Ambitious, but lacking

Rating: 6/10 (7 December 2013)

MAN OF STEEL (2013) was perhaps the most highly anticipated superhero film of this century, even more so than Christopher Nolan's highly praised re-booted Batman trilogy (Batman Begins, TDK, TDKR). Nolan had a huge hand in the making of this new Superman re-boot MOS (writing the story), most obviously due to the insane success of his Batman films. And that helps explain why I, overall, did not like MOS! I find Nolan's Batman films to be heavily overrated. They are not really "superhero" films, so much as melodramatic talkfests that just HAPPEN to have a superhero in them! Nolan's first Batman film "Begins" was closest to getting it right, with the latter sequels TDK and TDKR getting it wrong!
Directed by Zack Snyder, in terms of structure and storytelling, MOS went the way of "Begins" in relaying the backstory of Young Clark Kent/Kal-El non-linearly with flashbacks. The ambitious epic starts on the planet Krypton with esteemed scientist Jor-El (well-played by the great Russell Crowe) warning the Kryptonian elder council members of impending planetary destruction. In bursts General Zod (played with monotonous rage by Michael Shannon), who overthrows the council and warns Jor-El to join him or suffer the consequences. Refusing, Jor-El escapes with just enough time for he and his wife Lara (played by the enchanting Ayelet Zurer) to place their natural-birthed newborn Kal-El into a spaceship to send him away. After killing Jor-El, Zod is captured by the planetary forces, who send Zod and his cohorts to the Phantom Zone. But soon after Krypton is destroyed, as per Jor-El's warning.
Once the baby Kal-El arrives on Earth, the nonlinear storytelling begins! The Earth scenes start in present-day, with an early-30-something Clark Kent (played by promising newcomer Henry Cavill) drifting the planet working odd jobs to hide his abilities and try to escape his destiny. Recurring flashback sequences show several stages of the Young Clark's life in Smallville, Kansas, with his adoptive parents Jonathan and Martha Kent (superbly played by the legendary Kevin Costner and the great Diane Lane). These intimate family scenes were actually the best of the film. These sparse family moments revealed the patience, fortitude, and love that the Kents showed in raising Clark to become who he was destined to be.
In a parallel story, world-renowned reporter Lois Lane (played solidly by Amy Adams) investigates a military discovery of a Kryptonian spaceship in a remote location below the Earth's surface. This spaceship is also found by Clark, who working as a bartender at one of his odd jobs, inadvertently heard a couple of soldiers discussing the discovery. Clark activates the ship and learns the details of his identity through a sentient CG image of Jor-El, and after an untimely first meeting with Lois on the ship and guiding her to safety, begins to embrace his destiny as Earth's savior. The conclusion of this scene has Clark wearing the famous suit and flying for the first time. This is a very COOL sequence, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's all-too-underused inspiring and original score!
Months later, Zod and his small army, including his right-hand lieutenant Faora (played with gusto by seductive Antje Traue) arrive on Earth, having been inadvertently freed from the Phantom Zone by Krypton's destruction. Zod demands that Earth turn over Clark to him. Clark learns of Zod's real plan to destroy Earth and re-populate it with genetically-engineered Kryptonians, then the battle begins!
Herein lies my FIRST major problem with MOS. The action sequences were overlong, boring, monotonous, and random! Virtually every action scene was Clark and 'Insert-Random-Kryptonian-Soldier-Here' running/flying into each other and laying waste to anything in sight (buildings, cars, trains, etc.). In particular, I found the final fight scene between Clark and Zod to be painfully boring. The film copped out on showing deaths, even though there obviously had to be MANY in the wake of all the damage that the Kryptonians caused. The lack of gravitas in these "death"-destruction scenes made them border on the cartoonish and irrelevant.
My SECOND major problem with MOS is in the tone of the film. It was much too melodramatic, ominous, and uninspiring, the exact OPPOSITE of what it should be in a SUPERMAN film! While I thought Cavill had his moments as "Superman" (the scene in the interrogation room with Lois being his best written and acted one), the underlying tone of the film betrayed his character, who was very indecisive. I couldn't empathize with Clark very much as there wasn't enough detail or character depth. So Cavill definitely "looks" the part (he reminds me of the TV series "Smallville" version of Superman), his character was a bit too angsty (much like "Smallville's" version, ironically!). I also felt that Adams as Lois was a bit too underwritten, but at the same time, I kind of liked the simmering chemistry that she built with Cavill throughout the film.
I also didn't care much for Shannon's portrayal of Zod. In MOS, Zod came across as much TOO angry and vengeful without much complexity, which is ironic as he had in reality the second major role in the film behind Clark/Superman. Zod always seemed to be in overdrive, even at times when a scene/moment called for subtlety. The best performances in the film to me were that of the veterans Crowe, Costner, and Lane. Costner and Lane, in particular, made the most of their limited screen time.
While there were definitely moments of inspiration and greatness in this new superhero epic, in particular Zimmer's inspiring score, the family scenes, and the more intimate moments between Clark and Lois (I really liked the ending!), "Man of Steel" is an ambitious, yet lacking new entry into the superhero genre.