Now, now, now, how should I say this. I guess since I am a big fan of honesty, which has led to a lot of arguments in plenty of occasions, I could only come out and say the truth, otherwise I'd be a hypocrite. Before saying anything related to the film though, I would like to take the time and admit that the feelings I first had about Man of Steel after I walked out of the theatre are much more 'sensible' now and I believe I have a better opinion to provide you with today than I did two nights ago. This is because when I Walked out of the screening, I was filled with emotions, and almost none of them were what the creators of the film would wish an audience member to experience.
Saying the same thing... But different.
The golden rule of screenwriting, which is saying the same thing but different(of course that same thing being the structure of the story and not the story itself), also applies to reboots, but in this case the same thing you need to express differently IS the story, and not only its structure. This is obvious from the beginning of the film where we get to see Krypton in its last days{I suppose its days since there is a lot of exposition in the movie's introduction sequence and they cram everything in there and place it one after the other, having you fully unaware of how much time is passing. As far as we are concerned, it could be either one day or a whole week} and the birth of Kal-El, the bound to be Superhero of our planet, Earth.
Russel Crowe plays a strong Jor-El who has a personality and character of his own, unlike Marlon Brando's version who was a character simply walking about North Pole... Krypton I mean. In this movie Jor-El is, quite frankly, a bad-ass who gets things done, his work not simply being putting his son onto a space craft and rocketing him to the stars with a set course to Earth.
We get to see the conflict of Krypton and the military uprising governed by General Zod, played by Michael Shannon. Zod decides the higher council is to blame, and it is, for the destruction of krypton and their stubbornness not to evacuate the planet in time, leading to their race's tragic end. Zod begins by taking over the ruling of their nation, but his plans of him taking the 'codex' into his possession, an artefact which literally contains all the DNA of the civilisation of Krypton, are ruined when Jor-El steals it and soon after downloads it to the space craft his son will be travelling in.
I have to admit from the first frame of the movie and for the whole 'intro', the experience is both stunning and epic. You get the right amount of drama, action and even character development in the shortest of running time, and it truly delivers.
Kal-El fights Zod on Earth, Zack Snyder fights the script in the arena of Story-Telling.
Perhaps a somewhat cheesy title, but it is absolutely true and it conveys in the best way possible the biggest fault and issue with this movie. Zack Snyder struggles to tell the story and you can clearly tell this when you realise at some point throughout the movie that all you do is seeing one image after the other, and those images rarely form an emotional bond with each other. It was my biggest fear knowing this was the case with the director's earlier movie, Sucker Punch, and although I was hoping this wouldn't be the case with this film, even to the point I somewhat made myself believe this time around would be different, the same error came to be once again.
Here, I must take part of the blame from Zack Snyder and gladly share it with David S. Goyer, who although can be a good member of a writing team to provide good ideas and perhaps early drafts for a story, he does not seem a person capable of writing a strong script by himself. From such film as The Unborn and Blade Trinity, which he both directed and fully wrote the script for, you can tell not only he is not the best of directors(but neither one of the worse by any way) but he is also lacking a great deal when it comes to screenwriting.
Perhaps I shouldn't be the one to talk since the scripts I am writing may be crap, yet who should talk about it? Everyone should of course, we are all film-goers and film-lovers here, and we all have the right to judge. I have nothing against David S. Goyer and can gladly admit he is great when it comes to providing concept ideas. Just look at his work in The Batman Trilogy of Christopher Nolan which he was part of! So, great member to have in your writing team, especially when it comes to Superhero films since he has great knowledge of the original material, but giving him the wheel to drive a script into its creation, might not be the best idea.
Here, I must take part of the blame from Zack Snyder and gladly share it with David S. Goyer, who although can be a good member of a writing team to provide good ideas and perhaps early drafts for a story, he does not seem a person capable of writing a strong script by himself. From such film as The Unborn and Blade Trinity, which he both directed and fully wrote the script for, you can tell not only he is not the best of directors(but neither one of the worse by any way) but he is also lacking a great deal when it comes to screenwriting.
Perhaps I shouldn't be the one to talk since the scripts I am writing may be crap, yet who should talk about it? Everyone should of course, we are all film-goers and film-lovers here, and we all have the right to judge. I have nothing against David S. Goyer and can gladly admit he is great when it comes to providing concept ideas. Just look at his work in The Batman Trilogy of Christopher Nolan which he was part of! So, great member to have in your writing team, especially when it comes to Superhero films since he has great knowledge of the original material, but giving him the wheel to drive a script into its creation, might not be the best idea.
The new Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman/Jesus Christ Figure and the supporting characters that surround him.
I believe it will not be easy to miss the symbolism that this movie 'throws' on us when it comes Superman being, well, Jesus. There is a part of the movie where Jor-El's 'consciousness' is uploaded on a spaceship's system and you have a hologram of him basically walking around knowing not only of everything going on inside the ship but also what EVERY character must do to survive the crisis fate has bestowed upon them. Superman's father, clearly, plays God in this story. At the same time and up to this point both Jor-El's consioussness and Jonathan Kent, who's played by Kevin Costner, speak to their son about how he has come from 'beyond' to save humanity. Jor-El constantly mentions he is there to save them and that he can save them all while Jonathan tries to protect him in case the world isn't ready and also states that Clark is the answer to all our questions. These are but some of the references which when combined in the film give you the symbolism mentioned above. Plus, and I do not believe this is a big spoiler, there is a scene of Superman who's about to let himself into space with Earth at the background while looking at his father with his arms spread open and his legs alined with each other as if standing on his toes. Then you see him letting go, on a crucifixion pose!
