We’re all well aware that Man of Steel (in cinemas in June 27) is going to be a departure from previous Superman movies – the forehead kiss curl, the spandex, the quips, John Williams’ score, all gone. Instead, we’re expecting a more sombre tone, courtesy of producer Christopher Nolan and the success of his Batman trilogy. Perhaps ‘realism’ is too strong a term, but there will be none of this:
With the movie out in the UK and US this week, so are a slew of critical reactions. There’s a clear consensus amongst them: they are all surprised by a lack of humour, nearly all cite a dour tone as a negative. “Overblown” seems to be the word for the finale, after a nicely done first two-thirds. While unsatisfied with the story’s character development, most are impressed with the sheer spectacle and epic scope.
Here’s a sample:
Los Angeles Times: This film is pulled in different directions, delivering satisfactions without managing to be completely satisfying… [the] plot tends to veer off into confusion as well as excess, inclinations that the film’s lack of a deft emotional touch only emphasizes.
New York Times: At once frantically overblown and beautifully filigreed [‘intricate’, we had to look it up]… For roughly 100 minutes, or the running time of an average movie, Mr. Snyder is in control of his material… Everything else is almost lost in the last 45 minutes, when Mr. Snyder piles on the hammering special effects, becoming yet one more director gone disappointingly amok.
Rolling Stone: Even when Snyder pulls out every computer-generated trick in a climax that won’t quit while it’s ahead, Cavill and Adams give the movie a beating heart. It needs it. Caught in the slipstream between action and angst, Man of Steel is a bumpy ride for sure. But there’s no way to stay blind to its wonders.
Hollywood Reporter: Although it does go over the top toward the end, when Zod embraces a genocidal program and attacks Kal-El with giant metallic tentacles that are more ridiculous than scary, Man of Steel mostly plays it smart by mixing its action deck-of-cards style… Snarling, scarred and not without a worthy villain’s righteous logic, Michael Shannon excels as the fearsome Zod.
AV Club: Man Of Steel sometimes feels like arty advertising—the tentpole movie equivalent of a car ad that invokes images of freedom or luxury without ever mentioning the price or specifications. More space opera than superhero movie… by effectively denying Superman his defining traits—his complex relationships to duty and humanity—the movie robs the character of any depth or agency.
Total Film: 4 stars. An intelligent, earnest attempt to modernise and mature the original superhero…. A bracing attempt to bring the legend back into contention that successfully separates itself from other Super-movies but misses some of their warmth and charm. But given the craft and class, this could be the start of something special.
Variety: Gloomy, with little of the genuine wonderment the very name “Superman” calls to mind. Blessed with the most classically chiseled jawline of any actor who’s yet donned the red cape, Cavill is also the most dour and brooding, lacking even the sardonic self-amusement of Christian Bale in Bruce Wayne mode… Undeniably impressive, in the sense that little if any expense has been spared in bringing Snyder’s vision to the screen, though this is a case where less would almost surely have been more.
Empire: 4 stars. When a movie features Russell Crowe riding a four-winged dragon during its opening act, you have to take that as a statement of outrageously epic intent… It aches for more depth and warmth and humour, but this is spectacular sci-fi — huge, operatic, melodramatic, impressive. It feels the right Superman origin story for our era, and teases what would be a welcome new superfranchise.
The robust and clearly confident Zack Snyder was certainly a good choice to call action on this; it is just what you’d expect of a Superman movie from the guy who made Watchmen. A man, appropriately, whose favourite word is “awesome”… Closely followed by “super-awesome”.
