Review of Man of Steel (2013) by Michael S — 27 Mar 2016

Man of Steel is a disjointed, tonally confused mess of a movie that effectively tramples just about everything that made this character so beloved, iconic and enduring. It devotes time to all the wrong things, and yet it is worth watching if just for the sake of seeing Supes in action like never before.

It's a frustrating time to be a movie fan. We've had to endure the most engorged set of reboots in the history of cinema in which we are simply waiting and hoping for our beloved fictional characters to get back to some resemblance of their former selves. We suffered through all the pathetic tropes of those characters starting again, and stopping again, disrespectfully poo-pooing classic elements, and being mishandled and reshaped into Summer Blockbusters because according to Hollywood, niche markets are dead and irrelevant. All the while we chant, "the next one will be better, just wait! " Literally billions of dollars have been spent in the last decade telling audiences what they already know, effectively squandering what little runtime is available for us as movie goers to experience these characters. Man of Steel is unfortunately no exception to this rule, rather in its context might be the worst reboot offender yet.

There is an old saying in drama class that goes, "Don't tell me, show me." It's a golden rule in cinematic story telling. Many movies this year have been so exposition heavy that you find yourself tuning out, effectively having predicted the entire outcome of the movie before anything really starts movin and shakin. The worst offenders in recent memory are Tom Cruise's lackluster Oblivion, and the mediocre vanity project After Earth starring Will Smith and co. As Zack Snyder's Man of Steel began to roll, I found myself wondering just how much Krypton backdrop I really needed as a comic book fan. In fact, as the entire theater began to shift in their chairs and grow increasingly restless, I realized that this was far too much for anybody. Nearly an hour of setup work is done in this film, which on its own was beautiful, but in this movie's context is mostly just a frustrating exercise in patience for all viewing. As I began to consider my watch as a pie chart, I watched the slice of "Time Devoted to characters of relevance to the audience" grow smaller and smaller against the lengthy runtime. Considering the bulk of the audience sat through ten seasons of Smallville, this was arguably a very poor pacing choice. Worse yet was the complete reiteration of these events later in the movie by a holographic Jor El in the now, Spaceship of Solitude. Yes, you read that right. It's all the wrong time devoted to all the wrong things. I pose the question, who doesn't actually have a serviceable grasp on Superman's origin story enough to dive into a fresh story? Do reboots always have to be origin stories? Ask your mom, ask your sister, heck, as your doctor, "Where is Superman from?" "What's his weakness?".

Zack Snyder's poor grasp of dialogue, character development and pacing is prevalent right out of the gate as we see great actors struggle to add depth to the rushed scenes. Action scenes get all the time in the world, yet anytime anyone opens their mouth, it's like they are only allowed to speak in haiku. It's literally as if someone imposed a word limit in the script. Oh sure we'll destroy a CGI city for half an hour, but heaven forbid thatt someone spouts off a paragraph!

Here's the curious paradox in this movie: on the one hand, this Superman movie had to appeal to everyone and their dog to make Billions and position DC to be a future contender against Marvel properties. But on the other hand, there are a slew of comic book aficionados out there who would cite the reference of every element in this new movie. So what does Zack do? He throws this potpourri of change at us, where audiences are confused, bewildered and frustrated by the smashing of our notions. Superman's biological father played by the very talented Russell Crowe is now a shoot em up acrobat who gets around on a winged dragonfly Avatar beast while being chased by Star Fighters. Superman's moral compass is explored in the most illogical, easily avoidable outcome scenario you can imagine, Jimmy Olson is now a woman, Martha Kent is made irrelevant, Pa Kent's inevitable finality literally made people around me giggle at the sheer schlock of the setup. And all of this is of course dead serious. Citing popular buzz words like "dark" and "gritty", gone are the days of crystal palaces, quiet extended moments of character development, red underwear, redundant S logos, smiles, smart and confident one-liners, moral lessons, and worst of all, fun. No fun. It was Superman through "The Dark Knight Filter" and it just didn't work. Slice it anyway you want, but this movie didn't quite work 100% for anyone. It rode the fence the entire time and ended with us saying, "Yup, that's who this character is, we all knew this. Can we have a story now, please?" So similar is the ending of films like Skyfall or Spiderman or Star Trek or any Marvel Property. Are you feelin me on this trend?

Man of Steel looks great except for some brutal shakey cam on the big screen, and washed out colors here and there, the soundtrack is fantastic, some strange fuzzy dialog issues here and there, and the cast is strong.

It's up to you what version of Superman you want in your life, but this movie falls far short of my expectations.