Movie Review - Man of Steel

So I went to see the new Superman movie "Man of Steel".

Let me start off by saying there was a lot that I liked in this movie.

At the same time I came away a little disappointed.

Superman movies suffer from a variety of challenges.  There's the whole "expectations" thing.  Those of us who have been fans all our lives.  Fans of the comic books, fans of the TV shows, fans of the movies.  And that's where the problems begin.  There's the whole question of what's "canon".

This movie tends toward the ponderous, the dialogue is a little awkward and it's rather preachy.

Oh, wait.

That's canon.

I really like this cast.  Henry Cavill does a nice job with Clark/Superman.  Amy Adams is quite acceptable as Lois Lane.  Kevin Costner does a nice turn as Pa Kent and Russel Crowe is fine as Jor-el.  Diane Lane plays Clark's mom.  Let's just say that I would gladly pay to watch Diane Lane fold socks.  The way they interact, the overall look.  All very nice.  They handle the canon issues nicely.  There is a lot to like here.

So why am I disappointed?  Let's look at the issues one at a time:

• It lacks a sense of humor.  This really is a canon issue.  Superman is inherently ridiculous.  The comic, the show and the movies have all dealt with this by having a little bit of self deprecating humor.  Maybe they thought this would make the movie more "grown up".  It doesn't.  It just makes it humorless.
• The Jesus image stuff was a bit heavy handed.  This isn't new here.  This has been part of the whole Superman thing forever.  But it gets a bit over the top here.  Subtlety, please?
• It throws away a chance to do something interesting and deep for more CGI and explosions.  There is an essential moral question that stands at the center of the Superman story.  It's the question of how and if one should use ultimate power.  The question is raised in the early section in discussion with Pa Kent and it is finally faced at the end of the movie.  The problem is that it's never explored in between.  They have the perfect vehicle in the relationship between Lois and Superman.  But they never explore it.  That's really too bad.  Instead we get CGI action scene piled on top of CGI action scene.  They could cut 20 minutes of extraneous explosions and fight scenes and not hurt the movie one little bit.

You can add in things like the blatant steal of an image from "Apocalypse Now" and in the end I just walked out feeling a little disappointed.

So much good.  It just had the chance to be something really earth shaking, a milestone among superhero movies.  Instead it was just a good standard one.

Rating - *** (and a half)  Definitely Worth A Look