Movie review: Man of Steel

I am so happy to live in a time now where super hero comic book movies are the big movie events every summer. I remember seeing the old Batman movies, then when X-men rolled out, and now this is a regular thing. These are epic stories with DECADES of history behind them. I love to watch other people’s interpretation of what I’ve also read, but sometimes I think writers and producers may have bitten off a little more than they could chew – which is my opinion of Superman: Man Of Steel.

Warning: Spoilers throughout this review!

I’m going to go a little neck beardy here over comic book storytelling, so I want to say upfront that I did enjoy the movie. I don’t regret going, and would have happily given my $10 to see it! That said… this isn’t a superhero movie you take your 7 yr old kid to. S/he is going to get SUPER bored real quick (pardon my pun). Man of Steel is a two and a half hour movie that is arguably 3 movies worth of plot, sprinkled with incredibly big fight scenes.

I’m making the assumption that most of you know the story of Superman more or less (Alien from Krypton raised on Earth, now a protector of humanity); but I think this movie tried to cover too many origin stories at once. Man of Steel incorporates the history of Clark Kent (his childhood, how he learned of his heritage, how he came to grips with having powers); The movie also covers how Clark Kent decided to become Superman and protect Earth, and lastly the movie also covers the epic villain you may recognize from the old Superman 2 movie – General Zod. That is a LOT to cover, even if your movie is two and a half hours long.

I can hand wave how some things didn’t make sense (it is a comic book movie after all), but there are other bits of the movie that just kept bothering me. General Zod is trying to recreate Krypton because their planet was destroyed by the idiotic decision to mine the core of their own planet thereby blowing it up. One of my questions is, if Jor’El (Superman’s father) knew that Kal’el (Superman) would thrive on Earth due to it’s young sun and radiation…. why wouldn’t they have thought to terraform an Earth-like planet to recreate Krypton, where they would essentially all be gods long before blowing up their own planet?? Zod and his other military flunkies who are searching for Kal’el and the secrets his parents sent to earth with him, have a difficult time transitioning to Earth’s gravity and air for a few minutes… but they would rather destroy all that and give up being gods? I don’t buy that one.

I also really didn’t understand where the relationship was forged between Lois Lane and Kal’el/Clark Kent. She is the intrepid reporter who sussed out who he truly is, and within…. time is nebulous in this movie, but what seems like a period of a couple of days and only seeing him a handful of times, she ends up making out with him while standing in the partial ruins of Metropolis. It seemed like there was more passion and romance in the original Speed movie than in Man of Steel! Also, yay you saved the day! But, even still, maybe making out with your new lady friend while surrounded by the THOUSANDS killed in the battle over Metropolis may not be the way to go. Just sayin’.

I know I sound like i’m bitching a lot – and I did enjoy watching Superman, but I think this movie tried to cover too much, and failed because they tried to stuff 3 movies into one session. Superman isn’t really my cup of tea (as i’ve said before, i’m really more of a Batman fan), but even as  a DC fan girl, I think Marvel has been consistent in telling great stories in a way that translates really well into the movie medium far more than DC has been doing as of late. While I am drooling over the possibility of a live action Justice League movie (PLEASE!!), I hope that it turns out a little bit more like the Avengers than this Superman movie.