The new Superman film helmed by Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan endeavours to reboot the franchise in this loud action-packed origins story.
The last Superman film to date was Bryan Singer's largely
overlooked Superman Returns(2006) - a
much darker, more subversive film than many gave it credit for. Snyder's new movie
wants us to forget about red underpants and attempts to wipe the slate clean
on the franchise, focusing on the genesis of the Kryptonian superhero. The
high-water mark for reimagining a superhero franchise is Christopher Nolan's
Batman Begins(2005) and it is particularly interesting that Nolan is back with ‘Dark
Knight’ screenwriter David S. Goyer for Snyder's new movie; With Nolan and
Goyer’s demonstrable ability to reinvent a superhero as interestingly as they
did with Christian Bale’s Batman, one would expect a similar level of
innovation in Man of Steel.
Synder’s origins tale begins as war and destruction is breaking
out on Krypton – lit in refulgent gold light where dialogue takes place on
top of huge towering structures as spaceships and winged beasts fill the frame
- Synder’s vision of Krypton is at once awesome and spectacular and overly
cluttered and indulgent. However, the elaborate CGI vista is just the backdrop
for depicting the escape of Krypton’s first naturally born child in years as
the planet subsequently explodes. The narrative shifts to Smallville
where the baby (Cal-El on Krypton, Clark Kent on earth) is raised after his
adoptive parents discover a crashed alien spaceship.
Man of Steel is a complicated film and not necessarily complicated
in an intelligent way.Superman’s story is deliberately made more difficult and convoluted than it needs to be; the Superman ‘S’ no longer means
‘S’ for Superman and whenever the word ‘Superman’ is uttered – it is said out
almost out of embarrassment. The film is preoccupied with the fact that Superman
is a superhero on earth because the atmosphere is richer which makes him
stronger because gravity is lighter. The problem is is that although the first
hour of the Man of Steel fleshes out the character with lots of plot exposition, I never felt truly engaged or invested in the character in the same way as I
was totally invested in, for example, the first hour of Batman Begins. Although
there is a lot of plot to get through and Snyder certainly has an affection for the story he's telling, the nonlinear structure of the origins narrative makes it difficult to get emotionally involved
in the superman character. Superman’s formative
years are mainly told through a flashbacks inter-cut with the present-day narrative which prevents you from
feeling the true trajectory of the character developing and therefore limits you from becoming truly immersed in the emotions because of this lack of continuity. There are individual scenes,
particularly with Kevin Costner, that have a sepia-lit, melancholic lightness of touch - but these moments are not sustained long enough to evoke anything particularly riveting.
On the upside, Man of Steel is certainly impressive to look at.
Snyder is a director who is very interested in visuals and it is true that he
does have a flair for creating arresting images onscreen. Whereas
previously the director had just been interested in meretricious surfaces and
lavish imagery – in the case of the fatuous Sucker Punch – the new
Superman film does match the CGI tricks with some kind of thematic substance. This
evocation of Superman is fallible and despite the fact that he isn’t human, he
is still subject to very human emotional frailties. British actor Henry Cavill
has the ability to convey a level of convincing naivety and sensitivity that is
crucially needed to humanise an apparently indestructible man. The third act is a totally explosive orgy of devastation that starts off as a great piece of blockbuster spectacle, but descends into a baggy mess. The running time is overlong and Man of Steel
suffers from having to wrestle with so much plot and whereas the enjoyment is derived from the CGI spectacle, ultimately, the film spreads the drama a little too thin.
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