Film Review: Man of Steel

Man of Steel    6/10

Director: Zac Synder
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon
Plot: Earth is invaded and a man named ‘Kal-El’ must attack the people of his own kind in the hope of saving those who inhabit Earth.

Zac Synder’s career has been fairly turbulent to say the least; ranging from the fan-boy antics of Watchmen and 300, to the questionable and bizarre Sucker Punch. Synder has met himself in the middle with Man of Steel, and has only just improved on the lacklustre Superman Returns from 2006.

Firstly, Man of Steel successfully weaves Clark Kent’s youth with his present day; becoming closer and closer as the film progresses. Undoubtedly, as Executive Producer, Christopher Nolan’s stamp can well and truly be seen here as the Batman layer of darkness and murkiness has been applied. In addition to this, Synder, much like his previous ventures creates enormous and lengthy scenes of intense action, particularly during a siege and attack in the beginning, making Iron Man 3 look like a made-for-TV film!

As for the films stars, there’s nothing particularly interesting here. Henry Cavill as Clark Kent certainly looks the part, yet the rather limited script leaves little room for proper character development (alas, a sequel is inevitable). Amy Adams as Lois Lane is an interesting choice and although I’ve seen little of previous instalments; it seems that Teri Hatcher shall always helm the role of Lois Lane. It also seems a little bizarre that so many other characters are thrown into the mix with little merit; as audiences see cities fall to rubble, numerous men in suits and women in dresses run around, fearing for their lives - yet it’s difficult to feel anything for them as their input to the film is limited.

In Conclusion: Synder seems to have grasped the origin story of Superman perfectly. However, the action is rather overdone (which he does do well, yet leaves little for coming sequels.) In addition to this, I feel that he has failed to grasp the Clarke and Lois relationship at a critical stage. Does it play up to the hype? Not really, but it’s good fun.