Man of Steel is the latest in a line of super reboots. As Superman is not a Marvel comic book hero and has not been blessed with the gift of Joss Whedon’s vision, this reboot looks to the dark side of the Dark Knight to draw its inspiration and (I am sure Warner Bros hopes, after Superman Returns and Green Lantern) its success.
Which means the film is all very serious. There are a few slight one liners in there (mainly referring to how good looking Superman is, and Henry Cavill definitely fills that role both in and out of the Super suit), but mostly the two and a half hour running time is devoted to brooding and violence and being, well, serious.
The film has three parts to it: there’s Jor El’s (Russell Crowe, who was in the film a lot more than I expected) Avatar action piece; then there is Lois Lane investigates; and then Kal El fight baddies in densely populated areas.
As you can probably tell, Lane (a serious Amy Adams) gets the most to do, though her character comes across as hard nosed and intelligent but pretty joyless.
Meanwhile, Henry Cavill frowns a lot as Clark and seems to get no respect despite the fact he is relatively tall, good looking and incredibly well built, with no glasses or mild manner to be mistaken for anything other than a bit of a jock. Cavill is reasonably tall (though I presume a tad shorter than Christopher Reeve), but oddly, I got the impression he was shorter as they kept putting him opposite men who are rather short to make him seem taller (if that all makes sense). His motivations for becoming the saviour of the human race (age 33, lots of religious symbols… the whole Jesus allusions are laid on a bit thick) are mainly due to the influence of his rather austere father (played by a serious Kevin Costner) and his fairly lovely mum (an always luminous Diane Lane), his defence of being an all American Midwestern boy at heart not really satisfying me who remembers Timothy McVey and a whole raft of High School shootings.
No matter: the baddies are bad and need to be stopped, and humanity is pretty defenceless against them, so Superman needs to smash. The Evil General Zod (played with a serious frown by Michael Shannon) and his minions (all in black), all well trained soldiers with decades of experience behind them, vastly advanced Kryptonian technology (what is with the tentacles though?) and made super powerful by Earth’s environment versus Superman and the might of the American Army. Who will win? Much special effects and questionable tactics and use of powers later, and much of Indonesia and downtown Smallville and Metropolis are in ruins (hundreds of thousands may have died, who knows?) and we find out.
Look, it all makes very little sense (why does Krypton need an army again?), but that is really not the point here. This reboot aims to get another franchise back in the sequel business through action, and I presume that the Earth-bound cast will get the chance to flesh out their characters in the next few films.
Verdict: The big blue boy scout is back and this time he is… serious. The cast look great but, besides Crowe and Adams, aren’t really given a lot to do. Cavill fits the tights of Superman very well, but doesn’t really get much of a chance to create a character out of him, Clark or Kal El. Maybe next time. Meanwhile, Man of Steel is a visually spectacular piece of incredible effects and action, missing only a human heart. 7 super suits out of 10.
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