On Screen Movie Review: Man of Steel

Article by Richard Smith

So I just got done seeing Man of Steel and I have to start out by saying I am disappointed. After the great job Christopher Nolan and company did on the Batman Trilogy, I was really looking forward to this Superman reboot, but I was let down. Call me crazy, but I still measure Superman movies, as I assume many people do, against Christopher Reeves classic performance. Maybe that’s too high of a benchmark, but it’s the only one I know of. Based on that though, I wasn’t a big fan of the movie. My opinion is that it was driven by special effects and there wasn’t any character development.

I’ll start off with what I did like. The action was pretty much nonstop. It wasn’t your typical Superman tale either. Krypton spends more time on screen then it has in any of the previous flicks, which is interesting. The Krypton story was changed and isn’t the one we are used to, and that’s not a bad thing. Russell Crowe’s Jor El is very good. You can’t really compare him with Brando, mostly because Crowe spends more time on screen than his predecessor. Clark Kent’s formative years are seen through flashbacks and this leaves more time for the plot to move along. The characters all and all, with a few exceptions were played very well.

Now for what I consider the downfalls: The story is a really big minus. The writers really took some license with Superman lore and not all for the better. First off, Superman doesn’t kill. Second, Clark always knew what he was and where he came from. This version of Superman for at least part of the movie has a large chip on his shoulder. Now in all fairness there should be some degree of emotional distress, but in this case it borders on the psychological. General Zod’s portrayal was rather odd as well. His “predestined” life didn’t sit well, which brings up another issue in that Kryptonian’s aren’t conceived, but grown. Maybe it’s a case of new minds and fresh ideas, but there are the things that left me shaking my head, wondering why. I also wasn’t fond of them essentially destroying a good portion of Metropolis in the fight. I found myself saying, “It was OK, but why did they do that?” a bit too much.

This movie has turned me off of Superman and I won’t be checking out any future movies without another reboot. I’d advise you to save the movie trip and wait until it is in the rental stores or the $5 bin. This one only get 2 of 5 Outposts from me.