By the blog author
It is difficult to write a review of a motion picture possessed of frequent special effects. Film is a visual medium, and modern special effects command and alter what is seen and how the audience feels about it. Man of Steel is a triumph of costly special effects, and yet its dialog commands attention in a manner that demands that it be thought of as a drama full of action sequences.
The first triumph of Man of Steel is that the plot is clever enough, the dialog believable enough, and the acting competent enough to shout down the special effects and put them in their place – as spectacular background. This is a victory of David S. Goyer, the writer, and for Christopher Nolan, who shares a credit for the story and also served as one of the producers.
We get used to special effects early on, because the beginning of the story is on another planet, one blessed with advanced technology. This sets us up to be unsurprised by powerful events and visual scenes on earth once the locale changes.
The second triumph is in casting. Cooper Timberline plays Clark Kent as a boy, Dylan Sprayberry plays Kent as an adolescent, and Henry Cavil has the make-or-break role of Clark Kent as an adult. They look alike, their mannerisms are alike, there is no difficulty in suspending one’s disbelief.
Amy Adams does a splendid job as young but ambitious Lois Lane, a Pulitzer winner who knows how to dig for the big story underlying contradictory eyewitness testimony. Her portrayal of competence and determination is attractive and believable.
Michael Shannon portrays General Zod, the leader of Krypton’s military forces and post-destruction expeditionary force. He’s cold and supercilious and suspicious – as he should be in a villainous role.
But the great achievement in casting was obtaining Russell Crow and Kevin Costner to play the Krypton father and earthling foster father of Clark Kent. These two personae understand the pacing of life and the difficulty of raising the next generation. They represent deft and wise fatherhood without themselves looking ridiculous [as Liam Neeson nearly does as the poorly-scripted Zeus in the 2011 Clash of the Titans]. The best of the good fatherly moments may be the scene where a tornado hits Kansas and Costner, as the senior Kent, risks death to return to the car to free the family dog. He lets the dog loose to rejoin his wife and foster child, but holds up his hand to prevent Clark Kent from saving him, since those actions would give away the boy’s superpowers prematurely.
The third triumph is the exact matching of good and evil in the city-smashing special effects spectacular fight scene between Zod and his forces against Clark Kent and the American military machine. At length, Zod himself runs out of good air, since he hasn’t had his entire upbringing on earth getting used to the poisonous oxygen and contaminants.
Zod and his forces want to colonize earth and recreate Krypton society. It is an inflexible and non-negotiable mission. They wouldn’t risk anything for any other species other than themselves. Their community is everything to them. They would never do anything crazy and wasteful like risking a Krypton life for another species such as a dog.
All of this is presented without any long speeches or posturing – as an action film. It’s a film for young people to enlighten them without boring them. It works, because Superman is displayed cleverly as a young Hercules or Atlas who learns by experience.
One other thing: there are some major critics, such as the Washington Post, that hated this movie and were bored by the cast. "Too bad for them."
Major credits to Man of Steel
It is difficult to write a review of a motion picture possessed of frequent special effects. Film is a visual medium, and modern special effects command and alter what is seen and how the audience feels about it. Man of Steel is a triumph of costly special effects, and yet its dialog commands attention in a manner that demands that it be thought of as a drama full of action sequences.
The first triumph of Man of Steel is that the plot is clever enough, the dialog believable enough, and the acting competent enough to shout down the special effects and put them in their place – as spectacular background. This is a victory of David S. Goyer, the writer, and for Christopher Nolan, who shares a credit for the story and also served as one of the producers.
We get used to special effects early on, because the beginning of the story is on another planet, one blessed with advanced technology. This sets us up to be unsurprised by powerful events and visual scenes on earth once the locale changes.
The second triumph is in casting. Cooper Timberline plays Clark Kent as a boy, Dylan Sprayberry plays Kent as an adolescent, and Henry Cavil has the make-or-break role of Clark Kent as an adult. They look alike, their mannerisms are alike, there is no difficulty in suspending one’s disbelief.
Amy Adams does a splendid job as young but ambitious Lois Lane, a Pulitzer winner who knows how to dig for the big story underlying contradictory eyewitness testimony. Her portrayal of competence and determination is attractive and believable.
Michael Shannon portrays General Zod, the leader of Krypton’s military forces and post-destruction expeditionary force. He’s cold and supercilious and suspicious – as he should be in a villainous role.
But the great achievement in casting was obtaining Russell Crow and Kevin Costner to play the Krypton father and earthling foster father of Clark Kent. These two personae understand the pacing of life and the difficulty of raising the next generation. They represent deft and wise fatherhood without themselves looking ridiculous [as Liam Neeson nearly does as the poorly-scripted Zeus in the 2011 Clash of the Titans]. The best of the good fatherly moments may be the scene where a tornado hits Kansas and Costner, as the senior Kent, risks death to return to the car to free the family dog. He lets the dog loose to rejoin his wife and foster child, but holds up his hand to prevent Clark Kent from saving him, since those actions would give away the boy’s superpowers prematurely.
The third triumph is the exact matching of good and evil in the city-smashing special effects spectacular fight scene between Zod and his forces against Clark Kent and the American military machine. At length, Zod himself runs out of good air, since he hasn’t had his entire upbringing on earth getting used to the poisonous oxygen and contaminants.
Zod and his forces want to colonize earth and recreate Krypton society. It is an inflexible and non-negotiable mission. They wouldn’t risk anything for any other species other than themselves. Their community is everything to them. They would never do anything crazy and wasteful like risking a Krypton life for another species such as a dog.
All of this is presented without any long speeches or posturing – as an action film. It’s a film for young people to enlighten them without boring them. It works, because Superman is displayed cleverly as a young Hercules or Atlas who learns by experience.
One other thing: there are some major critics, such as the Washington Post, that hated this movie and were bored by the cast. "Too bad for them."
Major credits to Man of Steel
Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by David S. Goyer
Story by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan
Major cast members
Henry Cavil Clark Kent
Cooper Timberline Clark Kent age 9
Dylan Sprayberry Clark Kent age 13
Amy Adams Lois Lane
Michael Shannon General Zod
Diane Lane Martha Kent
Russell Crowe Jor-El
Kevin Costner Jonathan Kent
Laurence Fishburne Perry White
Produced by
Wesley Coller ....co-producer
Christopher Nolan ....producer Jon Peters ....executive producer Lloyd Phillips ....executive producer Charles Roven ....producer Deborah Snyder ....producer Emma Thomas ....producer Thomas Tull ....executive producer
Original Music by Hans Zimmer
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