Man of Steel reviews haven’t exactly been favorable for director Zack Snyder, but its box office numbers are certainly keeping the studio happy. The big question is, should you still watch the new Superman on the big screen?
Despite Man of Steel’s mixed reviews, it’s flying high at the box office, pulling in $21 million during its midnight premiere this past Thursday, and another $50 million on Friday. It’s estimated that the film pulled in a total of $200+ million after Sunday’s worldwide take was tallied. This is most likely due to the fact that Warner Bros. has executed the film’s promotional efforts in excellent fashion.
After reading quite a few Man of Steel reviews and seeing that a majority of top critics weren’t impressed, I admit there were doubts. Although, one compliment they all had in common was that they continued repeating that the film was stuffed to the brim with nonstop action sequences in the second half of the film. While I consider myself a film critic, I first consider myself a film fan. Developing the ability to watch all films for what they are: entertainment.
Director Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot isn’t the best movie I’ve seen in years, and it may not even end up being the best of 2013, but it’s an interesting take on a superhero character that almost everyone would agree is nearly impossible to successfully portray on screen. He’s supposed to be the perfect man: he’s an alien from another universe, he’s invincible, and his only true weakness is a glimmering-green rock. Let’s just say he doesn’t exactly have the best groundwork laid out for an Oscar-winning picture.
Diane Lane plays like Peter Parker’s aunt May, a wise motherly figure who has lost her husband and has undying love for their extraordinary adopted son. Russell Crowe makes a comeback of epic proportion in this film, as he embodies Superman’s alien father Jor-El. While his latest films haven’t bombed, his roles have been lacking.
In Man of Steel, he turns what could have been an unrelatable alien father into a world saver and a quasi narrator which explains the film’s vital backstory to the audience without feeling spoonfed.
He’s an essential part of the film, as he and Superman’s mother Lara perfectly explain to the audience what they need to know about the destruction of their home planet, Krypton. With almost no hesitation, they are willing to risk their son’s life so that their race may continue to live on. Although Krypton is somewhat removed from the story fairly quickly, we certainly feel the weight of its future importance to Superman and the last thing it feels like is an alien planet full of superheroes millions of lightyears away from our own.
Possibly one of the biggest disappointments in terms of casting was Michael Shannon’s uneven performance as General Zod. Admittedly, I expected Michael to show up as an exceptional villain in Man of Steel, but his presence was lacking emotionally and his accent felt forced at times. I was truly expecting Shannon to dominate this film entirely, as he has been nothing but underrated during his entire career, but he fails to convince the audience that he can play a calculating and impressively powerful villain.
He’s honestly done a better job with similar roles in the past, and I’m almost curious to know if he couldn’t deal with the pressure of portraying such a pivotal role in a film with such a massive production price tag.
Amy Adams was exactly as I had imagined she would be as Lois Lane. The Academy award nominated actress was strong in every sense of the word, intelligent, and while her character could have used more screentime, I felt as though she did a great job with the amount of time that Snyder gave her. While it’s difficult to grow attached to her emotionally due to the small amount of screentime, she was highly effective and will be essential in the Man of Steel sequels. Her and Laurence Fishburne’s character had great chemistry and though her relationship with Superman felt rushed in between battles, it didn’t come off as phony or forced.
Man of Steel cuts back and forth via flashbacks of Clark’s childhood. While this could have been an effective way of showing the difficulties he experienced as a child exploring his superpowers, it worked against them in almost every instance. The scenes often felt out of order, and erased the mood that was being built up during the main storyline. One point we’d be with Clark as an adult attempting to find his way in the world as a superhero, then we’d be back to his 10-year-old self getting bullied.
It’s easy to understand what Snyder was attempting to accomplish, but most of the flashbacks sadly fell flat. A more linear story would have undoubtedly been more effective and could have allowed tension to build up to the impressively climactic final battle sequences. Another few weeks of editing could have produced some absolutely essential improvements for this film and it’s a shame that after three years of production, Zack Snyder didn’t have someone at his side willing to scream this at him. The origins-story could have been infinitely improved with a linear storyline as opposed to the choppy flashback-ridden story that was present in Man of Steel.
THIS WAS MOSTLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE FILM’S LEGS KEPT GETTING CUT FROM UNDER IT BY POORLY INJECTED FLASHBACKS
When the scene finally arrived in which Henry Cavill puts on the suit, it happened so quickly that the sequence was nearly comical, when it should have been empowering. This was mostly due to the fact that the film’s legs kept getting cut from under it by poorly injected flashbacks.
The audience loses any build up of emotion as we’re whisked away from the film’s central storyline. This type of flashback can work, as it has in other films. Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins is a perfect example of flashbacks that feel very meaningful, but for whatever reason, Man of Steel’s flashbacks often left me feeling disjointed and wishing I was back in the main thread of Superman’s storyline.
Where the film ends up shining is the exact reasons I chose to watch an IMAX showing instead of a regular showing: its fight sequences and special effects were nothing short of revolutionary. When Superman fights Faora (General Zod’s right-hand woman), it’s breathtaking. She is an incredibly formidable foe, and her and Superman nearly demolish his hometown of Smallville when they’re battling. When Superman fights General Zod and the rest of his lackeys, the film truly puts the pedal down.
The VFX and sound team deserve an Oscar nod after what was seen and heard during these fight sequences. Some critics are comparing the fights to Transformers 3, which was an abomination, where you didn’t know who was fighting what. In Man of Steel, you know exactly who is fighting who and what’s happening despite the superspeed and alien abilities.
Henry Cavill has an imposing presence, and while his acting falls flat on few occasions, mostly when he’s raising his voice (a common problem with accents), he remains the true star of Man of Steel. His accent is excellent and his physical presence is one of the most remarkable transformations I’ve witnessed since Gerard Butler in Zack Snyder’s Spartan film 300. He not only has Superman’s attitude, he fills the suit out in an almost impossible feat.
While there are certainly editing hurdles, and character development is somehow lacking despite a run time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, Man of Steel is undoubtedly an exciting summer blockbuster. If you’ve been teetering on whether to see it in theaters or not due to its mixed reviews, I suggest checking it out. If you’re able to see it in IMAX, it’s definitely worth the few extra bucks to watch and listen to some of the most incredible fight sequences I’ve witnessed in two decades of film watching.
With the surprisingly impressive box office numbers we’ve been seeing already, there’s no doubt that a Man of Steel sequel will be headed to theaters as soon as the ink dries on director Zack Snyder and writer David S. Goyer’s new contracts. Expect to see infinitely more focus on character development in the sequel, now that Superman’s origins has been explained. Superman will keep finding new ways to instill hope in the human race, while he continues to protect Lois from her latest lead.