Little substance, mostly enjoyable and better than Snyder's Sucker Punch.

Rating: 5/10 (19 June 2013)

In 2005 Christopher Nolan reinvented Batman. In 2013 Zack Snyder has a go at shaking off the Christopher Reeve years and atoning for Sucker Punch. And Watchmen.
Man of Steel is a good attempt. It's reasonably fun, mostly enjoyable and kick-starts another franchise, but isn't so much Batman Begins as Superman Stagnates.
You know the essentials so I won't insult you with a backstory.
Man of Steel kicks off with a fight between Jor-El (Robin Hood Dad No. 1, Russell Crowe) and General Zod (Michael Shannon) as the former friends fall out spectacularly, Krypton disintegrates and tedium steps dangerously close for the audience. It's a protracted sequence that, though it matters to Kal-El/Superman's life, doesn't need to take quite so long; a theme that runs through the film.
Then comes a blast of freshness from Robin Hood Dad No. 2: Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, the finder and adoptive father of Clark and the finest aspect of the film. There's a depth and tenderness to his performance that is evident in much of his work but sorely lacking in Snyder's film. Thereafter we bounce from set piece to set piece with little of consequence linking it. It's not that these set pieces are poorly staged (far from it), it's just that there's no substance beyond them.
It's a great shame because Superman is perhaps the most identifiable superhero, Henry Cavill is a stroke of casting genius (in looks at least) and the principal supporting cast enhances the film nicely (and, yes, my use of such a bland word is entirely deliberate). With Marc Webb's reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man, he gave Andrew Garfield half the film to develop the character of Peter Parker, which allowed us to understand and identify with him. Here, I still don't feel any empathy for Clark.
Man of the moment, Michael Shannon, on strikingly good form in The Iceman, resorts to chewing the scenery and picking up a fat pay cheque in Man of Steel but he is always watchable and it's certainly not cringeworthy in a Rhys Ifans (as the lizard) kind of way.
Conversely, Amy Adams plays Lois Lane not as an egotistical preener with an axe to grind but as a regular journalist seeking a story and a decent human in search of the good in the world.
At 143 minutes, I felt as though I aged through every single one of them, unlike Zod et al who look unchanged after 30 years of travelling. But all is not lost. As my companion mumbled as we departed "I think tomorrow it won't have been as bad as you think it is today." He's right. With a few days distance Man of Steel has earned another star from me and I'm happy to give it another viewing, now that my expectations have been reduced. After the sheer joy of Nolan's five-star trilogy, the Iron Man films, and even The Avengers perhaps I'd set my hopes too high and forgotten that we are talking about Zach Snyder here...
Mostly Man of Steel is more than adequate but it verges on tedious and that is the fault of the director. In the final scenes he even resorts to some minor comedy in the form of a gushing soldier who swoons after Superman and simpers to her CO, "He's hot." It feels as though Snyder had doubts over the tone of the film at the last minute and is only marginally less jarring than Lois' query early on: "What if I need a tinkle?" Maybe it's Snyder's way of telling us he's taking the p...
Superman deserves more than this, but at least it's better than Sucker Punch.
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