Man Of Steel is yet another film in a long line of superhero epics that relies heavily on CGI and special effects. The problem here is that this is also the first very, very boring CGI/FX-laden superhero production. I don't know if it's because I'm so familiar with this kind of film by now or because I enjoyed all four (you read that right---all four) Christopher Reeve Superman films but Man Of Steel completely turned me off with its humdrum narrative and tedious action.
The film follows Kal-El (Henry Cavill) before he becomes Clark Kent and *for the most part* before he becomes Superman. His father, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) sent him away from Krypton as a baby before it blew up. There are flashbacks of Kal-El and his human parents (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) and their relationship with the mysterious boy. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is an intrinsically intrigued by the mysterious man and General Zod (Michael Shannon) is the "monster" trying to make Earth into Krypton.
The acting is great by some and terrible by others. The problem here is that the worst acting comes from Cavill who seems to not even be able to keep a straight face most of the time. Crowe is equally bad because he seems to be teasing the audience by hamming it up completely. Costner and Lane are excellent and the scenes involving them are interesting and touching up to a point. Adams is quite good....effectively underplaying her role. Shannon does the contrary and makes an effective crazy villain. However, what General Zod is doing is not that villainous. Zod is just trying to get his planet back to normal and while he is using Earth as a foreground...Superman is destroying Krypton by not letting him do so. So why is the audience supposed to hate Zod when Superman is doing the same thing as he is doing except vice versa?
The first half of the film is littered with laughable dialogue but then the second half features way too many people crashing through buildings, car windows, ETC. In other words... I really wanted the first half to be over until I saw what the second half had in store. The film is also unnecessarily loud. It's not that I have a problem with loud films. It's just that Man Of Steel relies too much on breaking the eardrums when it should be focusing on having good acting, a good story, adequate direction, ETC. I can't recommend the film at all. It's too boring and slow and cliche to make me anticipate the inevitable sequel.
(2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction and for some language)
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