Review of Man of Steel

Man of Steel is not the disaster as others claim and it is certainly much better than Superman IV: Quest for Peace(almost anything is) but for me in a number of ways it was underwhelming. Granted the special effects are absolutely great, the climatic action sequence is the most genuinely thrilling the action gets and makes that of Avengers Assemble(which on the whole had much better-executed action and was a vastly superior film) seem tame in comparison, the flying scenes are cool and the scene of the sensory overload causing his powers is interesting. There are a few good performances, the best coming from Russell Crowe who plays Jor-El with dignity, Kevin Costner whose performance is very heartfelt and Michael Shannon who makes for a legitimately fierce villain. Henry Cavill is also very well-cast, he looks the part and is very reserved yet charismatic, he does a good job at showing Superman's pain. The rest of the cast are not as impressive, Amy Adams very shockingly is a blank as Lois and she is not helped by that she has nothing to do. Laurence Fisburne and Chris Meloni do their best but their characters are almost pointless, and while Diane Lane is charming she also has little to do. While the special effects are great the cinematography and editing are not, often having a dizzying and overblown effect with excessive shaking, in-your-face close-ups and abrupt zooms. Zack Snyder's style is not for everyone but his directing is leaden here and his style doesn't really come through. Hans Zimmer's score is disappointingly pedestrian and rather one-note mood-wise, very over-serious and with an attempt to be epic but never soaring. The sound is loud and noisy and often is so much that it induces a headache. And while I do like superhero films and action when done right, Man of Steel is a case of too much action that on the most part is too long-winded and rather repetitive in execution. There is a complete lack of emotional connection(even in Jonathan Kent's father's death), the romance is contrived, the characters are standard clichés with little personality or development and much of the dialogue is forced. The story is filled with overlong exposition, as admirable as showing Superman's origins are in flashback it does cause the film to lose momentum, and is so scattershot in structure and jumps around so much it is not always easy to decipher what's happening. All in all, not a terrible film but a long way from super. 4/10 Bethany Cox