Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Thought-provoking review of "Man of Steel" (SPOILERS)

Special Mention: Most Disappointing and Heartbreaking Film Of 2013:

Man Of Steel (Warner Bros.)
If I were to pick the “most disappointing” and “most soul-crushing” film of 2013, this would be the easy call. But it’s not the worst film of the year and it would be disingenuous for me to call it as much. There is too much to appreciate, from the performances (Henry Cavill, Diane Lane, etc.) to the production design and special effects to Hans Zimmer’s chest-thumping score to the sci-fi crazy opening reel on Krypton, for me to state that it is among “the worst” of anything. But the film is a colossal creative miss and made me sadder than any other film this year. To wit:

Its script fails to let its characters actually converse with each other. The busy Kryptonian prologue makes the explosion of Krypton is the fourth-most important plot development. It utterly fails to pay-off the whole “How will Earth react to Superman?” question that is the driving force of the film’s first hour. It makes Clark directly responsible for the carnage that Zod rains down upon Metropolis.

It has an action finale that’s technically impressive but only enjoyable if you ignore the horrifying civilian body count. It sidelines Lois Lane into “love interest” and “damsel-in-distress”. It turns Jor-El into a video game guide character. It randomly kills off two of its best character actors (no spoilers, but you’ll know when you see). Its third act treats Kal El like Godzilla in a “vs” kaiju film while still pretending to tell a story about the idea of Superman as an inspiration to humanity.

This was a film that played to all of the worst (and usually false) stereotypes of its creators. It was grim and humorless (producer Chris Nolan), full of book report expository monologues (writer David Goyer), and big-scale action that didn’t emotionally engage (director Zack Snyder). I have no objection with the notion of making a Superman origin story that’s closer to a “first contact” alien invasion thriller. But the film still pretends to be the great inspirational Superman myth it was selling while still (and I can’t stress this enough) making Superman responsible for Zod’s city-wide destruction.

It put me in a genuine film-related funk for a couple weeks for what it said about the future of the DC Comics cinematic universe. The film opened with a stunning $128 million but quick-killed to $291m domestic and $662m worldwide, It was a solid number for the $225m picture, but you know Warner Bros. saw the writing on the wall when they decided to add Batman (and now Wonder Woman) to the next installment. Now I’m optimistic and I’ll be the first to admit if Man Of Steel 2: Not Necessarily The Justice League turns it around.

I believe that the director of The Prestige (if he’s involved anymore), the writer of Dark City, and the director of Sucker Punch (yeah, I’m the guy who loves Sucker Punch) have at least a chance at righting this ship for the long haul. But if Man Of Steel, laughably grim and gritty with good actors given little to do and a world where Superman is still an alleged inspiration for humanity despite causing the deaths of over 100,000 people, is the future of the DC Comics film universe, then I’ll just stick with Arrow.