Man of Steel Review

Superman is back and more depressing to watch than ever... (seriously, what a buzz kill.)

It has been 7 years now since America has endured the utter poop storm that was "Superman Returns". Since then, a shockingly long list of comic book superheros have appeared on the big screen. From genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark, to  brooding, vigilante Bruce Wayne. However, Since "Returns", no director dared to adapt the iconic Superman again into a major motion picture...until now. Zack Snyder, the mind behind visual treats such as "300" and "Watchmen", comes this dark, more realistic Superman- which is where the problem begins. Before I start this review, I just want to say I did not like Man of Steel. I like Christopher Nolan, and I enjoy Zack Snyder- for the most part. And I was real enthused with making Superman darker and more realistic. I thought this, until I actually saw the movie. What a stupid freaking idea! I get what they were trying to do here, DC saw the success of the Dark Knight trilogy and the utter flops of films such as Green Lantern and came up with the idea that if a superhero is conflicted and spends most of the movie battling his inner demons, then that would make the movie better. Man of Steel proves that this is not always the case. Batman CAN be dark and realistic, Superman CAN NOT for one simple reason, he is not realistic! He is an alien from the planet Krypton who flies around in a cape and tights fighting for freedom and the American way. I.E., not realistic. It all just felt depressing. Superman is suppose to be a great symbol of hope, not some depressed alien with identity issues. The only real salvation in this movie were the action sequences, which were mind-blowing, then amazing, then a bit much, then almost monotonous.

As a long time Superman fan, I was glad to see my favorite superhero kicking butt and really fighting. We never really got to see Superman fight to his full capability. Superman movies were either made in a time where Hollywood hasn't developed that kind of technology, or when we did have that technology Superman would mope around all of the time and fly an island into space. It was great to see Superman fighting villains with great special effects. That being said, less could have been more in this case. You don't need to have a great action sequence, followed by another action sequence, and once again followed by another crazy action sequence. It just seemed like over-kill and it began entering the lowest point in movie-making history, Michael Bay territory! Yuck, I got chills from just writing that. After the fifth action sequence or so, you begin to get bored and wish Superman would just mope around some more. The other thing that kept this movie from my top superhero movies were the characters. Henry Cavill as Superman and Michael Shannon as General Zod were both excellent choices. They were both interesting characters to watch. It was everyone else that was the problem. This cast was undoubtedly the best cast I've ever seen assembled for a superhero movie. Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane- the casting was great. It was the writing for the characters that was less than satisfactory. David Goyer wrote a solid script for Batman Begins back in 2005 and hasn't written another good screenplay since. Overall, all of the characters felt incredibly one-dimensional, the plot holes were endless, and the dialogue seemed extremely lazy. Final Rating- C