A Review of “Man of Steel (2013)”

 

In anticipation of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, I decided to rewatch Zack’s previous two DCEU entries. I remember watching this in theatres in 2013 and loving it despite all the criticism when it came out but 9 years have passed and I wondered if I would still have the same feeling after watching it again? The premise is “With the imminent destruction of Krypton, their home planet, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife seek to preserve their race by sending their infant son to Earth. The child’s spacecraft lands at the farm of Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) Kent, who name him Clark and raise him as their son. Though his extraordinary abilities have led to the adult Clark (Henry Cavill) living on the fringe of society, he finds he must become a hero to save those he loves from a dire threat”. So is it still as great as I remembered it?

Firstly, the casting of Henry Cavill was a perfect choice. He perfectly embodies all the qualities that I expect from a Clark Kent and a Superman. He is incredibly charming in the role and it is clear he is enjoying it as well. Amy Adams as Lois Lane is also excellent casting as she captures the smart, feisty yet brave nature of the character. Michael Shannon as Zod is another great casting as he projects the malice and determination that the character contains in the story. There are also some other great casting for supporting characters like Kevin Costner for Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Antje Traue as Faora-Ul (who is surprisingly better than I remembered), Christopher Meloni as Col. Nathan Hardy and Russell Crowe as Jor-El. All of them give a good performance for their respective roles as well.

One thing I think that Zack does well is the visuals. There is some great cinematography by Amir Mokri and some gorgeous shots. The action scenes are “visually” pleasing to look at and honestly Superman punching someone has never looked so great. The Smallville action scene is still one of the best Superman action scenes I have ever seen. I also really loved how they changed Krypton by making it feel like a completely different world with its own rules and ecosystem instead of just being a place of giant Crystals. Hans Zimmer score for Man of Steel is phenomenal with its use of choir, drums, trumpets, violins and piano. It captures the essence of what makes Superman great. It’s triumphant, hopeful and inspiring that makes every scene feel epic.

The story works fine but because it’s an origin story it, unfortunately, suffers from the glaring slow burn of the first half where it’s just setting everything up. Due to that, there is a lack of exciting things happening post-Krypton destruction for quite a while. I also found that it was difficult to connect with much of these characters as most of them do feel one-note and lacking in any depth or optimism. Even Superman feels kind of bland as a character as there isn’t much of an arc for him. I also found the romance between Superman and Lois very weak. The movie doesn’t have a lot of intimate moments between the two so when they end up kissing near the end, in front of Lois’s boss as well, it comes across as awkward and unearned. The third act goes into generic territory with the flashy beam in the sky and end of the world stuff that you see in many blockbusters.

I also disagree with some choices Zack made, for example, the handling of Jonathan Kent’s death. His death in Christopher Reeve’s movie was from a heart attack and that showed that despite all of Superman’s power, he can’t save everyone and to me, that is a really important lesson for his character. In this movie, he dies from a tornado that Superman could have easily saved him from and it just doesn’t hit the same way as the Christopher Reeve version. Plus it looks really silly in my opinion.  My big issue is that the final fight scene between Superman and Zod is not as great as the Smallville fight. In Smallville, Superman is punching people but also saving people which is what I expect from Superman. However, the final fight scene has him punching people through buildings without any thought instead of attempting to take the fight outside of Metropolis. Although he kind of did by taking it into space then they went crashing back into Metropolis and caused even more damage which I still find odd to this day. The controversial neck snap is honestly something I have no issue with. It’s an emotional moment for the character and is why he will have a no-kill rule in the future. However, the impact of the moment doesn’t last enough to convey the importance of the scene as a minute later Superman is all fine and crashing down expensive satellites for a funny moment.

Overall, I still enjoy it even after rewatching but I am more aware of the flaws. I think it has stunning action, a beautiful score and gorgeous visuals but the writing needs a lot of work and that is why I have a big love and hate feeling towards Zack Snyder. Man of Steel is not as terrible as people gave the movie when it came out but it is still far away from the perfect Superman movie. Hopefully, Henry Cavill gets a second chance at another solo outing.