Steel this movie – Find out what Jeff Roedel thought about Man of Steel in the latest Movie Filter

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With multiple references to Plato’s The Republic, an unexpected predestination versus free will theme served with a heaping side of father issues, and enough Biblical allusions to feed the five thousand, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel wants to be a philosophical study of a man put to the test—the test of his own purpose. The body of Kryptonian-turned-Kansan Clark Kent may be perfect, but what about his character? To succeed completely at this proves impossible, however, when someone is getting punched in the face (or thrown through an IHOP) or something is exploding on screen every two minutes.

Critics and comic book fans may cringe at the idea of sitting through another superhero “origin story,” but for better and worse for the rest of us this radical rebirth of Superman demanded that Warner Bros. once again start from the beginning. Man of Steel is an ambitious, flawed though largely fun, mix of hits and misses because of it. In this case, the beginning is a thrilling prologue depicting the draconian General Zod’s attempted take-over of a police state planet that’s dying anyway, and a scientist named Jor-El (Russell Crowe) who knows the truth about their fate, and who keeps his son’s natural birth a secret (all babies are born Matrix style on this Krypton) then launches him into the stars before the planet explodes.

English actor Henry Cavill makes a promising start both as a greenhorn Superman—his strong, often silent presence equal parts charisma and curiosity—and a shadowy, drifting Clark Kent, haunted by the family he never knew and wounded by his adoptive father who demands that he hide who he truly is. Cavill may be Superman, but he’s also sympathetic. Snyder makes sure of it with a series of emotionally charged flashbacks to his youth as a farm boy and school outcast who struggles with his temper as he fumbles the reigns of his emerging powers.

These scenes with his mother, Diane Lane, are beautifully rendered, but as Jonathan Kent, Kevin Costner has the thankless role of the hard-nosed and fearful skeptic, and he’s shackled with all the stilted dialog that comes with it.

Cavill’s chemistry with Amy Adam’s Lois Lane is solid, though I could use a little more tension-filled repartee in the inevitable sequel. This Lois, a Pulitzer Prize winner at The Daily Planet no less, becomes a cape chaser pretty quickly. In fact, everything in this film happens on the double, and while many scenes are memorable, and this breakneck pace plays right to Snyder’s strength—thrillingly choreographed action—it leaves little time for contemplation, for thought of any kind other than where is the next explosion coming from? The answer to the question “When?” is obvious: NOW!

Though taken on their own merits, the flashbacks to Clark’s youth are among the finest most character-rich sections of the story, Snyder relies too heavily on them, and all the ping-ponging back-and-forth challenges the audience’s devotion to Clark the elder who spends much of young adulthood as a drifter, moving from job to job and hiding his abilities until the needs are too great to ignore.

After escaping a black hole prison, General Zod (an amped up, cold-blooded Michael Shannon) tracks down Clark on Earth, threatening the entire planet if Clark doesn’t turn himself in to face justice and help rebuild Krypton. Because of Jor-El’s medical derring-do, Superman himself is the key to the survival of his severely endangered species.

It’s all a great deal to take in, and by the end of it, catastrophe after catastrophe, knock down, drag out fight after fight, I was left numbed by the sheer enormity of property damage alone not to mention the off-screen body count, and wishing for more sections of character, even quiet grandeur. Man of Steel gets a lot right, I do recommend it and am looking forward to the sequel, but all of that effort—like all of the dollars spent on special effects—is very visible on screen, sometimes painfully so. Snyder needs a lesson from Superman himself. The Man of Steel does amazing things, for sure, but he always makes it look easy.