Film Review- "Man of Steel" 2013

Film Review- "Man of Steel" 2013
Directed By- Zach Snyder
Running Time- 148 mins
Film Rating- PG-13

"Man of Steel" does the same thing to the Superman franchise as Christopher Nolan's "Batman" trilogy did to the Batman franchise. It made it darker, more realistic, more organic, more complex, more emotional and a better story in every way except for that they aren't as fun. But for me that means they aren't as campy either.
When I left the theater after seeing this movie I thought I had seen the best movie I had seen all year up to this point. When I got home and began reading what other people thought of the movie however I was surprised that not as many people shared my opinion of this movie as I anticipated. Fortunately the negative crticism has not changed my opinion in the slightest. I do agree however that the movie has its flaws. But its major flaw is the same flaw that every recent action movie- especially superhero movie- has- too much collateral damage! There are so many buildings crashed into and vechiles blown up and pavement damaged that by the end of all the action sequences it looked the same as if every building in Manhattan had been destroyed. But that is more a criticism of all action movies rather than just this one. It's as if there is a challenge among each new action/superhero flick to cause more on-screen property damage than the last one and I'm sure the next one will have one destruction than this one.
There are some other flaws too. Like the idea of infusing Kal-El's infant body with a genetic codex. So inside Superman's cells is the ability to repopulate the Kryptonian race. The change in story is the film's way of putting the fate of both species- human and Kryptonian in Kal-El's hands. Upon reflection I feel it clashes with the rest of the movie's attempt to be plausible.  So does the terraforming world engine but I'll make an allowance for it seeing that every superhero movie needs some implausible elements.
What I loved about this movie was everything else. True not everyone likes dark, heavy dramas, but I do and this one has that in spades. The tone of the movie is serious and is often touching. Director Zach Snyder's Superman, played by Henry Cavill, is more "human" than any other version of the character done before. The other versions of the story has Superman comicly mocking the human race with his Clark Kent persona all the while knowing how much better he is than everyone else underneath. This movie's hero has less of a dual identity than any others and for most of this movie it is actually Clark Kent who hides, running away after every super-human life-saving deed to avoid the discovery of his powers.
I thought the plot unfolded as realistically and organically as possible. The flashbacks to Clark's sad childhood do so much more than just round out the origin story, those scenes provide the movie's biggest emotional punches. Diane Lane plays Martha Kent, Clark's Earth mother as good as anyone could have and Kevin Costner lends his acting prowess to the movie as Jonathan Kent, Clark's Earth father. Costner's scenes were so touching and important I felt like crying during each one- his best film work in years. Those scenes change the Superman story from a superhero movie to an alien-trapped-Earth movie which as a drama is more interesting.
Clark's true identity is eventually found out by Louis Lane, played by Amy Adams. In recent years Adam's has established herself as a top-notch actress and she gives another fine turn as the tenacious reporter. Although not as plucky or sarcastic as Margot Kidder, Adams is warm yet at the same time is a strong presence on screen. And I like how the affection between her and Kal-El grows throughout the film instead of the love-at-first-sight of the old versions.
Instead of Lex Luther, Snyder skips ahead to part II and selected General Zod, played by the scary Michael Shannon, to be this film's villian. Shannon has a smoldering anger to Zod, as he does in most of his films and the motives behind the villian's actions a far more noble than the, "I should rule the world" ambitions of the 1980's Zod.
The other great performance in the film is given by Russel Crowe, who plays Kal-El's father Jor-El. Jor-El despite dying very early on in the picture has just as much screen time as anyone in the movie. He appears to Kal-El through hologram images of his preserved consciousness. The complicated nature of a preserved consciousness aside, Crowe's performance is liken to Zeus telling Hercules how he is more than just a man. Jor-El is inspiring to Kal-El and provides him with the knowledge of his origins and true extent of his abilities and an understanding of why he was sent away from Krypton as well as making him understand the gravity of his importance to the future history of mankind.


Film Grade- A