Perhaps it should be called "Super-Alien"

Rating: 6/10 (29 June 2013)

Man of Steel almost proves that among the cavalcade of heroes, superheroes and mutants that are flooding cinema at the moment, there is no longer a place for the original Superman. I would not have thought that Superman could be muscled out of existence by other characters with less substance in their story, yet Man of Steels lacking script does just that – by trying too hard to be just "like the others". As the script focuses so much of its story on the fact that Superman is an alien sent to earth to save it, the organic "real-world-ness" feel that worked so well for Batman, seems to fall flat here. The script clearly wants to tell the story of how Kal-El is an alien and as such, must come stop an alien force from destroying the planet, yet the narrative seems to get confused in trying to drive a story about how Clark (and Kal-El) is really a man, trapped in an alien's body. What works for the film is its heart, captured in the sensibilities of Kal's adoptive father Jonathan (Kevin Costner). As a kind of origin story that this film attempts to be, I found myself actually longing for more of the back story where Kal/Clark are learning about who he is and how he must harness not only his abilities, but the struggle between right and wrong and his longing for acceptance. Unfortunately, Zach needs to learn a thing or two about how to use flashbacks in a way that does not disrupt a films flow as many of the flashbacks felt thrown in for "good measure". Whilst the film is admirable in parts, its weak script and often corny dialogue rob it of the small steps it makes in forging a strong and rewarding plot. It jumps around uneasily and much of what happens is there for the spectacle and even the interactions between characters feel forced and over the top. And when you're left wondering why all of a sudden Lois and Superman kiss, you know deep in your heart there is more missing here than meets the eye. The script is a labor, literally from its opening scenes, and needed the elements of what makes humanity great to contrast against the dreary, broken world which Clark inhabits. There was no humor and where one-liners and quips from Alfred made Batman more digestible, there was very little to break the often relentless barrage of drama, yelling, anger and fighting. We needed to see that humanity was worth saving. In the end, when the choice has to be made, it feels like Superman/Clark/Kal-El is only saving us because he was told too. The reality is that there is nothing new here and in a burgeoning world of super-hero cinema, the hope it has of moving as far from the Lycra- clad world of Richard Donner's originals and even Bryan Singers "remake/re imagining" does not give it enough punch to actually stand alone and apart from all the rest. At some points this film mistakes itself for Transformers and even Avengers and it's because "we've seen it all before", the third act becomes a long, building-smashing, ground- destroying, punching, exploding cacophony of very little substance. And then when you least expect it, the last 5 minutes reveal what you wanted all along and didn't get causing you to throw your box of popcorn at the screen (this may have just been me).