I know Man of Steel is getting some mixed reviews in certain quarters but I don't why. This was a genuinely engaging, fantastic, epic movie that I think ranks right up there with Spiderman 2 and X-Men 2 as a classic of the genre. I think part of the mixed reaction stems from the fact that this is a reboot-- anyone who's been alive in the past, oh I don't know, seventy years or so has a passing familiarity with Superman's backstory. We saw it Richard Donner's 1978 Superman, we saw it in the very odd, overly introspective Superman Returns. We saw ten seasons of it with Smallville- so it's a story that everybody knows. (Alien world is doomed, child sent to Earth, grows up in Kansas, flies, becomes hero, etc.)
Handled incorrectly, the backstory could have doomed this reboot from the start. But a more extensive prologue on Krypton sets the stage and gives us the foundation for the motivations of the movies main bad guy, General Zod (Michael Shannon) in his conflict with Jor-El (Russell Crowe.) Ethereal crystalline structures and gigantic floating heads are nowhere to be seen and Krypton is depicted as an insular, isolated society where everyone is genetically engineered to serve a specific role in society. Krypton's resources have run out and with the planet's core destabilizing, the planet is doomed. Jor-El and Lara (Ayelet Zurer) decide to have a child the old fashioned way (for the first time in centuries) and send the kid to Earth to grow up, be safe and avoid the implosion of Krypton.
Director Zack Snyder takes a left turn once we get to Earth- showing Clark (Henry Cavill) growing up via flashbacks, interspersed with his behind the scenes heroics as a driftless loner who keeps to himself as he struggles to figure out his identity, why he is who he is and what he's doing here on Earth. When the US Government stumbles onto a mysterious anomaly in the Arctic ice, that brings him into contact with enterprising journalist Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who unravels his story and figures out who he is- of course, this is just in time for General Zod and his merry band of Kryptonians to show back up and demand the return of Superman. (They get thrown in the Phantom Zone at the beginning of the movie but Krypton's destruction shakes them loose again.)
With Earth under threat and Superman genuinely not sure about where he fits in (can he trust the human race? Or should he trust Zod?) he decides to take a gamble and cast his lot with the human race and protect Earth-- the epic battle that follows provides a fitting finale to the return of one of the most formidable superheroes around.
Man of Steel has finally, successfully revived the Superman franchise- that alone is an achievement. Not that Superman Returns was a bad movie... it was just... I don't know. Odd. And while Henry Cavill isn't given all that much to do other than stare and brood in the first half of the movie, he fits comfortably in the role by the end of the movie. He certainly makes more of an impression than Brandon Routh did in the role. Michael Shannon's portrayal of General Zod gives Superman a worthy opponent and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are perfectly cast as Ma and Pa Kent. Lawrence Fishburne shows up as Lois' boss, Perry White and Christopher Meloni, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff also show- plus there's a double shot of Battlestar Galactica vets as Alessandro Juliani and Tahmoh Penikett who also appear.
The Superman-as-Jesus metaphor which seems to show up from time to time is decidedly less important than it was in Superman Returns, which I liked. (I mean, there's a scene in Superman Returns where he ends up falling out of the sky in a perfect Jesus pose which is a bit to 'brick to the back of the head' for me.) Instead, more emphasis is given on Clark's struggle for identity and self-discovery as he comes to terms with the fact that's very, very adopted and he's not from Kansas- which I think makes this Superman more relatable- I certainly felt more connected to the character in this movie than I have in any other iteration of Superman- whether on film or television.
Overall: This goes a long way to erasing the weirdness of Green Lantern and establishing a DC counterpart to Marvel's burgeoning movie universe. Man of Steel re-establishes the character of Superman and leaves all the usual suspects (Clark Kent, Lois Lane, etc) on the verge of going all kinds of interesting place. I was actually left wondering what they were going to do for the sequel- which is the first time I've actually thought that about a Superman movie. My Verdict: **** out of ****.
P.S. Now that Superman's back, can someone please get serious about a Wonder Woman movie? It's high time for a female superhero to get a shot in the spotlight- and Wonder Woman is established enough that she could carry a franchise. That's something that Marvel doesn't have so readily at hand.
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