Review of Man of Steel (2013) by Barney O — 20 Mar 2016

WHAT I LIKED: What I liked about this movie is the decisions they make regarding Superman's actions and character. Whilst it wasn't explained as well as it could have been, Superman is protrayed in a more timely way than previous incarnations, getting you to truly understand Clarke for the first time. This is largely thanks to Nolan's writing, but also Cavill's perfect performance.

What's more the first half of this movie is pretty enjoyable, Snyder taking some time to peg the characters well, and establish a tone fairly nicely with the use of flashbacks.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Yes the first half is good, but it does take along while to get going, and when it does - sadly it's pretty awful. If you thought elements of the first half were far-fetched, you haven't seen anything yet. From here on, the film is a mess of CGI, aliens and bizarre rubbish that will stop you caring even an ounce. A lack of emotion, grittiness and any sort of sense, the whole last hour and a quarter of this film is on such a huge scale, but with no real gravitas and just makes you feel kind of empty and bored. Yes behind all that is a good well thought-out story. It's just executed very very poorly indeed.

VERDICT: A good film for the first bit, then pretty terrible after that. 'Man of Steel' establishes characters well, but all the good stuff is glossed over by shiny effects and constant action with little gravitas at all.