Man of Steel: Movie Review... I saw the latest Superman film in IMAX yesterday, and I would have to say that this flick had lots of potential going for it...had it not been for the overuse of CGI and explosions for much of the movie. Those of you who have viewed Watchmen and 300 will know that extensive utilization of computer-generated imagery is a signature trait of a Zack Snyder film. The problem is, seeing as how the story for Man of Steel was written by Christopher Nolan and his screenwriting team from The Dark Knight trilogy, the gritty look of this Superman installment didn't match with the kind of fantasy elements (most notably shown in the opening scene on Krypton) that would be prevalent in other comic book flicks like Thor—which still managed to portray the realm of Asgard in a convincing manner. That's why Batman Begins and its two sequels succeeded on an artistic level: The realistic tone of that trilogy was complemented by the practical special effects that Nolan implemented as much as possible in his Batman movies. Whereas Man of Steel's attempt at realism was contradicted by Snyder's penchant for showing off dazzling digital imagery and John Woo-ish action sequences.
On the plus side though, Man of Steel depicted what previous flicks such as Superman Returns didn't: Superman using his infinite strength (when sunlight was present, that is) to lay a thorough smackdown on his adversaries. These adversaries would be General Zod and his gang. Haven't seen Superman I and II in a while, but I would have to say that Michael Shannon's take on the Kryptonian officer was more brutal than that portrayed by Terence Stamp. The final fight scene between him and the Man of Steel was epic—and reminded me of the climactic rain battle between Neo and Agent Smith in The Matrix Revolutions. In fact, it was after I watched this scene in The Matrix 3 that I (and probably a lot of other people) knew that a Superman movie was possible where Kal-El could fly around while punching the crap out of bad guys at the same time. Props to Snyder for getting this part right. (Though as mentioned in the previous paragraph, these fistfights would've been better if there wasn't a large explosion taking place every few seconds.)
The casting for Man of Steel was superb. Henry Cavill did a great job as Clark Kent and his true Kryptonian persona, Amy Adams was fantastic as Lois Lane (SPOILER ALERT: Very interesting to see that Lane discovered Superman's alter ego by the movie's midpoint), Michael Shannon was intense as Zod, Laurence Fishburne was cool as Perry White, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer nailed it as Clark/Kal-El's parents, and it was also interesting to see other talented actors such as Christopher Meloni and Harry Lennix in this movie. In terms of the film score, I'm glad that the cool music (composed by Hans Zimmer) that we heard in Man of Steel's various theatrical trailers were actually in the movie itself. Of course, what would you expect from a flick that's produced by Christopher Nolan...who also managed to feature Zimmer's music for Inception and The Dark Knight in their respective previews as well.
All-in-all, Man of Steel could've been better. However, I'm excited to see what Snyder has in store for us in the next installment of the Superman franchise. Though as I mentioned numerous times already, Snyder's treatment of CGI in this film makes it very unlikely that you'll see Christian Bale's version of Batman showing up in a Justice League movie anytime soon—assuming that Snyder was involved with that much-anticipated project and was planning to show off extravagant visual effects in this flick as well. Marvel is miles ahead in terms of bringing its various comic book properties to the big screen successfully (both artistically and financially), so let's treat Man of Steel for it is: A worthy take on Superman and a sign of how close his potential is to being fully realized at the cinemas...once more. Carry on.
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