Man of Steel

1978’s Superman is basically the nucleus for the modern comic book movie, and also defined many elements of the character that persist in all portrayals to this day. The movie is still a joy to watch, as is its first sequel. But the movies are quite dated, and not just because of the old technology, fashion, and special effects on display. They’re very obviously the Gold and Silver Age Superman, with a lighter tone, a hero with no character flaws, and villains more dastardly than truly evil. In today’s comics climate, such works seem like relics. The 2006 quasi-sequel/reboot Superman Returns tried to be a love letter to this incarnation of the character, and it failed (though for other reasons, too). The Modern Age of comics started in the 1980s, so a complete overhaul of the character is long overdue.

Not as easy as it sounds, however. Many writers have had great difficulty bringing the Last Son of Krypton back to the screen (the myriad of cancelled projects leading up to Superman Returns can attest to that). The biggest hurdle seems to be making a nearly invincible being seem human. But moreover, how do you get such a moral, clean-cut character to fit in amongst the grittier, flawed heroes in this generation of comic book movies?

The Dark Knight’s Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer and Watchmen director Zack Snyder certainly try with Man of Steel. The result is a very mixed bag.

The picture retells the origin of the title character: born Kal-El on the doomed planet Krypton, sent to Earth by his parents Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) before the planet’s destruction, and raised  as Clark Kent in Smallville, Kansas, by all-American parents Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane). The majority of time is spent in the present, as Clark (Henry Cavill) searches for some explanation of where he came from and why he has superpowers. He eventually finds out after finding a crashed Kryptonian ship containing the essence of his birth father, but activating the ship brings the attention of General Zod (Michael Shannon) and his crew of Kryptonian warriors, who were banished from their homeworld for attempting a coup shortly before its destruction. Zod not only wants Clark to join them, but also to remake Earth in Krypton’s image. Clark (he’s not referred to as “Superman” until late in the film) instead chooses to protect his adopted planet, and the film becomes a darker, steroid-pumped remake of Superman II.

The 20-or-so-minute prologue on Krypton has the look of an epic fantasy world, but is muddled in the incoherent CGI action of Michael Bay and acted with dialogue as stiff and silly as Snyder’s crap-epic 300. Things get a little better from there. Clark’s childhood in Smallville is shown in anecdotal flashbacks. Some of these work well (a scene of him in grade school struggling to cope with his heightened senses is an interesting touch). Others don’t. As a whole, these flashbacks are too piecemeal and inconsistent to be very compelling on either an excitement or emotional level. A regular linear narrative might have worked more effectively.

The present-day content is slightly better, but also falters. I can forgive the fact that Cavill is a more angsty Clark Kent than most interpretations, because even Superman must have been a young man trying to find his way in the world at one point. What I can’t overlook is constant CGI and relentless action trumping story and character. Yes, the individual fights between Superman and Zod and his minions in Smallville and Metropolis are pretty entertaining by themselves. But there are so many that at least one of them could have been taken out, and some more dramatic substance put back in. Putting them all at once for 45 minutes nonstop is also more than just headache-inducing like a typical summer blockbuster that goes on too long; by the time the credits rolled, I felt like my skull had cracked like an egg.

This unrelenting action assault makes for a grimmer experience unbecoming of the character. There’s no sign of the Superman who does amazing feats that admittedly flout science and the laws of physics but are awe-inspiring nonetheless (like, say turning back time by reversing Earth’s orbit), or the blue boy scout who drops in to save the day, or even just do a small good deed like saving a cat stuck in a tree. On the other hand, maybe this is just a sign of where movies are at now: So jaded by antiheros that there’s no place for a protagonist so noble and pure, and so overexposed to CGI that even things that sound amazing will seem like just another run-of-the-mill computer effect (another reason why Superman Returns failed). But they could have at least tried to wow us or feature something inspiring, instead of just reel-to-reel destruction for nearly a third of the movie.

Such action overload also leaves little time for any real acting, even from a cast of great names. Crowe brings a serious actor’s dignity to Jor-El, and Amy Adams makes a good, much more participatory Lois Lane (Lane has known Supes’ secret identity in the modern DC continuity for over 20 years, so instead of waiting and building up to a big reveal, the film has her know the truth from the start). Both, however, just seem to be working around the effects department, filling in the blanks when they need a real body to deliver lines convincingly. Other talents, like Laurence Fishburne as Daily Planet Editor-In-Chief Perry White and Lane and Costner as the Kents, seem wasted completely.

The only real standout supporting role is Shannon, whose Zod is the best Superman villain ever to hit the screen (not much of a contest considering the lightness of the predecessors, but still). He’s undeniably the bad guy, but we can at least understand his motivations and way of thinking, in contrast to the simple maniacal portrayal by Terrence Stamp in 1980. A little more backstory would have been nice, but his character is the only one in the film who reaches any depth, or at least comes close to it. Tragically, his arc concludes in a rather unsatisfying and lame fashion, which also has Supes crossing a line that’s always been a big no-no for the character.

As Clark Kent, Cavill is yet another sullen, stoic hero that we’ve seen too much of in comics, and movies in general. Give me the nerdy, laughably meek Clark Kent any day (in addition to being the definitive Superman, Christopher Reeve was also the consummate Clark Kent). But when he dons the cape and costume, and delivers lines with conviction and authority, I must admit he sells it very well. Not as well as Reeve, but he’s still a believable Superman.

In spite of everything, this gives me hope for the sequel already on the horizon. So does the fact that the film’s faults are aesthetic ones, not because of some inherent flaw in the character’s mythos. To the filmmakers’ credit, the movie does succeed in bringing the Man of Steel into the Modern Age, even with its failings as a work of cinema. Maybe, with less computer-generated mayhem, more plot and character development, and—for the love of  Zod!—some sense of fun, the next one could be the great Superman picture we’ve been waiting for.

Until then, I’m sticking with the Christopher Reeve classics.