A super man.

Rating: 4/10 (30 July 2013)

I've never reviewed a movie before, I've never felt compelled to. However, I've never thought about a film as much a I have this film.
I was with this movie up to a point. I'm open to many interpretations of characters that are adapted from comic books. Hell, I'll even argue to a point that the terrible Batman & Robin is true of an incarnation of the characters it portrays. The same can not be said of Man of Steel. This film has had the hugely successful "Dark Knight" realism prism adapted to it. A prism that was so successful for the character of Batman because that character works in a real world setting, the premise of that character is possible in a real world. Superman is not. This is a film about a flying alien who wears a cape, why was a real world prism even considered for this film? Not only was the real world prism added to this film but so was Batman's attitude added to the Man of Steel. Now the beauty of these two characters is that they are polar opposites both fighting for the same goals, this works beautifully, especially when they're working together, the two opposing philosophies meshing. This film portrays Superman as conscienceless powerhouse, levelling cities and killing 1000's to save the world. Not only this, but he breaks the superhero code by killing the main antagonist. In short the symbol of hope that the character is, that they even do a very good job of building up in the film is rendered completely redundant.
A huge missed opportunity in this film is the possibility of showing the wonderful dichotomy of the character. The character is essentially 3 characters. Kal-El - The man himself, Superman - The public persona of Kal-El, and Clark Kent - The disguise. Instead of delving into this and the huge potential for character presented to the film makers, they decide to ignore as much of this as possible and just present an alien destruction movie. I really wanted this film to show people that Clark Kent is much more than someone who just puts on a pair of glasses and fools everyone he knows, it's a permanent public act and a huge character trait.
The film wasn't completely without merit, there were some wonderful teases in there for the wider universe that DC/WB are attempting to build. And I really enjoyed a few of the visuals, the beautiful war like murals that Clark has his history explained to him on were outstanding.
If this is the latest incarnation of this character, I'm out. I've always loved the wholesome boy scout approach to the character. Not only is he a Superman, he's a super man, a man to strive to be like. This point was completely missed in this film. A film in which it's an offence to even say the lead characters name out loud will never have me on it's side.