Man of Steel- Zack Snyder's Indulgent Direction Combined with David S. Goyer's Disconnected Script Gives Us a Charmless and Hopeless Superman

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2013)

Superman might be the iconic comic book hero that initiated the entire superhero wave after his initial arrival back in the 1930s, a time desperate for hope, justice, and truth, but a truly reflective take on the character's origin, pathos, and extraterrestrial challenges in the cinema has never been fully ventured quite possibly due to the potentially dated material but more likely having to do with a lack of understanding to what he means to us in our modern world. Even the lighthearted Richard Donner version in 1978 with all of its good intentions doesn't live up to the magnetism of the comic and it's usually wise not to even mention the cringe worthy Superman Returns from Bryan Singer who figuratively dropped a load of kryptonite on the poor unsuspecting hero. The latest addition in the canon Man of Steel comes from an odd combination of creative minds, including writer/producer Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins/The Dark Knight), screenwriter David S. Goyer (Dark City, Batman Begins), and director Zack Snyder (300, Watchman) all of whom attempt to ignite a newer, darker version of the Superman origin but inevitably become the film's own weakening kryptonite. Man of Steel is practically indistinguishable from your typical blockbuster variety where relentless action sequences have the destruction upped to the nth degree and narrative takes a back seat to the monstrous visuals, a quality to which director Zack Snyder is all too familiar. In all of Snyder's films from the light on story 300 to the unfortunate ruination of a graphic novel in Watchman plot substance and subtle characterization all get overshadowed by his visual palate, which is arguably his best quality and it continues in Man of Steel. However, despite the technically impressive sequences that also seem soulless there is also an apparent weakness that directly lies in Goyer's disjointed and arguably weak script that is devoid of the known charm, wit, and most importantly hope that is associated with the famed and beloved superhero. Overall Man of Steel becomes a heaping disappointment not only in its blatant disregard of the Superman canon, where the familiar seems bland and the unfamiliar becomes unwelcome, but also because the film's spectacle pummels its own substance into the ground with an outcome that feels disconnected, frenzied, and hopeless, which are qualities that shouldn't exist in a Superman film.
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