That second or third first time I discussed earlier? Well, this was my FIRST first time for a Superman movie, so my anticipation was pretty high, this was going to be the benchmark by which I judge all future Superman films (or past, apparently the first two films from the '70s are excellent). Even some early jeers from the Zack Snyder hater nation didn't faze me (I was kind of middle of the road on Snyder before this movie: Dawn of the Dead is gory fun, the part of me that thought 300 was a great movie died long ago, Watchmen is extremely heavy-handed and uneven in tone but I will contend that the revisionist-60's opening credits sequence is quite lovely).
The movie opens with Superman (Kal-El, given name) entering the world, as the world he's entering is crumbling to pieces. The planet Krypton looks like a haunted, super-sized Grand Canyon and its native people have exhausted its natural resources, and its doom is all but certain. Kal's birth is significant in that there hasn't been one on the planet in many years, and his father Jor-El (Russell Crowe) intends on protecting him from the vigilant General Zod (Michael Shannon), who is planning an overthrow of the government, by instilling the Kryptonian genetic code into his son and sending him to a distant planet. Jor is killed by Zod, but not before Kal is sent in a tiny pod with the future of the race embedded with him. As the prologue concluded with Krypton exploding and Zod off to space jail, I was engaged in the possibilities of what would transpire on Earth with an adult Kal, and my doubts about Snyder's visual approach for a story of this scale were, for the time, halted.
Fast forward 33 years later, and we see Kal aka Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), working on an oil rig, grizzled and built like a redwood, forced to squat a falling tower to save a couple ungrateful workers. The tonnage upon his back and the fact that he's engulfed in flames leave little mystery left to the height of his powers, he's indestructible. This is the first of several no-nos that Snyder chooses in starting with fully-formed Superman and reverting to flashbacks to show his parents' (the perfectly cast Kevin Costner & Diane Lane) attempt to help him harness and hide his abilities from the world as he first starts to learn that he has them. Jumbled narrative, for movies that use it correctly, should propel the momentum of the plot forward (Pulp Fiction would not work as a chronological story), not hinder it. This is where some of the most striking, "God's Country" Malick-esque images of Kansas you may recognize from the trailer happen, so the flashbacks weren't a total misfire. The story would have functioned just as well, or perhaps better, starting with Clark as a kid, so throttling back and forth in time only serves to distance ourselves from the adult Cavill, and makes us care less about his "finding yourself" nomadic journey.He does finally discover his real history up in Alaska while working for an archaeological crew who ponder correctly that there's an otherworldly ship underneath a glacier. Among that crew is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Lois Lane (Amy Adams). It is in the ancient ship that Clark meets the specter of his real father who re-tells, through a granular module, the fallen history of Krypton. This isn't a huge dilemma, except we already know what happens to Krypton from the movie's inception, so it's only for Kal's purpose. The writer David Goyer, who co-penned the Dark Knight trilogy and his script here is by far the best that Snyder's worked with, needed to cut out either the prologue, or have Jor explain the backstory to Kal off-screen. Exposition is a necessary evil in most studio movies. It should always be limited to what's necessary, and should never be repeated as it is here.
The two Els travel to a desert planet for the obligatory training sequence. This is where the visual effects are best utilized, as Clark learns to fly straight, like a kid who's had his training wheels taken off, with astonishing velocity and power. Good thing this kid is modest because he truly knows now that he has no limits. Meanwhile, Zod is hightailing it to Earth after breaking free from the outer-limits pen, and intends to re-start the Kryptonian race after wiping out humans first. Once Clark dons the crimson and blue, the allegories between Superman and the most famous Savior in history are overbearing. From his messianic age of 33 to his father's sermon of destiny to the stained glass depiction that's directly behind Clark's head in one shot to Clark's cross-like body position as he floats in space before rocketing back to Earth, Snyder is all but drowning you in holy water. The likeness between Jesus and Superman is so deeply inherent in the myth itself, so you feel like Snyder either thinks we're dumb or he doesn't trust himself as a storyteller to get across what Superman means to the human race. Either way, it's a turnoff for the audience. However, unlike Christ, Clark is not a man. Jor predicts for Kal in the prologue that humans "will worship him". Not exactly. Kal/Clark has been too busy running away from humans after they inevitably are witness to one of his godly physical feats. (Even Lois is trying to hunt him down the whole movie after a peek at his abilities, which is why the meek attempt at a romance near the end feels forced.) His whole life has been repressing his emotions when facing antagonizers (which seems to be EVERY place for Clark) because he knows how easily he could waste them. There is nothing the film depicts that makes us believe Clark would want to save humanity, which seems like kind of the whole point of the story. Again, I haven't seen any of the previous incarnations of Superman, but I know that they include Clark Kent working in the Daily Planet and flirting with Lois and intermingling with co-workers. It's clear to me now that you can't remove that part of the story. How else will Clark have believable sympathy for people when they need his help? Of course he does end up saving them, because we need to cross the bridge to Superman 2 somehow.
