Before we were given The Dark Knight Rises we were promised a Superman reboot with David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan's involvement. Now the film is here and what did I think of it? Well before I start you all need to be reminded that this is my blog and my opinions.For the sake of keeping this review short I won't bother explaining the Superman origin story in too much depth. A planet is on the brink of destruction and two parents send their son to Earth for safety. The planet gets destroyed and the 'son of Krypton' eventually becomes Superman. Plain and simple. Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent's past is told through flashbacks in a somewhat similar way that Batman Begins was told.
Zack Snyder directs the film and anyone familiar with him knows that Snyder makes films that are visually spectacular. However in my humble opinion I found this film to be too bogged down with special effects. I really hate saying that because I'm just not one of those dumb hipsters who want constant character development and Shakespeare standard dialogue. But I felt Man of Steel really suffered from how much action is in the film.
Please don't take that as an understatement, a very large chunk of this movie is just action sequence after action sequence. At first this works to the film's advantage because never have we seen this much loved character in such a visually phenomenal film. But when you get over the initial explosion and excitement of it all, it just becomes boring because theres not enough character alignment for us to care about whats going on.
I liked every single actor who was in it, I thought they all did very well with what they were given. Russell Crowe was probably my favourite part of the film altogether, this is partly due to how much I just like his character from the comics and the original Richard Donner film. The first action sequence with Jor-El and Zod at the very beginning was my favourite of the entire film. Probably because it took place on Krypton and there was some actual dramatic tension. I just never really connected to the story or the characters. I have to have characters I care about with action scenes otherwise (to me at least) its just schlock being thrown onto the screen. This is why I've never been a fan of Michael Bay movies.
I never even felt like Superman was on screen at all. Sure you can dress up a good looking guy with a chiselled jaw in red boots and a red cape but that doesn't make him Superman. Making him Superman means giving him a solid origin and making him a character we actually care about.
I'm sorry guys but this film disappointed me. For anyone who has seen this film can you actually remember any parts of it that made you go 'wow that was amazing!' Or moments that were genuinely memorable or original? I can think of five or six... in The Avengers. I wanted to like Man of Steel so badly and during the film I tried to convince myself I was having loads of fun, but I know I probably will not watch the film again in the near future. I don't know maybe it'll grow on me but right now I give the film 6.5/10.
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