Review: Man of Steel

Dir: Zack Snyder

Written by: David S. Goyer

Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe.

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.

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.

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.

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.