Review: Man Of Steel
It has been a while since I posted a review here, mostly because no one really reads LJ anymore, but I'd thought I'd at least get my thoughts out again.
Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) has been mostly wandering the US incognito, helping out wherever he can, but keeping a low profile because his adoptive father (Kevin Cosner) drilled it into him that revealing himself could have dire consequences. He is eventually found out by Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who tracks him down, but eventually agrees to keep his secret. But the situation changes when General Zod (Michael Shannon) shows up and demands that the last son of Krypton show himself. It happens that Jor-El (Russell Crowe) hid the entire genetic codex of the Krypton race in his son's body. It is up to Clark to come to terms with his alien past and grow into the person he wants to be.
Say what you will with this Superman movie, Zack Snyder doesn't make the mistake that Bryan Singer made with "Superman Returns" in trying to tie into the past. It also isn't "The Amazing Spider-Man" where we feel like we are going over the same tired ground building up a character we already know. He takes a different approach here in making a far more cautious Clark, one who isn't confident in himself because of the way he was raised. It takes an event where Clark has no choice but to present himself to the world to get him to come out. Personally, I think this is an approach that actually works well and gives us a different take on a popular super hero.
That being said, when it comes to the action, it struggles a bit, partially because of this origin. Since Clark doesn't really have strong connections to anyone outside of his mother, there is a lot of forced stuff to keep some of the human characters in the film. Lois' usefulness in the plot really ends when she's used to draw him out, but they seem to work hard to try to keep her in the film, even when it doesn't make sense other than plot convenience. It also doesn't help that Zod comes off a bit heavy-handed and unfocused. You'd like to see that the choice Supes has to make to be a tough one, but Zod makes it easy. The second half just didn't come together the way I would have wanted it to.
As a note, I'm also surprised Russell Crowe is in as much of this movie as he is, considering he's been long dead for most of it. I guess the filmmakers wanted to get his money's worth out of him.
Overall, I think there is enough here worth seeing, even with various niggling issues I have with the film. Given I'm not the biggest Superman fan in the world, this is probably high praise.
Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) has been mostly wandering the US incognito, helping out wherever he can, but keeping a low profile because his adoptive father (Kevin Cosner) drilled it into him that revealing himself could have dire consequences. He is eventually found out by Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who tracks him down, but eventually agrees to keep his secret. But the situation changes when General Zod (Michael Shannon) shows up and demands that the last son of Krypton show himself. It happens that Jor-El (Russell Crowe) hid the entire genetic codex of the Krypton race in his son's body. It is up to Clark to come to terms with his alien past and grow into the person he wants to be.
Say what you will with this Superman movie, Zack Snyder doesn't make the mistake that Bryan Singer made with "Superman Returns" in trying to tie into the past. It also isn't "The Amazing Spider-Man" where we feel like we are going over the same tired ground building up a character we already know. He takes a different approach here in making a far more cautious Clark, one who isn't confident in himself because of the way he was raised. It takes an event where Clark has no choice but to present himself to the world to get him to come out. Personally, I think this is an approach that actually works well and gives us a different take on a popular super hero.
That being said, when it comes to the action, it struggles a bit, partially because of this origin. Since Clark doesn't really have strong connections to anyone outside of his mother, there is a lot of forced stuff to keep some of the human characters in the film. Lois' usefulness in the plot really ends when she's used to draw him out, but they seem to work hard to try to keep her in the film, even when it doesn't make sense other than plot convenience. It also doesn't help that Zod comes off a bit heavy-handed and unfocused. You'd like to see that the choice Supes has to make to be a tough one, but Zod makes it easy. The second half just didn't come together the way I would have wanted it to.
As a note, I'm also surprised Russell Crowe is in as much of this movie as he is, considering he's been long dead for most of it. I guess the filmmakers wanted to get his money's worth out of him.
Overall, I think there is enough here worth seeing, even with various niggling issues I have with the film. Given I'm not the biggest Superman fan in the world, this is probably high praise.