MAN OF STEEL - The Almost Triumphant Return of the Big Blue Boyscout (Review)

Man of Steel

Superhero/Sci-Fi, 2013
2 hours 23 minutes
Written by David S. Goyer
Directed by Zack Snyder

Starring
Henry Cavill
Amy Adams
Michael Shannon
Russell Crowe
Kevin Costner
Diane Lane
Adtje Traue
Laurence Fishburne


"You think your son is safe? I will find him."


As Tracey Jordan once said, "Nah-uh. Superman does good. You doing well. You need to study your grammar, son."
This basically sums up my feelings about Man of Steel. Superman finally has made his big rebooted return to the big screen, but... it's just good. Great? Almost. It was actually close to being amazing, but it just needed a few structural changes and it would have been honestly amazing.
Let's get the bad out of the way. It really comes down to structure. The movie begins on a strong note with the destruction of Krypton, just like every Superman origin story. Then we go onto his Smallville days and then stuff happens in Metropolis and etc etc. During this time we learn about General Zod and what his beef with Earth is and the Phantom Zone is there and holy shit, so much stuff happens that it gets kind of jumbled, except not really. Everything just happens so fast! It isn't hard to keep up, but because of this set up for a MASSIVE action scene (like 3 different ones that all happen at pretty much all at once) at the end of the movie, you lose what's important: the identity crisis. And isn't that what Superman is all about? Or at least a lot of what he's about. It's not that the emotional center isn't there, because it is, but it just doesn't hit the high that it should or could have. It's also very serious. Way more than I expected. I figured that they might throw in some funny bits,
Also there are so many explosions that it would make Michael Bay jealous.

So it sounds like a major problem, and it kind of is. But let's get to the good stuff.
This is the definition of a summer blockbuster. Several huge set-piece battles are choreographed like it was right out of a fucking comic book. The production design is TOP NOTCH. Costumes, sets, visual effects, and that fucking cape (which is all CGI, by the way) are beautiful. Kryptonian tech is cool and impressive as hell and the planet itself is beautiful. And who can ignore the amazing score by Hans Zimmer?
The supporting cast is very strong. Michael Shannon is excellent as General Zod, and Russell Crowe is great as Jor-El. Kevin Coster was good, but I wanted to see more of his character. Amy Adams was spot-on as Lois Lane. But how was Big Blue himself? Good. He was good. He didn't do a ton other than fight, but when he was really acting, it was good. Not great or impressive, but good.

As a whole, I was entertained. Sure, it lacked what I was really looking for, but I was entertained for a lot of it. And in the end I think that's what matters. It also lays an EXCELLENT groundwork for sequels, for which I would drop Snyder as director but keep Goyer on writing duties. Just my opinion. I'm not a big Snyder fan, and I hoped that he would do better in this situation, but alas we'll just have to wait for something better.

It's not the Superman movie we deserve, but it's the one we need right now.
Why? Because the sequels will take on that responsibility. As for JLA or a teamup with Batman... we'll see for now.

7.5/10