Friday, June 14, 2013

Man of Steel (2013): Review

Tonight I went to see the new Superman movie Man of Steel and I am sorry to say that I was quite disappointed in it.  Going in I was a bit apprehensive because I so wanted it to be really good and cap off the spring of pretty good blockbusters, and although this movie is full of actions it also had some things that I would have liked to be much better.
Man of Steel is the latest rebooting of an older franchise, like others of its kind in recent years it goes back to the origin story and mucks around with it to start a new movie story line arc.  I am not as familiar with the superman stories as with some of the other geeky/ superhero movies that are out but I have seen the older movies, and the television shows, with both Lois and Clark as well as Smallville being part of my knowledge.  I was a child of the nineties so Lois and Clark is my main Superman baseline.  Anywho back to the movie synapsis.
Man of Steel starts at the very beginning of Kal-El, played by Henry Cavill being born and his parents making the decision to send him to Earth due to the impeding destruction of their world Krypton. Also introduced was the main villain of the movie Zod, played by Michael Shannon and his group of minions.  I found some of the set up quite confusing especially the reason why Zod is so hell bent on finding Kal-El.  After this, at least for me the movie jumped around a lot and took some figuring it out. It jumps to modern day earth with a grown up Clark Kent, but flashes back to him as a boy and his struggles dealing with being different and controlling his Superman powers. Clark is searching for his legacy and through this search comes across Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams.  When Zod hunts down Kal- El and then wages a war on Earth, Superman has to decided who he is as a man, while he fights to save the world.  This movie also starts; Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Russell Crow as Jor-El, Christopher Meloni as Colonel Hardy, and Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White.
Overall I liked the cast of this movie, although it was over acted across the board (I think this was purposeful), I liked the chemistry and tension between Cavill and Adams and like the moments between the two of them.  I wish we could have seen more of Lara (birth mother) as I think Ayelett Zurer did a great job.  I think there were too many characters and if this was pruned down with more focus on the characters and their interactions, I would have connected more with what was going on and I didn't like how I felt that Clark's parents were just there because they had to be.  I found myself being the most attached to Colonel Hardy as the story went on as he actually had some character development as the movie went on. 
There was a lot of over the top action sequence and I kept thinking "do they really have to destroy everything," I mean come on it was just unnecessary and if this money was more specifically used instead of on the just average special effects, that were usually obvious, I would have liked it more.  I didn't really like how Zod was worked into the story and didn't really care about him at all, he just seemed like an overall jerk.
After watching this movie, and I will see the next on when it is made, I think that this movie should have just committed to the origin story and getting the audience to really connect with Clark's struggle, there was great potential for character development (there was a little) and connecting with the parental relationships which were glossed over in this movie for the action scenes.  Also the premise of the last big action sequence was just ridiculous. 
All that being said, I am glad that I went to see it, and I will probably see it again with my Daddy on Father's day. I have a feeling that this is going to be a polarizing movie with some people really liking it and others being angered by the things I identified above. Basically see this movie if you were excited about it, but if you are on the fence, wait for rental.
I would like to add, that I really liked the resolution of the movie, and the very last screen.  I like how it sets up everything for me and brings it back to what I want the story to be.

My Rating: 2-

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