After
Earth. World War Z. Fast and Furious 6. I’ve been somewhat disappointed by
films lately. I’ve either been warded off by bad trailers, or enticed by a good
trailer, and left the cinema massively underwhelmed. Enter Man of Steel.
Intense music. A power team combining Zack Snyder’s style, Christopher Nolan’s
direction and Hans Zimmer’s music promised something big, but I was worried
that I would once again be disappointed by what I saw.
I had
absolutely nothing to worry about whatsoever.
As I sat
down, popcorn in one hand, coke in the other, I was a little nervous. I really
wanted to enjoy this film, but I wasn’t sure if I would. Not only because of my
bad experiences in the cinema recently, but because of the unspeakable atrocity
that was Superman Returns. It seems now that Superman Returns was just an
unfortunate example. Man of Steel is a Superman film done right.
Straight
from the word go, Snyder flaunts his sizeable budget as we witness the
destruction of Krypton, and unlike other Superman films we see this in lots of
detail. Almost an entirely new origin story is told, and we see not only the destruction
of Krypton, but the battle between General Zod and Jor El, the effort Jor El
goes to in order to save his race, and even the birth of the Man of Steel
himself. Other things about Clark’s childhood
on earth is shown in flashback sequences, each that show some incredible feat
that he has achieved, and his father telling him that he must keep his powers a
secret.
Jump to
today. After being all heroic on a collapsing oil rig, Clark is trying to live his
life as a normal guy, avoiding trouble and hiding away as much as possible.
When he stumbles upon a Kryptonian ship and accidentally triggers a beacon, Zod
and his followers come to Earth to claim Clark for their own, hoping to use his
DNA to restore the Kryptonian race. Unfortunately, this means that we all have
to die, because Zod isn’t one to share a planet.
This leads
to some incredible action scenes. The last half hour shows off the size of
Snyder’s budget on this film, as an entire village and half of Metropolis get
absolutely obliterated. In having such a powerful hero squaring off against
such a powerful villain, collateral damage was obviously going to be high, but
the climax of the action is one of the most spectacular battles I’ve ever seen.
Henry
Cavill is also pretty damn great. He seems to have slipped into his role
easily, and really STEELS the show. Okay, that was terrible, but let’s just
focus on the simple fact that Henry Cavill is great. Micheal Shannon supports
as General Zod, and whilst he isn’t exactly Heath Ledger or Tom Hardy, he holds
his role up rather well.
My only
criticism is that the pacing is a little sloppy. The film isn’t too fast, or
too slow. The scenes are paced perfectly. Unfortunately, there is no
transition. The change is instantaneous, as it moves from slow to fast, calm to
action with very little build up. It doesn’t take away from the overall
experience, it’s just a little surprising.
But hey,
when a film is this good, you can look past the tiniest of flaws. Great action,
superb effects and a budget bigger than Simon Cowell’s self esteem all add up
to something pretty incredible, and I would be committing a crime against film
if I didn’t recommend it.
9.8/10
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