Man of Steel

I think this marks a record for the number of movies I’ve seen in one week. Last night I took my little brother and his friend to see “Man of Steel.” Even though it was the first day the movie came out, we went to watch the movie in 3D and that showing wasn’t sold out. Usually I’m not a fan of 3D movies – they make me feel dizzy and disoriented – but we had to get the kiddos home in time.

I have to say I was a bit disappointed by “Man of Steel.” Compared to some of the recent comic book movies that have come out this past year (The Avengers, Iron Man 3, The Amazing Spiderman, The Dark Knight Rises), “Man of Steel” lacked plot depth. While Henry Cavill is an extremely good -looking Superman, he’s missing some of the idiosyncrasies that make Superman “lovable.” While the 2006 “Superman Returns” movie focuses on Clark Kent as a somewhat dorky individual who believably hides his identity behind his newspaper desk job, the Cal-El in “Man of Steel” seems too confident to be able to hide behind a news reporter façade. Furthermore, if Lois Lane is so easily able to track down Kent to be the superhero, wouldn’t it be equally easy for any other curious soul to find out who Superman was as well?

Cavill also lacks sufficient dialogue, with most of his lines some parts cliché and some parts asinine. I actually cannot remember one memorable line that he says. Instead, General Zod seems to be the most eloquent of all the characters. When your villain is the best spoken over your protagonist, it’s hard not to view the hero as just a bumbling fool with a great body. As succinctly put by a fellow critic on Rotten Tomatoes, “Abs of Steel, not a Script of Steel.”

In my humble opinion, “Man of Steel” lacks what makes most superheroes interesting: personality. Driven by a quest to find his origins and past, Clark Kent’s character growth stops when he discovers an old scout ship and meets his father. I think meeting a holographic version of your father in a ship that has technology decades more advanced than Earth’s would at least illicit some sort of shock or surprise, but instead Kent is absurdly calm and accepting of everything his “so called” father says. Gullible or trusting? Your call.

What “Man of Steel” lacks in story and character more than makes up for in explosions and computer effects. Zack Snyder (best known for films like 300 and Sucker Punch) has spared no expense in the film and there are enough explosions to make a whole other film. I’m not sure “Man of Steel” will have a sequel but if it does, it has a lot of catching up to do. While it has laid sufficient groundwork to explain the origins of Superman and Clark Kent, it has not yet captivated audiences with a stirring storyline or engaging characters.