Man of Steel 3D (12A)
Director: Zack Snyder
Website: Man of Steel
The latest Superman movie is a film in
three parts. The story of how Superman (Henry Cavill) was born on
Krypton during the imminent destruction of the planet and the steps his
father, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) took to save him, the story of Clark
Kent growing up on Earth (Earth parents played by Kevin Costner and
Diane Lane) and discovering his superpowers and then the story of how a
good movie can become a slave to CGI and special effects trickery.
A modern Superman poses the problem of
how does a thoroughly nice superhero who minds his manners, appeal to
an audience growing up on first-person shooting console games while
there is the constant background TV noise of yet another conflict and
yet another country reduced to rubble by war? The short answer is a
big chunk of the movie is spent on Superman and his evil counterpart
from Krypton, General Zod (Michael Shannon), having a brawl that levels several blocks of a city with a blatant disregard
for human life, in what becomes the most tiresome bit of special
effects I have seen for a long time. It is a shame that no one took a
firmer hand when editing because the rest of the movie is a visual
delight.
Gorgeous, detailed imagining of the
planet Krypton, lovingly framed super wide shots of a mid-west America
and a fantastic cast means there is tons to love about this movie not
least of all the return of a strong female lead in the form of Amy
Adams as Lois Lane the gutsy reporter from the Daily Planet. Superman
was always the thinking woman's favourite Superhero. The pants over
tights combo might have been replaced by an ergonomic unitard this
time but the movie remains faithful to the idea that Superman is
still an all-round good guy working on our behalf. There is a
delightful nod to a sequel with the placement of a LexCorp tanker in
one scene (the only product placement I did notice) and of course,
the introduction of the Daily Planet team, headed up by Lawrence Fishburne as Perry
White.
Watch Man of Steel because you wanted
to be Lois Lane when you grew up, because the summer needs a
Superhero and because of the beautiful art direction:- four out of five stars.
*****
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