Can be Summed up in a Word: Bland!

Rating: 2/10 (22 March 2016)

After the all-round disappointment of Superman Returns, it was decided that a reboot was the best way to go for the iconic superhero following the success of the Dark Knight trilogy. Director Zack Snyder was brought on board, best known for his adaptions of the comics 300 and Watchmen (the former being overwhelmingly style over substance and the latter surprisingly good if uneven). Added to that the cast featured many excellent actors who could bring weight to their roles. However, for all the films potential it is just as dull and uninteresting as Superman Returns was despite its greatest efforts to avoid any comparison.
Story: A baby named Kal-El is sent to Earth from the planet Krypton just before it is destroyed. He grows up as Clark Kent and quickly learns that he is not part of the human race. But a general from Krypton comes to conquer Earth and Clark is the only person who can stop him. The general plot line is fine but it is told in such a messy manner that it pretty much ruins the film on its own. The entire set-up can be summed up as rushed. We see fragments of Clark's life as a teenager but learn next to nothing about his predicament or his relationship with his adopted parents, why should care about anything when these characters are as one-dimensional as it gets? Clark actually becoming Superman comes out of nowhere because there's none of the build-up needed, no questions are asked and there's no curiosity to what he really is. Once Zod arrives the film descends into scenes solely containing clunky dialogue and hectic headache-inducing action scenes.
Hero: Superman is painfully dull and that is because he has no personality. He isn't intelligent, witty, charming, tough or reflective. This 'Superman' has none of the traits or complexities needed for the character to work, there isn't a second within the film where we get inside the characters head. He just walks around with the blank expression of a confused puppy or smashes other extra-terrestrials through large buildings. Adding to the poor character writing is Henry Cavill who is as wooden as a shed and I don't find anything he says remotely believable because of that.
Villains: Michael Shannon is usually great screen presence, but he is playing a truly terrible character here. They don't even try to give dimensions to Zod or make us see his dilemma, he's just a raging lunatic from the get go. Sadly that isn't remotely interesting. Shannon doesn't help matters as he goes for the insane bug-eyed look throughout, delivers most of the dialogue like he's chewing on marbles and most of his over-the-top rambling are just hilarious for all the wrong reasons.
Support: Amy Adams' Lois Lane is just as dull as Superman is. Adams is just a boring actress (and I think there were much better candidates for the role) and Lois herself is never defined as a character. She isn't the no-nonsense, charismatic reporter most people think of because even though she acts all tough she has to constantly be bailed out of situations and she's a charisma vacuum. Elsewhere Kevin Costner and Diane Lane bring respectability to the Kent's, while Russell Crowe does a solid job as Jor-El.
Action: The action scenes are made up of people being slammed through buildings or getting launched hundreds of feet. They are truly terrible. You know none of this will harm Superman or Zod unless they literally kill each other so it makes it all pointless. The climax goes on for what feels like an eternity (I feel like I had a birthday watching it), taking up the entire last third and it is just overkill on another level. From a technical standpoint they're filmed horribly and edited to within an inch of their life, meaning it's extremely difficult to tell what's happening half the time.
Music: Hans Zimmer's score is one of the most forgettable superhero scores of all time. I seriously cannot recall what the main theme sounded like, it was that bland. He provides the usual big trumpet sound, but nothing we haven't heard him do before and it's not remotely memorable.
Production: Visually the film is not very impressive. It's not as notably stylish as Snyder's previous efforts and although the Watchman style wouldn't suit the film, it would at least make what we're seeing look exciting. The film just has an overly drab colour scheme and would be best described as gloomy. None of the colours standout or pop, none of the locations look anything special and the film has a surprisingly low-budget look to it. As mentioned the editing is a complete mess, with the action scenes looking like they were edited by a maniac and certain scenes playing out like they were racing to the finish line to get them over with. The script and writing is by far the biggest issue however. Everything about the plot and characters feels either rushed, incomplete or as if it was written by a child. The film literally leaps from one scene to the next whilst never explaining anything and increasingly piles on the mindless action when it seems at a loss for what to do next.
Conclusion: For me Man of Steel is a massive disaster. For all Superman Returns' faults it had its heart in the right place, whereas this film seems clueless from the get and the fact people have given it so much acclaim baffles me beyond belief. It's literally half a film of boring scenes with no motivation, then another half of endless dumb action scenes. It's impossible to care about where the film is going or what the outcome will be when the key elements are such a complete mess. As a result Man of Steel becomes overly depressing and too action- heavy, which simply doesn't work for the character and sucks any out any possible enjoyment.