MAN OF STEEL REVIEW
i´m not usually the "screw critics" kinda movie fan, I learned a lot about storytelling from reading reviews. But it doesn´t mean I have to agree with them. Maybe they´re jaded from so many superhero origin movies, which I understand, and I was even afraid of that aspect of MOS.
But the movie did overall a great job at avoiding the two things I was the most afraid of: feeling like a remake of the first two Supes movies and being too close to that infamous JJ Abrams script where Krypton didn´t explode and there was some prophecy BS. The movie presents everything again with a fresh take and, like Nolan´s Dark Knight trilogy, it borrows from all the best versions: as I was seeing, I was constantly thinking, "oh, that´s inspired by the Animated Series pilot, that´s a Mark Waid thing, that´s Jeph Loeb", etc.
Comparisons to Michael Bay are just stupid. This actually feels a lot like seeing those great no-nonsense sci-fi films from the late 1970s, early 1980s, like an Alien or a Close Encounters, but for the gamer generation (more on that later). Make no mistake, more than a superhero movie this is a sci-film, kinda like a modern take on things like The Day Earth Stood Still, and sci-fi is very much what Siegel and Schuster had in mind when they created Superman, there was no "superhero genre" before the character came out. Even the FX overall have a very gritty, naturalistic look.
The cast is all around great. Cavill is the right blend of masculine and powerful yet kind and vulnerable for a more humanized take on the character. This is not a darker or depressed Superman, but a conflicted one between two worlds, the dead one of Krypton that didn´t accept difference, and an Earth that hasn´t been too kind on him for it either. Amy Adams has a natural likability that makes Lois less bitchy and Michael Shannon is as commanding and intimidating as Zod must be, although this version has more understandable reasons and goals than the one from the 1980 movie.
Now, for the controversial ending: yes, we all know Supes is not supposed to kill, but in that situation he was like the police sniper: policemen are trained to avoid killing, but when the suspect is pointing a gun to an innocent hostage´s head and you have one shot to take him down, you take him down. And it´s not like he shrugged it off, it tore him apart to do it, but Zod forced his hand. One can argue Zod had a death wish, his whole purpose for existing was gone, he had nothing, he meant to push Supes to killing him while performing one last act of contempt for humankind.
Is it a flawless movie? No, maybe trying to overcompensate for all the complaints about lack of action in SR, it goes a little overkill in that area, although the action scenes themselves are quite impressive, the pacing is a little too breakneck sometimes, could allow the character bits to breathe a little more at times, as the romance between Supes and Lois feels a bit rushed. Could also have used a little more humor here and there.
But overall, I think the reboot is off to a great start and I can´t wait to see their versions of Luthor (some Brainiac, please), etc.
8 OUT OF 10
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