Film Review: Man of Steel

There is no denial that right now comic book movies are the most successful and popular films. With The Avengers and Iron Man 3 both breaking box office records and Christopher Nolan's much acclaimed Dark Knight Trilogy managing to make Batman good again there are no signs of this franchise slowing down or hitting a brick wall.  Now that Batman has finished and Marvel are continuing to release more and more films DC had to find a way to still keep their franchise going. Enter Man of Steel, a rebooted take on Superman.

After Bryan Singer's Superman Returns  receiving a mixed reaction from critics and fans, Warner Bros. decided that they needed to take a completely different approach. With The Dark Knight Trilogy having a sinister and grittier tone to it, which audiences seemed to like, the studio wanted to take a similar approach with Man of Steel.  For me this was a smart move as they know that audiences have moved on and they wouldn't welcome another light and campy Superman film. 

The film focuses on how Clark Kent went from being Kal-El, an alien sent from the planet Krypton to Earth, to being the famous caped hero. Throughout the film we see flashbacks of Clark's younger years  in Smallville that slowly give us a picture of the character's development. For me these scenes were the ones that worked best. Clark's younger years see him trying to find an identity which will allow him to adapt to everyone around him whilst he struggles to not use his powers.  These were the scenes where I found myself most engaged with the film and it's characters, it was a shame that there wasn't more of it though. The couple of scenes between Clark and his father (played by Kevin Costner) was where a strong father and son connection was shown. The scenes were brief but the script and performances are that strong that you do feel a very strong relationship between the two characters.

The antagonist General Zod is played terrifically by Michael Shannon who managed to steal every scene he is in with a bold performance where he realises he is depicting a comic book villain without over playing it.  Once he had entered the film I felt I was enjoying the film a lot more, which is mainly because the pace picked up as well as the fact movies like this always become more interesting when the hero and villain's paths cross.

Henry Cavill fits well in the title character, however what I find weak about the character of Kal-El/Superman is that he has hardly any personality.  Cavill's performance manages to bring charm and at times a hint of cockiness, which made me enjoy his performance.

The one character that I have to critise  is Amy Adam's Louis Lane.  Adams is a fine actress and does give a good performance the best she can in this film. The reason I say that is because there is very little for her character to do except working for the Daily Planet.  She and Kal-El/Superman share hardly any scenes together and when they do I didn't believe that they would soon be lovers. It's not the actress' fault, I just felt if they spent more time balanced the relationship between these two characters with the action then I would have seen it as a better film.

Though the special effects were near perfection with one sequence of Kal-El/Superman flying for the first time to be a stand out it felt as though this was the film's main focus, to entertain and give an amazing spectacle rather than a good origins story.  The last third of the film is where a heavy use of action is included and I honestly found it to be the film's weakest point.  The sequence lasts for at least 20 minutes but half way through I wished the fight would finish and the story would move on.

Man of Steel is no Batman Begins but that doesn't mean it is a bad movie.  For an origins film it is weak but for an entertaining Superman movie it's very good.  Hopefully an improvement will be seen in the inevitable sequel,which may drop hints for a possible Justice League movie.  For the majority of the time the film does entertain but as a beginning for a rebooted take on a well known superhero I feel it only works in places.