Man of Steel is no Superman

In my last blog post, I talked about the Superman 75th Anniversary animation released by Warner Bros and that the untitled sequel to this summer’s “Man of Steel” would also begin filming.

For this blog post, I will review “Man of Steel” before its Blu-Ray and DVD release on November 12th in the US and December 2nd in the UK.

Hope is a word and theme used throughout “Man of Steel” to describe the concept of Superman, that he is a hope for all mankind who will lead us and show us how we can all make ourselves better.

And when “Man of Steel” was announced back in April 2011, we were all hoping that producer Christopher Nolan, who worked with writer David S. Goyer on the Batman Trilogy, and new director Zack Snyder (“Watchmen” and “300”) would not let us down in rebooting the Superman film franchise.

But did the “S” for “Man of Steel” stand for hope, or did it stand for a hopeless attempt at making Superman cool again?

The first 19 minutes of the film are used as exposition to tell the origin of Supes, quite literally as the first scene depicts the birth of Jor-El and Lara’s infamous son Kal-El on the eve of Krypton’s imminent destruction.

Jor-El warns the Council of Krypton of the planet’s doom and that they should evacuate, but all hell breaks loose as General Zod stages a revolution to try and save Krypton in his own way, which is by killing anyone who stands in his way of controlling the bloodlines of Krypton by use of the Codex, a skull which contains the DNA for the entire Kryptonian race.

Jor-El escapes with the Codex and infuses it within his new-born son, placing him within a rocket and jettisoning it from the planet just in time to escape Zod’s clutches and the planet’s own destruction.

Kal-El is sent across the universe to Earth, where he becomes Clark Kent, the adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent. We are then treated to another 28 minutes of flashbacks and exposition as we see Clark growing up on Earth, learning to deal with his powers and try to keep them a secret from the public, fearing that society would not be ready for him.

An adult Clark lives a nomadic lifestyle, working different jobs under false names to cover his tracks and hide his identity whilst trying to save people. He eventually discovers a Kryptonian scout ship whose technology allows him to communicate with the consciousness of Jor-El, which is also discovered by Lois Lane, a young journalist from the Daily Planet who is rescued by Clark when she is injured.

Detecting the scout ship, Zod travels to Earth where he demands that Kal-El surrender to him and reveals that he intends to use a terraforming "world engine" in conjunction with his own spaceship to transform Earth into a more Krypton-like planet and eradicate the human population, then use the codex within Clark to repopulate the planet with genetically-engineered Kryptonians. Leaving it up to Supes to save the entire Earth, but also with the risk that in the process it may lead to the end of his entire race. 

“Man of Steel” combines the best out of the 1970’s first two Superman films, familiarizing the average movie-going audience with the story of Superman whilst also modernizing it, doing what Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy did for 1989's “Batman”. The grand and epic nature of the first Superman film also remains in “Man of Steel”’s booming, orchestral soundtrack, with Hans Zimmer’s newly created Superman theme becoming as memorable and popular as the John Williams original.

The CGI in the film is truly spectacular, giving us a greater look at the planet Krypton than we ever have before, with Zack Snyder trying to ground the Kryptonian race in reality and give the possibility that Krypton could have existed, rather than the jagged and cold crystal version we got in the original Superman film. 
The flying sequences when Clark finally suits up in the red and blue spandex and cape finally give the film that much needed sense of wonder and amazement of seeing a man flying, again like when it was first done in the first Superman film.

The film’s climatic fight sequences between Supes and the villains as he takes on huge, robotic lasers with mechanical tentacles and goes toe-to-toe with Zod truly capture that comic book feel as the two smash through building after building, leaving a lot of destruction in their wake, but as you would imagine if two titans would battle in the middle of a city like Metropolis.

The performances by the cast varies from great to forgetting they were even in the movie.

Russell Crowe understands his role as the expositional father of Superman Jor-El, explaining to his son his backstory but also to the audience what the symbol of Superman is in some of the film’s greatest speeches: “What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspired to something greater?” The few scenes he does appear in approve greatly with his presence and his voice-over's.

Henry Cavill portrays a great Superman who throughout the film is just trying to find his place in the world, what kind of person he should be and what he can do to benefit mankind. By seeing Kal-El grow up from being a tiny and helpless infant into the Man of Steel, the 2 hour running time for the film gives us enough to be re-introduced to the character and to see character development we’ve never seen from Superman before.

