Having been eagerly anticipating a Superman movie for this generation I was delighted when news of a brand spanking new series was coming around, one devoid of anything related to the Christopher Reeve era. My expectations were somewhat reserved however when Zach Snyder was named director, but with Chris Nolan's name attached I was willing to give Snyder the benefit of the doubt once more. The result is a film that is most definitely mixed, equal parts of brilliance and mediocrity, of dullness and spectacle, of heart and brainlessness.
First things first the story has problems. In placing so much emphasis on the spectacle the film loses steam with an under developed and compressed journey for Clark. The opening on Krypton feels completely pointless and really does nothing more than get the film off to a bad start showing us not much other than some flashy visuals and some hollow emotional moments. The pointlessness of this sequence is emphasized when the hologram Jor-El shows Clark the history of Krypton meaning more time could have been spent building Clark journey instead of wasting time on his home planet. There's an underlying journey here that could easily have been explored a hell of a lot more but it's almost as if only 2 acts of a movie were written given the last act is essentially a short action film. One of the big themes I was hoping for was the Father-Son relationship but it never hit the highest it frankly should have.
The pacing in Clark story is just so off, one minute he's on an oil rig, the next he's in the Arctic finding his roots, then all of a sudden he's Superman, and before you know it Zod turns up and all hell breaks loose, all in the blink of an eye. What is so frustrating is there are really good scenes within this film, but they are presented to us in a way that doesn't do them justice. There is a genuine attempted to tell a Superman story that is full of depth and emotion but it never hits the heights it sets out to hit.
Cavill is good as Clark, but he is hampered by the story, I've long had a problem connecting to Superman as a character and sadly Cavill doesn't fix that problem, most of that however I don't put on his shoulders, with a better story he could very well have made a fantastic Superman, but ultimately the mark he's left isn't one that will be remembered in years to come. Amy Adams is good as always, and she does have chemistry with Cavill but their relationship doesn't reach its full potential. Michael Shannon as Zod is good, if a little over the top, Russell Crowe is good, as is Kevin Costner and Diane Lane for what little time they had. Antje Traue was without doubt the surprise package of the film.
Special effects wise there's nothing to complain about, the last hour is pure spectacle, beautiful to watch at times but also tedious in its length. The amount of destruction is the likes of which we've never seen in a superhero film yet it over stays it welcome, by the time Superman and Zod start duking it out much of the novelty has worn off and you're kinda wanting the end credits to start. That's not to say there aren't some great heart pounding moments, it's fantastic to see Superman throwing punches for once, but it's more a case of overkill than anything else, again more time could have been used to ensure the story had a more solid foundation than showing us another building collapsing.
Overall, it's hard not to be disappointed with this film, it's not quite sure if it's trying to be pure spectacle or an emotionally resonating journey of a man trying to find out who he is, in the end we get a muddle mix of both that has great moments intertwined with moments that are truly lacking. The film is ok and not nearly as bad as some have made it out to be, the criticisms labeled against it have been overblown, but I think it's because underneath the surface a really good film exists, in much better hands it could have been brilliant. As for Zach Snyder, all I can say is my fears for this film were justified, Snyder might have an eye for visuals, but his ability to tell an engaging story is sorely lacking.
6/10
I genuinely wanna understand.
