The Usual Superhero Fare

Rating: 5/10 (7 April 2014)

When a film begins with a woman giving birth to her child, you know that the writers were running out of ideas. Unfortunately, this isn't even what made Man of Steel so mediocre in my eyes.
Simply put, Man of Steel is unbearably generic. I felt like I was watching something that I had already watched before! This film would have been a lot better if the creators had, y'know, actually tried something even the least bit original. Here's a list of the overused plot elements that were crammed into this film:
*Apocalypse Scene, Set In Guess Where... you Guessed It! NEW YORK *Saving the World from Alien Invasion *Villain Kills Father of Superhero *Superhero Struggles to Fit In *Parents of Superhero Hesitate to Send of Their Child *Aliens Miraculously Speak English *Strained Father/Son Relationship Set Right in the End
You get the point. Some of these are necessary parts of the superhero genre, but there was just too much of it for me to handle! Why does the apocalypse scene always have to center around New York? That is just silly. Why do the Aliens speak English, and why do they look and act exactly like humans? The film leaves many questions unanswered, and many plot holes unfilled.
The drama was so clichéd that I couldn't connect with it. I knew exactly what would happen, and I had seen it all before. I honestly couldn't care less about Superman and whether or not he fit in on planet Earth, or about his relationship with Lois Lane. I couldn't care less about Superman's relationship with his father. Why? Because I knew what was going to happen, and the drama just really wasn't that convincing. Yawn.
In short, "Man of Steel" played it safe. The film didn't stray far enough from standard superhero fare, and thus the characters were all very two-dimensional. Man of Steel isn't terrible; the problem is, it's boring and I couldn't connect with the protagonist. Will he connect with his father on Earth? Well, duh! Will he save the world? Uh, of course! Will he get Lois Lane? Stop asking stupid questions!
The creators of this film should have taken more liberty with its content.