Michael Shannon also plays a great villain in the character of General Zod, a warmonger bent on doing things his way or face death, much like his depiction by Terence Stamp in 1980’s Superman 2. But we are also shown the other side of Zod, that all he was doing was just trying to save his people, although he was doing it in the wrong way. Come the films end, I will admit I even felt sympathy for the character and that his final punishment at the hands of Superman (which I will get around to soon) was entirely unfitting, for both the character and the film.

But other characters such as Kal-El’s mother Lara (Ayelet Zurer), Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) and even Superman’s leading lady Lois Lane (Amy Adams) are barely remember-able due to their actor’s giving lackluster performances. If you are not making me care for Lois Lane but instead for Zod in a Superman film, you know you are doing something wrong.
 

Which brings me to my favourite part of my review, what was wrong with the movie.

Much like Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” did for Batman, “Man of Steel” focuses heavily on what the theme and symbol of Superman is. This worked for a character such as Batman as it allowed for great character development, but I found that after a while I became rather fed up of hearing how Superman is hope, the answer, sent here for a reason, standing proud for humanity, something greater, a man who he wants to be and that will change the world.

But what displeased me the most about the explanation on the symbol of Superman was by literally comparing him to Jesus Christ. Throughout the entire film, dialogue and shots of the film shoves thoughts and ideas into the average movie-goer’s head that Superman is a modern day allusion to the Son of God with lines such as “he’ll be a god to them”, “what Clark did was an act of God”, “you’re the answer”, “sent here for a reason”, “another father”, “ideal to strive towards” and “join you in the sun”.

There are even shots in the film that directly show Christianity symbolism, from Clark lying submerged in water with his arms out after saving people from a burning oil rig like Jesus Christ being nailed to a cross after sacrificing himself for humanity, to a shot where Clark sits in front of a stained glass window of Jesus Christ in a church to ask a priest for advice when Zod first appears. Instead of going to his father, who knows all about Zod, he chooses a random Christian priest for advice.

The film was literally rubbing these scenes in my face and stuffing these ideas and thoughts down my throat and I didn’t like the taste.

There is talking about the symbolism of Superman that by being truthful, acting in justice and doing good not for yourself but for others who are in need, and there is forcing people to believe through images and speeches that Superman can be compared to the son of God.

And to top it all off, the film ends with Superman (SPOILERS!!!) breaking the neck of Zod in order to save a human family that had got caught in their battle, because Zod refused to stop killing the one thing Superman cares for which is humanity.

Rule One of Superman: HE NEVER KILLS ANYONE! For how can he be someone to look up to as a saviour, as a hero, as someone to strive to be like…by ending someone’s life?

True, Zod would not have stopped killing as he was enraged by the destruction of his own people, but Superman could have found a way to take him down without having to resort to killing him, if the writer’s for this film were more competent and we’re not instead just trying to make Superman as dark and edgy as the Batman. Superman was never meant to be dark and edgy, that was why we had the Batman.

The only upside to the death of Zod was Superman giving a muted scream, kneeling over the body of Zod, in one shot portraying the emotion of the character for realising that he was responsible for ending his own race, making him the last of his kind.

The film ends with a time jump forward, with Superman having gotten over the death of his entire race very quickly, getting a job at the Daily Planet as the persona of Clark Kent with everyone, not even Lois Lane, recognizing him or REMEMBERING ANYTHING?!

So to sum up, Man of Steel is not a Superman film…but it is. The character is taken to new heights and depth with character development and the realism of the world, from explaining how a man is possible to fly without any means of propulsion, giving a history to the short-lived on-screen planet Krypton and is supported by great visuals and a fantastic musical score, but not by a great script.

Whilst some actors do their best with what they are given, others fail to get me excited and involved with their character, making me forget them completely by the film’s end with the only image in my head that I just saw film where Superman kills a guy and be compared to Jesus Christ.


But when it comes down to it, you cannot do a dark, gritty and realistic Superman film because that isn't what the character is about. Superman is supposed to not be taken seriously as a character that can do amazing feats that us normal men and women are unable to achieve such as having invulnerable skin or the ability to fly through the sky by holding our arms upward or is super strong. He is supposed to be a lighthearted and fun character that teaches us that human imagination is our real superpower. 

If you are a fan of Superman, you will probably check this film out as it does it’s best to make Superman cool and popular again with some great acting and visuals. 

But if you are looking for something a little less symbol story driven and more men dressed like bats, wait for "Superman/Batman" in 2015!

I’m a nerd and this was my rant!