Superman is no longer Super

Rating: 2/10 (6 July 2013)

Man of Steel
*1/2 (out of 4)
143 mins/ 12
Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Antje Traue, Harry Lennix, Richard Schiff, Christopher Meloni, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne
Director: Zack Snyder
Plot: A young Clark Kent is forced to discover his inner-alien when members of his planet threaten to destroy Earth if he does not come to them.
JJ's Verdict: The road has been extremely rocky when it comes to Superman films. We have had the good (Superman, Superman Returns), the okay (Superman II, Superman III) and the extremely terrible (Superman IV: The Quest For Peace). To my ultimate disappointment, Man of Steel falls into the final group. The problem with Man of Steel is that although Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder have created a more realistic Superman origin story, they have sucked all the life, emotion and fun out of the Superman franchise. What is so adored about the previous films is that they have a sense of not taking themselves seriously and are just there to enjoy. You got the sense that Christopher Reeve's Superman wasn't taking it seriously either. When Christopher Nolan turned Batman darker and more realistic it wasn't really an issue. The previous films weren't particularly loved by a huge fan base and what worked with Batman Begins is that it is made realistic and believable. Superman, on the other hand, can never be realistic. A man with superpowers coming from a distant planet called Krypton can never be realistic, so however dark and grim they try to make it, it is totally unbelievable and almost laughable. Man of Steel tells the story of Clark Kent, who is actually an alien from the planet Krypton. Clark is forced to discover his alien parentage after members of his race begin to invade Earth. That, I'm afraid is the only story in a whole two hours and twenty minutes. The first hour is just about Clark discovering himself and Lois Lane discovering him. There are lots of long dialogue scenes and no action outside the opening 15 minutes. Then for the final hour we get an action overload with no time to rest or breathe. If they wanted to make an engaging and interesting film, they should have had some action, dialogue, action, dialogue etc. but instead they just tried to pack it all into one part of the film.
This action, although decent looking, seems all CGI, bar Henry Cavill's face – yes, even the cape was CGI. Gone is John Williams' charming Superman theme. Instead we have a score from Hans Zimmer, which is probably very good, but the action is so loud and noisy that I could only capture the odd change in pitch or note length. The action itself has even more problems. It is very focused on Superman and never shows us the full scale of villain, General Zod's attack. It is only at the film's end when we see an apocalypse-like Metropolis that you realise the amount of destruction, which leads you to think; did that really just happen?
Because the film is an emotionless mess, the acing is of course very mediocre. Henry Cavill puts on a brave face but his acting skills are very-much lacking. The transformation of Lois Lane from a fun, likable damsel-in-distress to a nosey, busybody action star is horrible to see. Amy Adams, although usually good, struggles to work with an underwritten character and in doing so, comes across cold. Her relationship with Clark seems very forced and almost comes out of nowhere. Michael Shannon's Zod is a monotone bore, who shows no effort to try and step out of his one- dimensional baddie role and Russell Crowe's Kor-El is bold but boring and both are a long way from Terence Stamp and Marlon Brando, who previously held those roles.
I am happy to tell you that there are a few good parts of this film. Flashbacks to Clark's childhood are extremely moving and emotional as he struggles with his superhero powers. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, who portray his adoptive parents, put in the best performances of the film and you feel their pain along with Clark's. The other standout performance is Laurence Fishburne who gives a quirky take on The Daily Planet's editor, Perry White. Man of Steel will please teenagers who care little about emotion and charm in their films; they just want to see things getting blown up. When questioned why he is saving Earth from Zod, Superman replies with something about loving Earth. He is telling us this, but unlike Reeve's Superman, he never shows his love for the people; only his frustration at being an outcast. And this is the real problem with this supposedly 'fun superhero' film. Superman is no longer fighting for truth, justice and the American Way. He is fighting for himself. Superman, the most iconic of them all, is no longer a super hero.