"Man of Steel" PG 13
Zack Snyder's reboot of the 2006 Superman Returns has nothing in common with the classic Superman and Superman 2. On a base level, yes it reboots Krypton and casts Russell Crowe in the Brandaw part as Jor El, but the newcomers among the cast never quite jell into the roles they're playing. It doesn't feel like Superman any more than Into Darkness was true to Star Trek. That said, as a action film it makes up for the lackluster 2006 movie in aces, opening with a falling Krypton among a space rebellion led by General Zod, actor Michael Shannon, and his armies. Picking up on the last son of Krypton stuff, and a page out of Chris Nolan's Batman movies, Zimmer's score makes for a riveting send off for the baby Kal El, who will become Superman. The whole back story is told in confusing flashbacks as an adult Clark Kent, in his bearded guise, falls from an oil rig, and then later from something else.
This thing would have been horrid in 3D so I saw the 2D version.
The classic films from the 70s and 80s were not heavy on special effect but had heart and soul, and this movie tried to have heart, and lots of action, and in the blender of shiny bits of action misses out because the audience is jarred from one emotional glance to a burning ship, to a house that gets attacked to some kind of army versus the bad guys battle. It is better than Returns though, which relied much too heavily on the boring moping version of his re imagined early 2000s persona from the later comics.
Snyder and Singer before him didn't get it. Superman is a boy scout. He's the American hero next to Marvel's Captain America. He's fun! Sometimes he is as dark and brooding as Zod and his two henchmen. That's not Superman. That's Batman. Nolan must have done some editing.
Apparently Zod and his ilk have escaped inrpisonment in the phantom zone and have been searching the stars looking for Kal El, even though really their finding him is kind of iffy. They arrive at Earth with an ultimatum and plan to use a terra forming machine called a 'world engine' to reformat the planet into a new Krypton, taking on Lex's plan from the 2006 movie to say, to the nth degree.
Singer harkened to Richard Donner's movies but Snyder chose to amp them up so much it's hard to follow. Also he gets to blast half of Kansas and later New York, or Metropolis, in a mega battle, channeling post 9/11 fears in an obvious clash of falling buildings and super punches and tosses. Yes he does have a knack for laying on the action, but the parts where there is supposed to be character seem washed out.
Compared to Returns from 2006 this is a flawed but enjoyable master work. It is better than Superman 3 (the Pryor one) and way better than Superman 4 (the Nuclear Man one). However, heavy CGI can't make up for the lacking soul in this one, even if Superman holds the key to Krypton, and he can fight Zod in the end.
The idea of the Kyrpton atmosphere being different from Earth is interesting. They have some very cool ideas like that. And tossing in the World Engine was an interesting twist, although you'd expect Zod to have a super weapon, otherwise there isn't a story, as modern super movies have to do that.
When we last saw Zod on film it was 1981 and his version was the machine of doom, and he didn't need a big hulking machine thing. Kryptonians are stronger because of the Sun being yellow. The new Zod is a good actor and warms to the part, and almost channels the original, but not quite. (Like Khan in Into Darkness, he isn't quite right).
Superman has to be fun. The later comics were darker so it's a trend, but really he should be fun. Yes I know there was a generation of stuff before the 1970s movies. I just wasn't born yet. The movie was awesome when it came out in 1978. This is merely a new version with a lot of action. It's better than the 5th movie, but not perfect.
I know some critics have shredded it, but it's not that bad. It gets 3 stars for trying at least.
Review by Adam Browne
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