Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne
Running time: 143 minutes
Every summer we got the treat we are looking for. Resting our logic and surrender to the awesomeness of explosion, three act story and fantastic superheroes. Man of Steel is one of them and personally I liked the film although I had some disappointments too.
Man of Steel refused to call itself Superman, and this is good. Re booting a very familiar cape hero is also something nice. I liked it how David Goyer and Zach Snyder strips everything we are familiar about Clark Kent/Superman and use flashback to tell the story.
The experience every individuals watching Man of Steel may vary, those who loved the comics will out it apple-to-apple with the comic (I myself does not read the comic at all), and those who loved Richard Donner's Superman the movie might hate it. Superman doesn't kill so they say.
But they forgot that "this" Superman is grounded in reality where even a hero must chose who to save and what to fight and most of the time, the choice is very slim and difficult. As for the story, the last 30 minutes seems rushed, the action scenes are too much (well what do you expect? Some teenagers want their money worth spend, so give them destruction). No need to tell the story here Zack Snyder, working with a script by David Goyer and Christopher Nolan, embraces the myth of Superman with a realistic understanding of how to present it in a modern way. Superman does not need to save a cat from a tree, or a kid from a burning building, here he must find himself, chose his destiny and must face the reality that although he is "super", the world might not ready for an almost undefeated hero like him.
Some performances are strong, like from Kevin Costner as Pa Kent who can shows that he is a loving father and Diane Lane as Ma Kent who is compassionate. As for the main star, Henry Cavill, he is just average. The music score is amazing, in some scenes it can make you believe that a man can fly. In general, although it has some flaws in storytelling, Snyder manages to tell a human story of an alien from Krypton who came to save us all. Isn't it nice to have a superhero someday?