Zod lands with his gang of turtle-shell armored Kryptons in Smallville, where Clark is reconnecting with Moms. The military has gotten the heads-up about the impending attack, and set up some artillery on Main Street, but of course get throttled by Zod's female No. 2 before Clark comes in to finish her off. This display of re-directing bullets and tossing of soldiers like they're shot puts results in downtown Smallville being levelled, and the wreckage is enough of a climax for two movies. It could have stopped here in Mid-America with Superman and Zod duking it out. Snyder could have saved his big guns for the sequel, but instead he withdraws an atomic bomb. Naturally, Zod escapes Clark long enough to set up a vacuum laser right on the coast of Metropolis, which proceeds to demolish skyscraper after skyscraper. Disaster porn would be a wrong way to describe this, because porn is implicitly supposed to be enjoyed. Snyder's evocation of the deadly attack on a major city is so clearly meant to be entertaining, but instead, you're coughing up dust like the citizens that he so purposefully shows screaming in the streets, and who must be occupying these falling buildings. By the time the laser has been shut down, and Superman and Zod tackle each other through whatever concrete and glass is left standing for the 100th 9/11 re-enactment, you're not just exhausted by the annihilation, you're imprisoned by it. You wonder why Supeman doesn't fly off into space to avoid more obliteration, I mean Zod would follow him wherever he goes. Zod's final extermination is so unoriginal and dumb, but you barely have the energy to scoff. The aftermath is almost worse in that there is no remorse, no sign of rebuilding and unifying as a city, which Christopher Nolan would always do with the chaos his villains laid down. From using the same screenwriter and composer to the dark tone, it's apparent Snyder wished to Nolan-ize his movie, but he lacks the sensibility that Nolan has to show the significance of the sacrifice that superheroes, and heroes in general, make. By all accounts, Snyder's Superman stopped Zod, but is he even important to the people he saved? Do they even know who he is? You have to give credit to Snyder for going all out, but it's clear after Man of Steel that his ambition is farther than his reach as an artist.
Cavill certainly looks the part and has leading-man charisma, but you never feel any moral dilemma with him. He never questions why he shouldn't save Earth, he's never too angry at Zod. It's not enough that he loves his mom, he never feels like a true patriot and defender of people. Conversely, Michael Shannon doesn't have a screw loose to wrap his grip around, which he really needs. He excels most at the mumbler with the distorted face (Boardwalk Empire, Take Shelter) or the loudmouth who has no filter (Revolutionary Road). He has nothing psychological to play with, so you're never really scared of the boundaries Zod will cross to get what he wants, his lack of craziness doesn't allow him to think out of the box the way memorable villains do. Other amazing actors might as well be stand-ins: Crowe does an Obi-Wan Kenobi impression the whole movie, Adams is the damsel-in-distress that Clark always has to save, Laurence Fishburne as Adams' boss is pulling people out of the rubble but you see too little of him to care that he's a good citizen. The underusing of big names seems to be Snyder saying, "Ah, I'll worry about the characters in the next one." Unfortunately, Snyder saved the wrong aspect of his first movie for the next one.
I know it seems like I've been trashing the movie this whole time, but up until the Metropolis fiasco, I was not hating it. In retrospect, I'm giving it some leniency because I really like the myth itself, and the spectacle of Supeman being super, when he's not smashing into buildings and killing innocent people, and Clark finally having a reason to care about people by starting work at the Daily Planet (which is somehow the only building still standing) at the film's conclusion was enough for me to go see the sequel. But I'm not exactly counting down the clock until it's released (and with the news from Comic-Con that the sequel is going to be essentially Superman vs. Batman, my interest is waning at light speed). As a franchise filmmaker, it is your job to make us want to see the sequel, not force us to go see it because you didn't give us enough of what we deserved. The Superman package is a sleek, shiny fast vehicle, and with the right driver, I believe it can provide sensational thrills. Time to hand the keys over, Zack.
2.5 out of 4
@arm2001
