Review of Man of Steel (2013) by Charlie P — 29 Mar 2018

On the doomed planet of Krypton, Lead scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara (Ayelet Zurer) send their baby son Kal-El to Earth implanted with the DNA of thier race in the hope that the knowledge within will help him to save that planet. Years later however, when Jor-El's embittered former ally, General Zod (Michael Shannon) arrives with an army of surviving Kryptonians to claim his son, Kal-El (Henry Cavill) must decide whether or not to stand with his race, or with his adopted home....

The DC Extended Universe has been going so through so much numerous ups and downs in it's four year existance with it's first few films such as Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad being regarded as some of DC's most embarassing failures, before making a giant leap in quality with 2017's wonderful Wonder Woman film, that's it's easy to forget it's very beginnings in 2013, just a year after Christopher Nolan wrapped up The Dark Knight trilogy, with Zack Snyder's flawed, yet interesting reimagining of Superman's origins.

Although the dark colour scheme, overuse of Michael Bay style CGI explosions and lack of character development for characters such as Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) holds Man of Steel back from coming close to what Nolan brought to the Caped Crusader, one does have to admire Synder and screenwriter David S. Goyer for taking a few more risks with retelling Superman's origins such as the non-chronological flashbacks and having Lois discover Superman's identity before he becomes Clark Kent and the more interesting worldbuilding for Krypton itself and Zod's more understandable motivations for restoring the doomed planet in the first place.

Henry Cavill and Amy Adams, despite their underwritten roles, do a good job as Superman and Lois, Michael Shannon, while being a bit over-the-top at times does well as a more conflicted Zod, while both Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe steal the show as Superman's two fathers, with the former in particular getting some of the best moments and although she doesn't play a large role in the overall story, Antje Traue does manage to leave an memorable impact in the role of Zod's female sub-commander, Faora in terms of action scenes and intimidation.

Overall, Man of Steel may at times, feel like a Diet-Batman Begins, but the acting, the worldbuilding and Hans Zimmer's fantastic score, makes it a mostly acceptable debut for DC's attempt to compete with the house that Stark built.