by Joseph Rossi
After 2006’s tepid Superman Returns, the granddaddy of all superheros took a back seat to the new and improved Batman franchise. Superman was, and will always be, a boy scout, a goody two-shoes, the yin to Batman’s yang. The team behind the brooding Dark Knight saga decided to bring that revisionist tone to Superman and they have succeeded beyond belief. Man of Steel is the summer’s ultimate popcorn flick. It’s a big, loud, action heavy superhero movie that makes last years The Avengers look like a Woody Allen movie.
Truth be told, I was never the biggest Superman fan. Didn’t care for the Richard Donner films or the ones that followed. I guess my problem with those Superman films was that they always had this semi comical tone going on that was taken from the early comic books. His alter ego Clark Kent was always seen as a clumsy oaf. The antics of Jimmy Olsen and Perry White were always good for a chuckle. And how Lois Lane never figured it out sooner was always silly to me. Well, this is gone and I think it’ s for the better. They never really worked for me as anything cinematically plausible. Better left for the comics. But since the comedy is all but stripped we are left with a serious Superman movie. Not so serious that one can’t have a good time. And not as serious as Batman. I don’t need another depressing, brooding hero in a cape.
MOS is an origin story. And we know the basics of it well. Superman is sent to earth as his home planet is being destroyed. The twist on this Moses (or Jesus; you’ll see what I mean in the film) story is that Kal-El (Supe’s real name) was naturally conceived on a planet where babies are engineered. Knowing that his baby is illegal, his father Jor-El (a great Russell Crowe) sends his baby to earth and into the arms and Jonathon and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) who raise him as their own. They have to deal with their alien child and the frustration he possesses as he discovers and tries to cover up his powers.
Costner and Lane are perfect. I was surprised how much emotion was present throughout the film that was due to these characters that, in the earlier films, were only confined in the first 10 minutes. Sooner or later Clark goes off on his own, drifting from job to job, trying to make sense of his place in the world. After a few heroic deeds he manages to gain a follower, a reporter named Lois Lane (Amy Adams), who is intrigued by the idea of this super man.
But Clark (now Henry Cavill) can’t be a drifter forever (that would be very Batman Begins). The film picks up it’s pace when krypton’s General Zod (Michael Shannon) comes to earth to collect Kal-El. What follows is pure geek, nerd, fetish cinema that has more in-you face -WOW moments then the last 3 Marvel movies combined. The aerial battles are done extremely well and not as kinetic as one might think coming from this director. That’s a blessing and a relief.
Director Zack Snyder has only made one movie I actually liked and that was his remake of Dawn of the Dead. I didn’t care for 300, Watchman or Sucker Punch (I hated that one). He has never met a slow motion shot or hyper stylized visual he didn’t like and his editing rhythms are like those of a 10 year old with ADD and a sugar rush. Here, for the most part, he’s been reigned in. The action is easy to follow (even when it comes at you fast and heavy) and his visuals are elegant and realistic (within the logic of the film that is).
This is a great superhero film that honors this 75-year-old classic character by reinventing him for a new generation of fans. While it’s keeps many elements of the original hero we’ve come to know, it adds new dimensions to him in order to keep audiences craving more.
