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 As
Marvel cleans up the box office with cinematic adaptations of its
biggest properties, like Spider Man, Iron Man, Thor and the multiheroed
The Avengers, their biggest rival, DC Comics, has not been quite as
lucky with its page-to-screen projects. It is only Batman that has made
any kind of mark as a film franchise, and not without ups and downs.
The other cinematic superstar in the DC stable, Superman, seemed to have
peaked in the 1970s with four films starring the late Christopher
Reeve. Even then, it was only the first two movies that were worth any
mention. There was a famously hyped attempt to resurrect the caped
wonder in 2006 with Superman Returns; notable mostly because of star
Brandon Routh’s nearly letter-perfect imitation of Christopher Reeve’s
deceptively masterful performance. Homages aside and despite a
brilliantly cast Kevin Spacey as arch-nemesis Lex Luthor, it was a
pretty bland affair. I suppose it was thought enough time had passed
before trying another franchise reboot, which gives us 300 director Zack
Snyder’s muscular take on Superman with Man of Steel.
Galaxies away from our blue planet, another civilisation dithers while
Armageddon is nigh. Krypton is a doomed world and leading scientist Jor-El
cannot make anyone believe or prepare for the inevitable. While Jor-El
pleads with the powers that be, there is civil unrest as the head of
Krypton’s military is determined to see to his planet’s ultimate
survival and dominance by taking custody of a codex that stores the DNA
of every Kryptonian, guaranteeing the race’s continuance. Thanks to Jor-El,
the codex will be out of reach, hidden in a ship sent far from the
imploding planet. The other unauthorised export is the offspring of the
scientist and his wife, Lara; the only natural Krypton birth for
centuries. The infant crashes deep in the heart of the American
Midwest, where he is adopted by the kindly Kents. They love the boy so
much they treat his strange afflictions - the sensory overload of being
able to hear every conversation for miles and his extraordinary strength
- as simple growing pains. Young Clark has the pure-hearted instincts
of any child and wants to help when he sees someone in trouble; an urge
his adoptive father tells him to stifle for fear of his son being
ostracized by others not quite as accepting of the strange and unusual.
It’s this adherence to Pa Kent’s rules that eventually leads the adult
Clark away from Smallville with a small token of his homeworld in his
pocket. While Clark ambles north toward the road to self-discovery,
another set of visitors is on their way to earth. Having been defeated
by Jor-El and punished by a spell in the Phantom Zone, General Zod frees
himself and his loyal crew and sets about to find the codex and a new
Krypton. Zod unleashes their yellow sun-enhanced powers and superior
technology on mankind until the puny humans give up the son of Jor-El,
whose few public appearances have been suitably heroic, but not enough
to engender trust. Clark’s only ally is a reporter called Lois Lane,
whose rescue by the caped stranger persuades her to keep his true
identity a secret. Teamed with the US military (Who’ve dubbed the
flying Kansan, Superman) and armed with the instructions of an
intelligent hologram of the late Jor-El, Clark chooses to become
entirely visible to the world in order to stop General Zod.
Where
Superman Returns was low on bombast, Zack Snyder’s film is CGI explosion
overload to the point of nonsensicalness. The amount of collapsing
skyscrapers is downright tedious and the superhuman Krypton warriors
throw each other around for what seems like hours. What suffers with
all this purported popcorn chomping excitement is a cohesive plot.
After the destruction of Krypton, we meet Clark, fully grown at
thirty-three years old and his life story with the Kents is told in
flashback. We don’t know what Clark had been doing after high school,
but it seems like an awfully long time to wait after finding out not
only that you’re adopted, but that you arrived not by stork, but by
UFO. The romance between Lois Lane and Superman is a bust; there’s not
a drop of chemistry to be found, despite some superhuman efforts: Yes,
he’s adorable, but are we to believe this ambitious, high-stakes
frontline reporter would ditch the scoop of the millennium because she
was touched by Clark’s sob story? Without giving spoilers, that
particular tale of woe could’ve easily been averted by the young man
with the super powers and it seems awfully device-y and plainly absurd
that he chooses that particular time to refrain from doing anything.
He’s also having father/son squabbles while appearing to be well into
his twenties. It’s just weird. The flashback setup also adds more
weight on the momentum drag that makes Man of Steel feel even longer
than its two and a half hour running time. The few moments of humour
sprinkled throughout the film, like Superman’s ludicrous acquiescence to
the military’s handcuffs requirement and Diane Lane’s saltiness as
Clark’s adoptive mom are few and far between, making for a pretty
charmless affair. I wish there had been more moments like Clark’s
clumsy first flight, which had meaning, as well as thrills. Even goofy
bits like the way-too-informed techno-spectre of Jor-El is silly but
forgivable because it’s one of the only moments of fun and cleverness
while the film’s emptiness, emotions in a vacuum and stunning lack of
magic is much less so.
Henry
Cavill pulls off the right clean-cut, wide-eyed optimism and good
intentions associated with the Man of Steel; weighing the desire to just
be normal in the face of such literal alienness against his obvious
superiority to the human race. His furry, muscular chest, bared often
for our viewing pleasure, is truly the best special effect in the film.
Cavill holds the heroic, comic book cover poses nicely and the cape is
practically another character, draping itself around the statuesque Kal-El.
At one point, before flying off to rescue Lois (again), he
dramatically stretches his arms out to his sides and plummets into
space, very Messiah-like. Clark being thirty-three when all this kicks
off - the same age at which Jesus Christ was crucified - didn’t escape
me, either. I would hope the writers weren’t going for such a
ham-fisted comparison, because it’s an awkward analogy. As a very
different Jor-El from versions past, Russell Crowe is great as Supe’s
dad. He is the brilliant mind (NPI) we’ve always read about, but
can also beat the stuffing out of General Zod in hand-to-hand combat.
This leads to the other big casting choice of Michael Shannon as
General Zod. This was tough. I’ve adored Michael Shannon in everything
I’ve seen him in from Revolutionary Road to Boardwalk Empire and more,
but this was not an easy sell; could anything make one forget the
indelible portrayal of the elegant, commanding Zod as played by Terence
Stamp in the first two Reeve films? The answer is not really. While
Shannon tamps down some of his pop-eyed crazy tendencies, he doesn’t
make much of a mark on the character (For which I blame the shallow
script) and certainly not enough to replace Stamp’s cool authority (and
glitter rock costume). While he carries off the aggressive
physicality well (When he wasn’t a pixel), overall, the lunkish
and less intellectual Kryptonians are simply less interesting. There
was something to their cerebral etherealness in the earlier versions
that gave viewers the impression that Krypton really was more advanced
than humankind and not simply by an accident of the solar system.
Making Zod and his horde more earthly turns them into any other
conquering race from outer space come to enslave/destroy/colonise the
earth, which is nothing new. It also doesn’t help that Shannon closely
resembles Jack O'Halloran as the huge, apish Non, one of Zod’s henchmen
in Superman I and II. There’s also an ersatz version of Zod’s other
buddy, the fabulous Ursa, though Man of Steel’s tough cookie reminds us
more of an extra from Snyder’s girlie-action opera, Sucker Punch than
the haughty goth character perfectly played by Sarah Douglas.
Superman Returns and Man of Steel kind of balance each other out in
their imperfections: One was too dull and the other is too hollow and
noisy. With its unceasing torrent of CGI explosions, destruction and
superhuman Kryptonian combat, Man of Steel is more bang for your summer
movie buck, but it would have been nice to have more intelligence to go
along with all that lovely muscle.
~The
Lady Miz Diva
June
14th, 2013
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