Dir: Zack Snyder
Written by: David S. Goyer
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe.
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Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel |
Zach Snyder’s film
history is patchy at best. His re-telling of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 (2007) was woeful and one of his
most recent ventures, Sucker Punch
(2011), cemented the notion that he was physically incapable of seeing anything
deeper than a costume (or lack thereof).
At a push, Watchmen (2009) I liked. Diehard fans of
the source material may have winced, but as a gritty anti-hero film, it was
reasonably good. Nothing to phone home about however, and certainly not worthy
of anymore thought from this point. This collectively, I believe, betrays
Snyder as a questionable director.
All of that aside,
going into Man of Steel, more than
anything I wanted to like Zack Snyder. My eternal love for the characters and
canons of DC Comics would pull me through from a substance point of view, but I
wanted to see whether or not Zack could, for the first time, achieve that fine
balance between substance and that all important Snyder style.
One thing that is
inherently obvious throughout the film, is Christopher Nolan’s influence on the
project. Whilst Snyder blows everything up twice, Nolan seems to have
influenced him enough to make him take a step back and assess the fundamental
reason why all of this destruction is taking place. The result is a film very
much of two distinct feels, both of which complement each other magnificently.
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Christopher Nolan (left) and Zack Snyder on set |
With a screenplay by
Nolan’s former Dark Knight trilogy
accomplice David S. Goyer, Snyder had everything at his disposal to create a
fun, zippy, explosive film, with just the right balance of narrative and, in
this case, back-story, told through intelligently written and placed flashbacks.
By doing this, Goyer worked around the problem that many faced with The Dark Knight Rises, the fact that the
central hero doesn’t appear in costume until much later into the second act. Man of Steel, however, showcases its
hero, in action maybe but not in costume, within five minutes of first introducing
him (complete with waterproof coat and beard).
British actor Henry
Cavill dons the red cape in what is every bit the most life changing role and
famous costume, greater than or equal to the buttoning up Bond’s tuxedo (which,
incidentally, he very nearly did), or sliding on the bat cowl. Cavill does very
well in fact of demonstrating the challenges of someone with extraordinary
powers living amongst mere humans on their own planet. There is a dissonance in
his thoughts and a falter in his early steps that allows us into his character
in a way that previous Superman films have glossed over.
Amy Adams, ever
reliant for a good performance, had climbed up my list of favourite working
actresses after I saw her Oscar-nominated performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s
masterpiece, aptly titled The Master.
Here, although obviously not working with the same quality of material, she
gave a fantastic performance. It must be said however that although her
character development began and ended with “I’m a Pulitzer-prize winning
reporter,” and the relationship developed between her and Supes was somewhat
superficial, it was nice to see Lois in the field in what was bolshy and brash
character choice that paid off.
Russell Crowe did the
Russell Crowe thing, ever reliable (however I can’t imagine he featured as
heavily in initial drafts than he does in the final cut), Kevin Costner put in
a star performance (the best thing about the first half of the film) as
Jonathan Kent, Clark’s human father and Laurence Fishburne did remarkably well
as Daily Planet editor Perry White, again striving under Goyer’s decision to
take every character out from behind their desks to see what they would do in
reality when faced with such an enormous threat.
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Michael Shannon as Zod |
But the star of the
show for me was Michael Shannon as General Zod. The interesting thing about Zod
is that he is more than just a villain. He is a military man who is proud of
his people and seeks to defend them and uphold their honour under any
circumstances. The only real action that defines him as being “evil” is his
lack of compassion for other civilizations. Shannon has that look of determination
and true grit about him that makes us subscribe to his ideology, in understanding
rather than coercion, but nonetheless his performance alludes to the great
notion that antagonists aren’t always the “bad guys,” many are simply
misunderstood.
The final scenes in
Metropolis do have a certain feel of 9/11 to them, and I don’t for one second
believe this to be coincidental. Goyer and Snyder have been shrewd in turning what
is literally an alien invasion into something that we, and especially American
audiences, can relate to. To see civilians coated with dust and surrounded by
rubble were some of the most heart-wrenching scenes to come from that day, and
the parallels drawn between them and the film seek to connect an audience to a
real life event and the hope and American patriotism that Superman has always
encompassed.
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Laurence Fishburne as Perry White running from Zod's destruction |
As a film it is too
long, by at least half an hour, maybe more. It also gets to a point where
everything blowing up becomes a little bit, dare I say it, annoying. Although
it doesn’t quite turn into Transformers,
the scale of the destruction is almost there. The best parts of this film are
all contained within the first two acts, and although there is an attempt
towards the end to bring Superman and Lois together, it feels a bit stilted and
stale.
The very end scene however is excellent and with Hans Zimmer's ever-incredible score soaring into a wonderful cut-to-black, we are reminded of two things: that Superman is indeed timeless and is the greatest superhero we've got.