Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” takes aim but doesn’t quite hit the mark. Hello moviegoers, today I’ll be taking a look at “Man of Steel” which stars British actor Henry Cavil this time around as Clark Kent/Kal-El.
Cavil passes the test to don the red cape with flying colors in look and demeanor – though with a lot more muscle than previous actors. The first thirty minutes of the film gives us a well-crafted look at the soon to be doomed Krypton where natural childbirth is a rarity and fetuses are brought to term in pods with their destiny having been assigned to them.
“Man of Steel” (2 sweet potatoes out of four) Stars: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne; Director: Zack Snyder; Genre: Superhero, Sci-Fi Action; Rated PG-13; Runtime: 2 hours, 23 minutes; Opens Friday, June 14th
To save their son Jor-el (Russell Crow) who is deliberate as the science advisor and Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) send Kal-El to earth in a vessel where he is raise by John Kent (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) who give fine performances as the loving and encouraging parents of their special, adopted son.
From here, however, the movie soon takes on the feeling of a CGI-laden, action sequel that is cashing in on the success of the first film – but wait, that’s supposed to be this movie.
Don’t get me wrong ‘Man of Steel’ has its moments. Most of them come in a series of flashbacks that features young Clark (9 year old Clark Dylan Sprayberry and 13 years old Clark Cooper Timberline) who is empathetic and struggles with who he is, but is reassured by his earth parents.
As an adult, Clark lives as a do-gooder drifter before he is first tracked down by the intrepid Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who seemed miscast as Lois Lane but does give a steady performance. Clark is next tracked down by the other survivors of Krypton, the menacing General Zod (Michael Shannon) and his lieutenant Faora-Ul (Antje Traue) who is every bit as difficult as her General.
Zod promptly threaten to destroy the place if Clark doesn’t give himself up, which Clark does. The carnage that ensues when these kryptonians clash is mind-numbing as large swaths of the city and its residents are left in their wake.
Eventually, Clark with a hand from the earthlings’ military (who, for the time being has concluded the red and blue clad alien is not their enemy) are able to save what’s left of the city and the planet from Zod and his pals.
What is absent here is adventure and the kind of exploration and adventure by the our adult superhero, that would go a long way in creating a movie that can live up to the mythology of the greatest superhero of them all – if that is possible. ‘Man of Steel’ doesn’t quite hit the mark, but it just about hits everything else.
I settled on two sweet potatoes out of four for ‘Man of Steel’. This has been your resident moviegoer, and I’ll see you after the movies at moviegoersview.com.
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