Man of Steel

A young boy dreams of becoming something greater. A father dreams of great things for his son. Director Zack Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL explores various questions left unanswered by previous films in the Superman franchise, yet falls ironically short of its own aspirations for greatness.

Writer David Goyer is a literalist. When he wants to birth a franchise, he shows you a birth in a chamber shot—diffuse light reflecting off particles suspended in air, mimicking the viscosity of amniotic fluid. When he wants to tell you how important Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is to the future of Krypton and Earth, he’ll tell you three times. Lara (Ayelet Zurer) bears a child on a planet that for generations has controlled reproduction through a eugenics program. It’s a puzzling establishment, since a terraforming civilization wouldn’t run out of planets to populate. Why else would you go to the expenditure of interstellar travel? I digress.

That said, MAN OF STEEL sets up an intriguing conflict in its incarnation of General Zod (Michael Shannon) who is equally at odds with Jor-El (Russell Crowe) as well as the Science Council. Zod has no choice in the matter, because he was bred a military general with a singular purpose: Protect the Kryptonian race. Zod demands that Jor-El turn over control of a genetic key called the Codex, which contains pieces of the DNA of billions of Kryptonians. Skeptical of Zod’s intentions, Jor-El warns of the futility, “And if your forces prevail, you will be the leader of nothing.” Yet later, he expresses sympathy for Zod, “A product of the failures of our world.”

While Zod and Jor-El have the same aim, the former’s methods cost Jor-El his life. This nonetheless leads to Zod’s capture and banishment to a dimension known to Superman fans as The Phantom Zone. In one of the few nods to Richard Donner’s 1978 film, Zod maniacally vows to find Jor-El’s son–though not in quite as spectacularly insane a fashion Terence Stamp’s dramatic outburst, “You will bow down before me! Both you, and then one day, your heirs!”

Lara, an active participant unlike so many of Hollywood’s poorly-written supporting female roles, helps baby Kal escape in a pod controlled by technology so futurstic its biomechanical design reminds us of Arthur C. Clarke’s axiom, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I had hoped the filmmakers would put their CG creations to use in a more extended backstory of Krypton in which the disconnect between Jor-El and the elders of the Science Council were better fleshed out, but hurry along the plot they must.

While some moments are peppered with slightly wooden line deliveries, the first act effectively establishes a reasonable amount of the history and motivations behind the House of El, Zod and his lieutenants. This includes Faora-Ul; Antje Traue may not have the acting pedigree of Sarah Douglas (Ursa in SUPERMAN II) but portrays a menacing foe, of whom I would have liked to see more.

Planet Krypton is dying, a victim of its inhabitants’ short-sightedness and exhaustion of resources—a plot point recycled less imaginatively than the Greco-Deco Roman animated murals that tell us a story only to be repeated later with live action flashbacks. And flashbacks abound.

The second act enshrines what soul Mr. Snyder’s film does possess, though it does so jarringly. Not that the match cut from spacecraft to tugboat isn’t clever, but I’m not sure if the editor was attempting to be unconventional or simply work around a story in which the narrative threads hadn’t been adequately bridged by the screenwriter. However disconnected one segment feels from the next, each is conceived well, particularly one in which young Clark–unaccustomed to his emerging superpowers–has a panic attack. In my 2006 review of SUPERMAN RETURNS, I noted the Christ parallels did not go unnoticed or unappreciated. Here we get the story that neither the previous films nor the Bible have waxed on about those formative years when a young boy is confronted on one side with a desire to fit in and on the other with abilities that demand maturity. The film asks the question, “What if he doesn’t want to be Superman?”

Henry Cavill, the 6’1″ lead playing Kent/Superman hits all the right notes, even if he is three inches shorter than the towering Christopher Reeve. Unlike Brandon Routh, Mr. Cavill’s predecessor in Bryan Singer’s SUPERMAN RETURNS, Mr. Cavill is not imitating Reeve’s indelible persona. Instead, Mr. Cavill’s Superman epitomizes self-doubt. His ability to simultaneously convey fortitude, confidence and vulnerability establish a Superman all his own. The late Reeve’s performance, sacred to many including myself, is respectfully undisturbed.

Some critics or fans might argue that they’ve lumped Clark Kent’s character into Superman’s. Perhaps true to some extent that Clark Kent was a projection of Superman’s psychological inadequacy—an act to deflect attention away from Superman’s physically impenetrable nature. Here the origin story reboot strips away that duality in favor of directly motivating Superman to consciously overcome his insecurities and take up the mantle.

As Lois Lane and Perry White, Amy Adams and Lawrence Fishburne anchor the movie in a twenty-first century reality, but only in the style of their dialogues and body language, supported by some excessively shaky handheld camera work. Beyond their facile portrayals of an enterprising reporter and her boss having it out over her journalistic integrity, what do we learn about Lois or Perry? Absolutely nothing because the writer and director didn’t seem to think it was germane to advancement of the plot. Lois doesn’t have a life or motivations of her own, she exists purely to track down Superman. Perry’s her sounding board. He approves or disapproves of her pursuit of the last son of Krypton, depending on which way the story needs to bounce.

The film’s expository dialogues get in the way of otherwise great images that tell the story effectively enough, such as a hero shot of Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) conveying with a single look the man he wanted Clark to be. This is a sign that either the filmmakers don’t know what they’re doing, or they don’t have confidence in the material… How hard is it to write the exposition in the slug lines? Does Martha Kent (Diane Lane) need to tell Clark umpteen times that he’s meant for greater things. No fewer than three times does his father tell him that he has to decide what kind of man he wants to be, while already giving him a reassuring hand after young Clark is visibly shaken by being picked on by other kids.

Despite Mr. Shannon’s precise expressiveness, Ms. Adams’ casual confidence, and Mr. Cavill’s earnestness, they cannot carry the dialogue above its horribly expository nature nor can they rescue the film from a protracted third act consisting almost entirely of blurry computer graphics-laden action sequences—buildings toppling, cars crushing, and people falling without real consequence. “You’re a monster, Zod!” is a classic line resurrected only to be marred with Superman’s follow up, “And I’m going to stop you.” Well, of course he is.

It’s one thing for a film to be consistently bad, entirely another for a film to aspire to great heights only to come crashing down like Superman after his first wobbly attempt at flight. In just one series of shots on a yard, a doorknob, and an empty swing, cinematographer Amir Mokri (LORD OF WAR) conveys the anguish of an outcast adoptee and his father struggling to find meaning in a world that doesn’t hold any simple answers. In comes Mr. Goyer to rescue us from our own intelligence with, “People are afraid of what they don’t understand.” Filmmakers are afraid because they don’t understand that we do.

Man of Steel • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 • Running Time: 143 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, and for some language.