Ambitious

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2013)

Superman is a difficult character to get right, as his vast abilities and unrealistic story creates a detached feeling from the audience. But, this film delivers. It has emotional levels circling the themes of morals and making the right choices. It is an epic disaster movie disguised as a superhero movie and wrapped up in sci-fi packaging. This film is definitely ambitious.
I think many people are expecting a lot more from this movie, and I feel as if I should admit that I am one of those people. I, like many people, was expecting it to be a perfect balance of action, narrative and clever performances, much like Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight'. Instead, the narrative is lost half-way through and it becomes a messy, but fast-paced action film with incredibly loud fight scenes and over the top building deconstructions. Although the mid-flight fight scene between Superman and Zod is visually interesting, the other fight scenes are a bit too long resulting in repetitive disinterest.
Almost every performance in this film is perfectly fluid and separate to each other character. Rising star Henry Cavill gives an emotionally driven performance with seriousness and a fresh perspective on each of Superman's aliases. Superman is dedicated, Clark is determined and Kal is an interesting combination of the two. Both Michael Shannon and Antje Traue give ruthless portrayals with a strong, clear motive for their mass destruction. Parallel parents Costner, Lane and Crowe, Zurer were convincing in each of their portrayals. For me Kevin Costner's Jonathan Kent stood out more, showing a deep, loving connection to his son as well as a willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for what is best for his son and his secret. Both Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer conveyed the inspiration in their dialogue and Diane Lane was caring and supportive throughout her scenes. On the other hand, I felt that Amy Adams' Lois Lane was too dissimilar to the original character and although it was a good performance, I couldn't help but the think that she was a completely different character. She is barely a reporter and her appearance is too far way from Lois Lane.
I think making Clark an itinerant worker instead of a reporter emphasises the loneliness and confusion of his character and gives us a break away from the bumbling, bespectacled Clark that we're used to. This shows a different side to the Clark that is normally the same in every other Superman film. Other changes such as the exclusion of Lex Luthor and Kryptonite gave the film a fresh take on the Superman origin, and happily separated it from the other films.
As an audience we see the beginnings of the film as a slow paced origin story, gradually revealing information about the characters. Then, when Zod arrives we are plunged into a disorganised action movie that completely contrasts with what we've previously seen. For many people (critics in particular) this contrast doesn't work, but for me it shows how Clark's life has changed so drastically in a matter of minutes. It forces Clark to make choices no matter how right or wrong they are. And as the film progresses separate stories start to unravel and we see how the plot affects the lives of each characters. The Daily Planet employees try to survive the devastation of Metropolis, the authorities attempt to find a way of conquering the invasion and the central characters battle each other for what they believe in. These three separate stories show the struggle of society and how they each cope with what they are faced with.
Hans Zimmer's score is uplifting and a perfectly suited replacement for the original Superman theme. It complements the various fight scenes and is very memorable. The cinematography is a mixture of many darks and a few lights reflecting the much darker tone of the film, and the editing is sometimes slow and sometimes fast creating an overwhelming but powerful contrast. I cannot fault the CGI as it looks realistic and visually compelling, plus the first 20 minutes of the film is a reminder of a Star Wars landscape with impressive flora and fauna. I am a little disappointed that Snyder didn't use any slow motion as it could have worked perfectly in each fight scene. Replacing the noise with slow camera shots would've created unique scenes with extraordinary attention to detail. I feel that Snyder's style of shooting slow action sequences with clarity and intricacy has been wasted. The fight scenes could have been memorable for the right reasons, but they were for the wrong reasons.
The film's style is very individual, rarely showing any humour even though many of the actors try their best. The film is obviously trying to separate itself from Marvel films so it can set up a new shared universe for DC. The references to both LexCorp and Wayne Enterprises make sure of that. If so, then I think DC is trying to make their movies more about enhancing the themes of the story and making the audience think about what they are watching.
I give this film a 7 out of 10 because even though it might take itself too seriously, it is an ambitious movie that has gladly separated itself from the others. Most movie goers will be impressed, whilst others might feel a little disappointed. The film is made up of moments of visual wonder and excitement, but at times, monotony and confusion.