More man than super

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2013)

In a galaxy far far awayÂ…. the Kryptonites have made a balls-up, their hubris as a civilisation has led to them exhausting the resources of their planet which is now about to go a wee bit explodey. Great big old frowny-bear Russell Crowe (aka Jor-El) has been trying to stop it without very much success because General Zod has gone bat-poo mental and staged a coup. Jor-El pinches the genetic bank of all Kryptonites and zaps it into his little baby Kal then launches him off to live with the stupid Earthlings. Things get a bit Shakespearian Zod and pals get busted, put into space dildos and shot into space prison. Zod vows revenge and to find Kal (muhuhuh).
What follows is an elongated superhero-a-thon (I will not say epic it misses the mark there) from Snyder-man, in Snyder-vision with not very many surprises. The narrative focus for the first hour of the film rests firmly on the man rather than the 'super'. Kevin Costner is dusted off the shelf of Hollywood fossils and gives a really rather good performance as Jonathan Kent, which enhances this process significantly. Amy Adams snoops around as hero stalker/nosyparker Lois homing in on the enigmatic Clark with intermittent success and ineptitude, although the whole process is entirely devoid of something important to the comic book genre. Humour.
The rest of the film is devoted to what I can only describe as wanton physical destructiveness and occasional fights. Zod is a competent and driven villain however he is often overshadowed by his delightful lieutenant Faora-Ul who stomps, ball-busts and sneers her way mercilessly through anything put in front of her whilst providing some much needed sex appeal to the whole affair (Lois has absolutely none, jog on Lois!) Whether Faora has been included to please horny nerds to me seems irrelevant, it's simply a joy to see a woman in a superhero movie not being a victim or otherwise completely pathetic .
Man of Steel really lacks some of the colour, humour and fun that I would like from a Superman movie, if you expect to see geeky dweeby Clark transforming in a phone box you're going to be disappointed. There is very little comic relief to behold and the movie just feels tiring and far too long. There is great focus on the internal human motivations of Clark, but ironically in the end he doesn't seem to give much of a toss that most of India and nearly all of Metropolis is turned into a crater in a massive orgy of carnage by the end. This seems to be at odds slightly somehow with what the Snyder is trying to achieve.
On the Snyder note I do find him confusing here more than anywhere else. This movie tries to add an element of maturity and brains to subject matter that really has none at all. This is more noticeable in Man of Steel due to Mr Nolan's influence. I really think he would do better trying not to plod around in 'thinky' or emotive subject matter and sticking to the sweaty teenage boy stuff he is reasonably successful at. Namely churning out essentially idiotic but fun movies involving robots, swords and scanty costumes. Why attempt to do somebody else's thing badly when you can do what YOU do VERY well?
I would advise you not to take children under the age of ten to see this film because they are probably going to be bored, if you do take them to see it do not give them sweeties because they will end up running about the aisles screaming. If you are a die-hard Superman fan you might enjoy it, however it feels that this film is pitched more at Batman lovers than anything else. To sum it up; entertaining enough with some lovely explosions and a wicked villainess, but too colourless and far too long!