What is very sad is that Henry Cavill actually gives a decent performance while portraying Superman. He slips into the role, successfully portrays Superman's trademark personalities and behavior, and he even has the possibility of being seen as Superman rather than just an actor. But the way the character was written, not so much. A lot of the scenes that are meant to develop the character for who he is, is rather left out or are distracted by something else such as an action scene. I could not really believe that his humanitarian personality has been fully formed and realize, he just becomes this guy without any development or reasoning behind it. On top of that isn't Superman's duty suppose to be saving people. I know he does do it often throughout the film but that is mainly when he is younger and once in a while saving just an individual. But when it comes to a MASS amount of people, it seems like he does not care. He keeps destroying buildings while fighting and countless of other buildings are destroyed and toppled during action scenes, and you're telling me there are no people in there? Superman is really not noticing this? On top of that, there are scenes that show jet pilots clearly crashing their jets and not one trace of Superman saving them. The performance may be good, but the poor development and lack of understanding of the Superman character, made me care even less for the character and preventing me to root for him. Michael Shannon as Zod is completely boring, both the performance and the character. I have no idea how Shannon wants to portray this guy. Sometimes he wants to be subtle, sometimes he wants to be over the top, sometimes he wants to be threatening, and all fail quite miserably. Now the character himself could have been really complex, in fact his main reasoning for his evil plot could have made more than just a standard villain. But nothing else is done with this character as I could not really care any less for him. I just felt rather bored. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is the other character who I felt no emotions for whatsoever. She was just there doing her reporting job. Sure she tries to figure out Superman's story but her relationship with Superman feels so forced and rushed, there was a part of the film where I was like "Wait, when did this happen? How come they are so suddenly close they barely even know each other?". Plus Adam's performance so generic and tired, nothing that outstanding comes out of it. I was not really sold that she is Lois Lane, Superman's main love interest. Diane Lane as Superman's adoptive Earth mother Martha Kent is somewhat enjoyable, due mostly to Lane's performance, so I was able to care for a little but not enough, because again her development had no care put into it. Russel Crowe as Jor-El, Superman's biological father, and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, the adoptive Earth father, both share the same problem, they are tortuously boring. I know it seems that I may be too harsh on this cast of characters, but seriously I felt nothing for most of them, They just seemed dead.
The action scenes are pretty standard and they would be visually interesting...IF I CAN SEE THEM! I'm serious these action scenes go way to fast, and on top of that there is a lot of shaky cam, that does not allow the audience to fully see what is happening. I was not allowed to feel the weight and intensity of these action scenes because again, there was not enough care put into them! Zack Snyder's directing style is unique and interesting, but the color scheme takes a lot away from it. It makes the scenes, the visuals, and even the characters even less interesting than they were before.
The film has an overall running time of two hours and twenty-three minutes and throughout that time the story felt really painfully rushed and incoherent. They never tell a well developed, flowing, and decently paced narrative. We are either jumping back and forth from the present narrative to Superman having a flashback about his childhood. The flashbacks are suppose to have a connection to whatever the situation Superman is facing but every single one have them has Superman learning the same lesson over and over again. If this hero has to shaped, molded, and developed, it does not help if he learning the same teaching and morals ever so frequently. The producer Christopher Nolan, who also directed The Dark Knight Trilogy, and who also wrote the story for Man of Steel, probably wanted to make another Batman Begins, but where Batman Begins actually had a decent flowing narrative and flashbacks that were placed well within it, Man of Steel just feels rushed, poorly executed, and again careless. Every scene of dialogue, depending on which characters share the screen are all about the same topic. There is no room for development character and plot wise, and no room for any progression whatsoever. We are stuck in the same one dimensional predicament over and over again. It is really sad because I really wanted to enjoy this film but instead I came out bitter and disappointed. It is like being a teacher and telling a student who you know wanted to make the best school project in the world, but still sadly ending up failing it and you have no choice but to give this student a poor grade. The truth hurts, but most of the time we have to tell it. Words to describe this film is bitter, boring, disappointing, weak, incoherent, and careless. Looks like Man of Steel was not made with the right strong minerals.
GRADE: CR
Want to know how you can request a review or countdown list? To learn more about Requested Reviews CLICK HERE
0 Comments