Fresh start for an icon

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2013)

Normally, reboots are Hollywood's way of trashing an old – but profitable franchise – and starting again. Batman was rebooted successfully (with two excellent sequels) as was Spider-Man last year, with the darker tone not quite fitting with the comics' mythology. Now its Superman's turn: interestingly, this is the only film not to have "Superman" in the title – possibly a deliberate effort to distance 'The Man of Steel' from the previous films.
The great news is it works. In a similar vein to 'Batman Begins', TMOS strips back the Superman mythology and starts from the beginning. In a pleasingly thorough fashion, it explains the last days of Krypton and the reasons why Kal-El was sent to Earth, how the growing boy dealt with his emerging powers while trying to keep it a secret (for fear of being outcast) to embracing his eventual Superman persona: the man he was destined to become. Thankfully, there's no dual identity nonsense as the film focuses on the transformation of Kal-El to Superman. One of the most pleasing aspects is the relationship between Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill). Unlike the abysmal "Superman Returns" the Lois and Clark pairing occurs naturally as Lois – ever the hard-nosed journalist - plays a major part in discovering Kal-El.
While TMOS is a long movie, it needs to be: there's a lot of switching back and forth to establish the emergence of Superman. A young Clark is guided by his loving adopted parents Johnathan and Martha (played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane), who both influence Clark in their own ways: Johnathan wants Clark to keep his abilities for his own safety while Martha is more nurturing. Their aim is to build on the code instilled by Jor-El (Russell Crowe), which is to make Earth a better place.
The action scenes – especially the final battle between Superman and General Zod which stretch from Earth to space – are marvellous, regardless if you see it in 2D or 3D. None of the action feels tacked on or as a deliberate "Superman fighting/saving people" set piece. Not surprising director Zach Snyder knows how to do stylistic action (see '300', 'Watchmen' and 'Sucker Punch' as examples). On the subject of Zod, he's a far less ridiculous villain than Lex Luthor and his motives – while evil, selfish and twisted – make sense. Again this is a nod to the Christopher Nolan Batman series, which attempted to base Batman's colourful villains in reality and give them relateable motives; not surprising as Nolan is heavily involved in this reboot. While 'Steel' is a bit darker than previous Superman films (even the costume is in muter shades of blue and red with tinges of sliver), it still retains the optimism of the character, though there are no hackneyed "truth, justice and the American way" messages, which belongs in the 1950s.
By stripping away some of the more ridiculous elements of past movies, taking the time to tell the origin story from a different perspective, making it more realistic and including some wonderful action scenes, TMOS has become one of the best films of 2013. We're likely to see the makings of a born-again superhero franchise, possibly the closest one to rival Nolan's Batman in quality. Superman fans have a lot to look forward to.