Before reading any further, I caution you. This review contains many spoilers, and I wish for all who watch any movie, good or bad, to make that decision on their own. Every movie should be watched for the sheer purpose of information and entertainment, thus should be enjoyed with an open mind. The same could be said for reading reviews :-) Always have an open mind...
On that note, what does it take to consider a movie a good movie? A large budget? An intricate storyline? Good looking actors and actresses? A good director? A writer that can take a known storyline and try to make it fit into our reality? The Man of Steel has all these things, so many consider it an amazing movie.
Unfortunately, while the movie is very entertaining, I felt that it was lacking in continuity and it was far from meeting my expectations.
Chris Nolan is known for taking a story that is far from the truth, and making the audience believe that it could be real. A great example is taking the Batman story and turning him into the Dark Knight. In this Gotham, all of Batman's wondrous toys could be found and explained in our reality. It was probably because of this expectation that I did not buy into the reality that was created for the Man of Steel.
The movie begins in Krypton. A beautifully dangerous world, where the the Kryptonian race had to develop and adapt to be able to survive in this harsher planet. Being a fan of super heroes in general, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Krypton and its last days, as well as a well thought out explanation to how our sun was really able to give Superman his powers. The controlling nature of the Kryptonians became the cause of their destruction. Forseeing this fate, Jor-El and his wife Lara created a child that had no pre-determined purpose, but would be able choose his own fate.
The idea of choosing your own fate and discovering your purpose in life is a common theme among storylines. As humans, we often have our own struggles trying to decide what we are meant to do with our life. There are many movies and storylines of artificial intelligence on that same quest. Why would Superman be exempt from this? It is in this struggle that I find my first flaw. Kal-El was supposed to be free to choose his own path and fate. Yet Jor-El had an intended fate for our hero, that he would be the bridge between the Kryptonians and the Earth's humans. He did not get to choose a life among the humans that he wanted because in his very DNA was every life that Krypton hoped to create. And while it may seem like our hero chose to be human over being Kryptonian, if one were to really think about this choice, it wasn't even made by him, it was made by the poor misunderstood General Zod: the man unable to think for himself for he was born with the purpose of preserving Krypton at any cost. Zod did not care about the destruction of anything in his path to restore his old home, and because of his blindness, Kal was forced to stop him to save earth. He did this by destroying Zod's hope for the restoration of Krypton. This seemed less like a choice, and more of an expectation that not only was put on him by his human family, but even his Kryptonian father. "You can save her, Kal. You can save all of them." was a quote from the memory of Jor-El. Way to make your son feel like he was born with a choice, Jor-El.
Almost all heroes have some sort of love interest. What is that saying? "The hero always gets the girl..." The love between Superman and Lois Lane is legendary. In all Superman stories, Lois was never one to sit around and wait to be saved. This movie made no exception. Not only was Lois brave and clever, she did not rest until she discovered the true identity of our hero. So right from the beginning, Lois knew who Superman was? Right down to calling him Clark? The Superman fan in me fought back a disappointed scream because here was a clever way to add more depth to Lois' story. But this put our beloved hero's love in danger from our own government when aliens threatened the planet.
According to this movie, if one person holds the answer that could potentially save the world, their response is to kidnap and arrest that person. Makes sense...But heaven forbid they be clever enough to hide her somewhere that a farm boy from Kansas can't find her. Kal-El was given 24 hours to turn himself in, so he was able to find Lois in no time at all. The ease of this definitely did not put my mind at ease. I would hope that if the fate of the entire planet were at stake, our government would do better to protect it.
After having found her, and offering to turn himself in, Superman's first meeting with other Kryptonians left me frustrated even more. They seemed to know that they should bring Lois with them How did they know this? Is Superman lacking in mind reading powers that the other Kryptonians seem to have? Not only that, but their ability to go into both Lois and Superman's minds and memories seems a bit more than any mere Kryptonian should have the ability to do. It makes me think that they may as well be related to the Martian Manhunter rather than Superman.
Anyways, after conveniently bringing Lois onto the ship, one that Superman has never before seen, since his only previous experience with Kryptonian ships were his own spaceship that brought him to earth and the droid ship that contained the consciousness of his father, he knew that Lois would be able to use the Key Code that held his father's consciousness? That is far fetched, even for Superman. But, if he were given the benefit of the doubt, that this key could save Lois, then I will move on.
Moving on to the "world." I love how there are three places in the entire world: some cold place like Antarctica, Metropolis, and Kansas. Because if you are to fall from outer space, these are the only places you will land. After having saved the planet from being turned into another Krypton with sever atmospheric conditions, Superman and Lois are about to share a passionate kiss, in Metropolis. But no! Zog remains alive and seemingly battles Superman around the world, only for that battle to conveniently end within running distance of where Superman had left Lois, as she was able to witness and comfort him as he chose to destroy the last of his kind. That is so convenient since it was just the support our super hero needed!
Overall, the movie was well paced and did not drag on as much as a two and half hour movie could potentially drag on...However, there were moments where even my love of Superman could keep entertained. At General Zod's return, all I wanted was for the movie to finally conclude. But that may have just been because I was drinking a large soda during the movie...
I do recommend others to see this movie, for it does hold a lot of surprises and does do justice for continuing Superman's story (as well as beginning his story). However, I do not see this movie as falling into one of the "great" categories of my list.