Just to clarify though, I did enjoy the symbolism and it somewhat made sense, taking into consideration what the character is capable of and what he has to go through to be everyone else's saviour. Also this time around, and this is one of the elements that actually work with this film, we get a Superman who is human more than anything else. A Clark Kent who's questions of who he is and where he comes from don't simply end with the discovery of a spaceship and a hologram of his father, making him understand everything and put on his tights to save humanity. This Clark searches his origins like all other versions of his character have done in the past, but this time when he discovers what he so longed for to know, he is not Superman! Sure, he wears the cape and he puts on the suit, but he is not Superman yet! The whole movie is centered around Kal-El becoming Superman, slowly involving throughout the movie into the man he will become tomorrow. And this is one of the things that really work for Man of Steel! Even if, sadly, this is also one of the very few things that actually work in this film.
Moving now to Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams, I must admit she is completely pointless. Not the actress, who did a very good job bringing the character to life, but the problem here is the character itself. As you see this story unravel before you, in the extremely clumsy way that it does, you can't help yourself and question the purpose of this character being on the screen. When the film was finished and me and my brother walked out of the theatre, and as we were approaching the car, I turned to him and said in my little moment of revelation "The only reason for Lois Lane to be there was to keep the story going forward!". Obviously this should be the purpose of most characters in a film, but a character SHOULD have a purpose inside the story FOR the story, and not only for the progression of it.
Other than Jor-El, who's also one of the few other highlights of the film, as he is played very enjoyably by Russel Crowe, and Jonathan Kent who is played by Kevin Costner, may I even say, also enjoyable on the big screen, the rest are very easily forgettable, including the main villain of the film. Michael Shannon is a VERY good actor, and him playing Zod was good news, and yet somehow the villain comes off so typical and he is the bad guy simply to be the bad guy. Granted, it is explained in the movie that Kryptonian's harvested their children and coded their DNA for a specific purpose within their society, such as military, worker, ruler. This is still no excuse on having General Zod being exactly that, general.
Just to clarify though, I did enjoy the symbolism and it somewhat made sense, taking into consideration what the character is capable of and what he has to go through to be everyone else's saviour. Also this time around, and this is one of the elements that actually work with this film, we get a Superman who is human more than anything else. A Clark Kent who's questions of who he is and where he comes from don't simply end with the discovery of a spaceship and a hologram of his father, making him understand everything and put on his tights to save humanity. This Clark searches his origins like all other versions of his character have done in the past, but this time when he discovers what he so longed for to know, he is not Superman! Sure, he wears the cape and he puts on the suit, but he is not Superman yet! The whole movie is centered around Kal-El becoming Superman, slowly involving throughout the movie into the man he will become tomorrow. And this is one of the things that really work for Man of Steel! Even if, sadly, this is also one of the very few things that actually work in this film.
Moving now to Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams, I must admit she is completely pointless. Not the actress, who did a very good job bringing the character to life, but the problem here is the character itself. As you see this story unravel before you, in the extremely clumsy way that it does, you can't help yourself and question the purpose of this character being on the screen. When the film was finished and me and my brother walked out of the theatre, and as we were approaching the car, I turned to him and said in my little moment of revelation "The only reason for Lois Lane to be there was to keep the story going forward!". Obviously this should be the purpose of most characters in a film, but a character SHOULD have a purpose inside the story FOR the story, and not only for the progression of it.
Other than Jor-El, who's also one of the few other highlights of the film, as he is played very enjoyably by Russel Crowe, and Jonathan Kent who is played by Kevin Costner, may I even say, also enjoyable on the big screen, the rest are very easily forgettable, including the main villain of the film. Michael Shannon is a VERY good actor, and him playing Zod was good news, and yet somehow the villain comes off so typical and he is the bad guy simply to be the bad guy. Granted, it is explained in the movie that Kryptonian's harvested their children and coded their DNA for a specific purpose within their society, such as military, worker, ruler. This is still no excuse on having General Zod being exactly that, general.
Conclusion.
Overall the film was a disappointment. The storytelling is unbearably clumsy to the point it becomes flat boring even when the most unbelievable action and destruction sequences are taking place right in front of your eyes. Parts of the story don't work and never connect with each other properly, which is first of all a big but repeated fault of Zack Snyder, but is also caused by a weakly written script by David S. Goyer. Finally, many characters are there just to be there and feel completely one dimensional. Another drawback that should be mentioned is the almost complete(with the exception of TWO light jokes throughout all three acts of the film) lack of humour. Now you might say who needs this in a Superman movie, but every well-written script and well-directed story requires some lighter moments because without them you don't get the emotions a 'film' should evoke. A movie is not only meant to have you feel one emotion, but plenty. You need to walk out of the theatre and feel excited, sad, happy, relieved for the characters and pleased or sorrowful about the outcome of the story that took place. Man of Steel is nothing but a very dark tale that misses the queues of certain emotions that it should have had us go through.
The saddest of all when it comes to this film, is that it really does have some extremely good elements and ideas, such as meaningful symbolism, a strong Jor-El and Jonathan Kent, some sequences which were very well-inspired and last but not least a Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman played by Henry Cavill who delivers as a character who at first you are not sure if you like or not, but eventually end up understanding and rooting for. That is not entirely true though, since rooting for him is difficult and perhaps almost impossible even if you wanted to, not because of the character but because of the completely confusing plot and storytelling.
I believe Man of Steel 2 is already in the making, and Zack Snyder is signed to direct while David S. Goyer is down on writing the script for it. What worries me is that Henry Cavill is not mentioned in the casting. Granted no other actor is listed either at this moment in time, it will still be an extreme disappointment if the one of the very few good things about Man of Steel is not going to return in its sequel!
Man of Steel is a 5/10
Meme Rating
Official Trailer for Man of Steel
