief moments her personality shines, the next moments are filled with shining contradictions. Don’t know what I am talking about? We are introduced to Lois proving dominance to a US military general when on a research trip for the Daily Planet, yet a minute later, once they give her a dorm to stay in, she wonders where she can “tinkle.” See what I mean? “Print it or I walk,” she demands to her boss at the Daily Planet, yet she spends the rest of the movie swooning like a ditzy girl over the man in blue and red. Complex or underdeveloped? That is the question.

Then, of course, there is the Man of Steel himself, Mr. Henry Cavill. He impressed me immensely in the movie, more than I thought he would, as Superman. Not only did he rock the leader/captain of hope hero vibe as Superman should, but he played the down-to-Earth American farm boy very believably. Did I mention he’s British? Not that it really matters, but I’d like to point out that most of the American-made Supers on the big screen right now are played by British actors in fake accents: Batman, Spiderman, Loki, and now Superman, but that’s ANOTHER article. I digress.

Before I get even more off-topic, I did enjoy the film. I hope they dive deeper into Superman’s world in a sequel, and if a Justice League movie is in the picture, I would enjoy seeing Cavill’s version of the Man of Steel in it.

The movie gets 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Comments

[Jim Hyde]

What I didn't likew, nad I quite enjoyed the spectacle was the pseudo relgious, I'm sending my only naturally begotten son to save the woreld, not to mwention I forgot to lock up the devil/satan/lucifer/zod tight enough. Plus as a preuuel far too many people now know Clark Kent's identity, so the next episode will have to be Aa blood bath of the innocents, but that might retireve some of the loast humour