Dir. By Zack Snyder
Starring Henry Cavill and
Michael Shannon
I am a huge DC Comics fan. Of that I cannot deny. Naturally,
upon hearing of the existence of a new Superman film that was being produced by
the genius behind the hugely successful Dark Knight trilogy, Christopher Nolan,
I couldn’t help but feel somewhat overwhelmed by my beaming hope for a good
Superman film. This hope was met with a positive, albeit slightly disappointing
take on the world’s greatest purveyor of “Truth, justice and the American way.”
What struck me from the beginning of Man of Steel was the
sheer beauty of the film’s visuals that jump right out of the screen
(surprisingly well assisted by what I normally viewed as the gimmick of 3D
cinematography), as the camera pans chaotically across the scene of two
rivalling Kryptonian factions at war, all guns blazing in front of an orange
sky the likes of which even Bespin’s Cloud City couldn’t rival. The sense of
scale that this powerful first act conveyed through not only the stunning work
of the visual effects department, but also through the intricacies of the
character's costumes (in particular the battle armour of Russell Crowe’s and
Michael Shannon’s Jor-El and General Zod respectively) and the instantly
recognisable musical mastery of Hans Zimmer’s epic score (quite possibly my
favourite element of the entire film) was quite spectacular to say the least.
Sadly however, this level of majesty was just too much for
quite a large section of the rest of the film to compete with. Although the
origins of the character were well illustrated through a number of cleverly
placed flashback sequences, featuring the surprisingly powerful work of Kevin
Costner as Jonathan Kent, I was left with the feeling that some of these
sequences were included to indulge in the filmmakers big named assets as much
as possible. These sequences, along with numerous others, all contributed to
constructing a film of a length that was simply far too long for what it had to
offer. Had it not been for the fantastic cast that were involved in the film, I
feel my patience would have been thinned far further than it was in the end.
The cast were one the best parts of Man of Steel, with not a
single actor missing a trick in their performances, with one of my favourite
being Laurence Fishburne playing the editor of the Daily Planet newspaper. It
is in this area that MOS excels. Crowe delivers a solid performance as Jor-El,
Cavill’s on-screen ‘real’ father from Krypton, managing to work well in scenes
with the young actor whose performance as Superman was a pleasant surprise for
me, whilst also managing to make the first act of the film as good as it is as
he checks off nearly every box in the Sci-Fi checklist in a matter of about 20
minutes. However, I feel that the actor who shined most out of the entire cast
has to be Michael Shannon. His performance as Zod not only captured the
character's violent demeanor perfectly, but also allowed for some of the film’s
best exchanges of dialogue. His intelligent voice and dominating face made for
a performance that I feel is one of the best recent super villain performances
around.
The final act is, despite the shortcomings of the films
previous sections (minus the first 20), fantastic. The fight scenes are
fantastically choreographed with plenty of flying punches and decimated
buildings courtesy of every character wearing spandex or battle armour. The CGI
does become somewhat tedious at times, but due to the nature of the character
it can be ignored as being somewhat necessary, if not slightly self-indulgent
on Snyder’s part. It also covers one of the most important parts of the
Superman mythos of all time, including a cry of pain that is synonymous with
Superman’s past. I’ll let you find that one out yourself. During this final
act, you can’t help but ignore the film’s flaws and just sit back and let the über
destruction and super punches unfold in front of you.
Verdict:
Man of Steel is what it is. Whilst not quite the Batman
Begins that everyone hoped for, it still stands tall on its two spandex clad
ham hock legs and manages to stake a successful claim to a position within the
league of successful superhero films, which is more than can be said for its
other DC counterpart, Green Lantern.
Although not the best superhero film, it could well be the best Superman film. It
certainly makes a Man of Steel 2 seem like a very probable and very exciting
prospect.
Score:
7 out of 10
-Jamie
Copyright Jamie King 2013, All Rights Reserved, permissions may be granted by request.
