After a decade of this movie being out I finally watched it. I don’t know what people were saying about it back then, but I can confidently say that I enjoyed this movie and I would put the story up there with Superman and Lois’s story, which I think very highly of. The Man of Steel follows a Clark Kent who hasn’t found himself yet, but is on the hunt too. We follow him on his journey to find out about Krypton, his parents and their cruel fates. The story sees Clark Kent become Superman and the choice he has to make between kryptonians and humans. Henry Cavill did a fantastic job as Superman in this movie, and with Zack Snyder bringing the character a newer more realistic point of view I think this is a great origin story for a great Superman.
I don’t know who came up with everything for this movie, but with Zack Snyder being the director, obviously a lot of the credit must go to him. I really enjoyed the story of the fear behind Superman at first with Lois wanting everybody to tell the story of Clark, but with Perry White telling her, “Can you imagine how people on this planet would react if they knew there was someone like this out there?” and Clark telling her, “My father believed that if the world found out who I really was, they'd reject me...out of fear.” I know that if an alien with unrivaled superpowers was on this Earth I would be at least a bit apprehensive at first too. But I love that Snyder took this into account and used that to make Superman have to prove his good intentions. In the interrogation scene, when Superman so easily rips the handcuffs in two, I believe that that was a good setup for later, as Colonel Hardy (played by Christopher Meloni, who is great in Law & Order: Organized Crime by the way) saw the pure strength of Superman and how if he wanted to he could tear us all to pieces, so when we get to the fight scene in Smallville with Faora and the other big bad guy, and he sees three beings with unrivaled strength to us humans, he takes his chance at taking all three of them out, but after seeing Superman save him and another soldier, he declares Superman is not our enemy. These scenes really bring together what I believe makes this Superman story much more realistic than others as we see Superman have to earn the trust of humanity and go from being seen as a threat to a hero.
I do think that the relationship between Lois and Clark fell a little flat for me, as I don’t feel that much build up. I can understand why Clark automatically fell in love with Lois as she was the first person outside of his parents to see the true him and not fear him for what he can do, but want to share it with the world because of how amazing she thinks he is. On the other hand, Lois falls for Clark immediately and I just didn’t feel that connection between them, at least from her end. I think Amy Adams did a solid job as Lois Lane, however I am more partial to Elizabeth Tulloch’s portrayal in Superman & Lois, as I feel we just get more personality from her and more reporterness, which I would not say is a fault of Amy Adams, but was the role she was given. I would have to say that this movie lives and dies with Superman as he is like 90% of this movie, and the other storylines and characters make up that 10%. Luckily, Henry Cavill did a fantastic job as Superman, so this movie succeeds, but with this movie being a part of the DCEU, later scenes like in the Snyder Cut when Clark gets brought back to humanity by seeing and remembering Lois feel undeserved. Now I haven’t watched Batman V. Superman yet, so maybe my opinion will change, but that’s where it’s at right now.
Speaking of Henry Cavill…I have always thought he was a great Superman. He feels like Superman in this movie. Again as this movie lives and dies with Superman, I have to say that it definitely lived, in thanks to the performance by Henry Cavill. He felt uber confident, which as someone who can’t be stopped by a normal human they probably should be. I will also add that young Clark Kent (Dylan Sprayberry) did a great job too and felt super awkward and unconfident, which is what someone who’s an alien teenager with superpowers should feel like. But back to Henry Cavill, I will only slightly touch on the drama between Cavill and Warner Bros. and DC, but I think it would be stupid not to bring him back if he wants to come back. If he doesn’t want to downt the symbol anymore then by all means replace him, but after watching his performance in this movie and having seen the Snyder Cut about a year ago, I think he is a fantastic Superman, who could still be the face of the DC rebirth, or whatever they decide to do.
A movie is only as good as its villain. With Michael Shannon playing General Zod, I think he definitely gives this movie a boost. He was definitely more of a basic villain, but that’s all this movie needed. Zod had one line, “... I exist only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which I was born…” That really made me appreciate his character more. Kryptonians are more or less made than they are born, and this is what Zod was made to do. His character and the rest of Krypton shows why choice is so important, without it we become so dependent on what “we are supposed to be” that we don’t know what to do when what we are supposed to do is no longer an option. It almost mimics the statement said by Thor’s mother in Avengers Endgame, “Everyone fails at who they are supposed to be, Thor. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are.” This goes along with the entire conflict of the movie. Superman is supposed to be perfect. He’s supposed to be the savior of Krypton. And it isn’t until he accepts that he isn’t the savior of Krypton, can he become the bridge between Earth and Krypton.
Man of Steel is an underrated movie in my eyes, as I don’t see many people talking about it, or praising it for how good of an origin story it is for Superman. I didn’t even talk about the final scene between Zod and Superman. I thought this was another masterful display of Superman having to choose between krypton and humanity. The fight scenes were great and the CGI holds up even to this day. I never felt bored watching this movie, as I have with some other origin stories. I will talk about how it leads into Batman V. Superman after I watch it, but before watching BVS I don’t know if making Superman into this symbol of hope was the best thing to do, when you then turn around and pit him against your other greatest hero, but we’ll find out.
7.7/10 ☆
8.5/10 😁
I think this was a very good Superman movie and I know not everyone agrees with the depiction of Superman being darker, but considering the universe that this movie is in, the darker themes fit and I think to make a more realistic Superman movie it has to be darker because if the Earth was invaded by some of the strongest beings in any universe than there is going to be a lot of destruction, but the darker themes of this movie make this movie lower on the enjoyability scale because it’s not a feel good movie. The action scenes are great and Henry Cavill did a great job of honestly carrying this movie, and I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie and felt the stakes at hand, which is always a good thing and helps bring the story to the audience.
By: Mark Gonzalez
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