I didn't expect greatness from Man of Steel. I generally go into summer blockbusters hoping for a good, entertaining movie that will hold my interest and not bug me too much. Hell, Fast & Furious 6 has been one of my favorite movies so far this summer. I don't require The Dark Knight-level quality. I think my expectations are pretty reasonable.
Unfortunately, Man of Steel failed to meet them.
To start with the good: The actors all did a great job, particularly Michael Shannon as Zod and Amy Adams. It pours through the screen that she loves and respects Lois Lane with a fiery passion, and over her dead body is Lois not going to be awesome in this movie. And she was. It's just that Adams, and everyone else, didn't really have a lot to work with.
Take Superman himself. Screenwriter David S. Goyer devotes a lot of time to exploring the conflict inherent in being a child of two planets, two sets of parents, two species. And, while that conflict is an essential part of the Superman mythos, it's something everyone, even someone with the most casual Superman knowledge (That would be me. Or nearly.) already knows.
Something else everyone already knows: Superman will always, in the end, step forward and defend the people of Earth. It's kind of his thing, and while he's not there yet at the beginning of the movie, you know he's going to get there by the end. So it doesn't make sense to me that such a large part of his conflict in Man of Steel—like, all of it, and this movie is over two hours long—is whether he'll step forward and do the right thing or let humans die to protect his own interests. Does Goyer expect the audience to think there's even the smallest possibility he'll choose the latter?
Again, establishing his sacrificing, do-gooder nature is essential to the character. This is an origin story, after all. But when it's something that simple and basic, establish it and move on. There's no need to keep bashing our heads with it by having every single damn thing in the movie, from Krypton's tendency to genetic engineering, to the endgame of Zod's grand plan, to the actions of secondary characters, to the freaking set design (seriously, there was a scene between Supes and a priest where a stained-glass Jesus was hovering over Supes' shoulder. I could not make this up if I tried) relate back to the whole "everyone can choose to be their better selves and help others" thing. Explore some other aspect of your version of the character, too. Something new, something that gives us actual stakes and makes us feel invested and won't leave us yawning because we already know exactly how this is going to go.
In plot, also, the movie was overly complicated but also lacking in substance, like a five pound bag stuffed to bursting seams with cotton candy. The same scenes appeared to happen over and over again: Fights with Zod, fights with Faora, Kal-El popping up to give advice, Supes visiting his mom for a dose of emotional support, Lois showing up to have a Moment with Our Hero every few scenes (seriously, she does some Littlefinger-style zipping around in this movie). It all blended together with no real shifts in intensity, leaving most of the latter half of the movie boring and unfocused. By the time you get to the actual climax, Superman's final confrontation against Zod, I was just waiting for it to be over.
Which is a shame, because Shannon brought something interesting to his character, as did Adams, and I love how Lois was actively involved in the plot. Henry Cavill had the perfect level of semi-brooding nobility. And Faora (Antje Traue)… Faora was magnificent. Every time she said or did anything I wanted to stand up and cheer. That might be in part because I really love kick-ass, non-sexualized female villains as a character type, and we don't see many of them, so I was like parched desert soil just waiting to soak up her violent magnificence. Kudos to Goyer for including her.
In most other matters, though, Man of Steel can be characterized for me as squandered potential. The superhero genre is filled with examples of movies that aren't just exciting and entertaining, but are also quality movies in their own right. Iron Man. Batman Begins. Thor. I'm sad not to be able to add Man of Steel to that list.
Wow, totally how I felt. Just a pile of "meh". I liked Faora the most out of the whole film - her barely-on-screen contest with the human general was pretty cool, and she kicked a hella lot of ass. The whole Lois + Supes was so trite, ribbon tied and yawnworthy that I barely felt anything for either character.
ReplyDeleteCan we bring back Faora for the next one...?