A Father's Day Treat

Man Of Steel (2013)

A Review by Ben Hunter

3½ Out Of 5 Stars
June 14, 2013

“GET TO THE POINT BEN!!”

Despite the movie not keeping the proper pace so we can fully experience each moment of each scene, the character was definitely defined and truly embodied.  Keeping me eager to see what DC Comics has next in store! 

“The people of Earth are different from us it’s true.  But ultimately I believe that’s a good thing.  They won’t necessarily make the same mistakes we did.  Not if you guide them Kal.  Not if you give them hope.  That’s what this symbol means.  The symbol of the house of El means hope.  Embodied within that hope is the fundamental belief the potential of every person to be a force for good.  THAT’S what you can bring them!” 

It’s ironic that Father’s Day is amongst us.  For this is something we all can take a lesson from.  A father giving his son everything he knows to make him the best man he can become.  Kal-El/Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) does get the best of the two worlds he’s from where his biological and Earthly fathers give him all they can, to make him the best man he can become.  I particularly liked how we see Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) or “Pa Kent” as he’s known in the DC Universe, helps to guide Clark, to ease the pain of not knowing where he truly comes from.  To have to deal with the fact that you’re different from everyone else and be constantly reminded of that in every waking moment.  Pa Kent reminds him of what kind of man does he want to grow up to be?  That one day he’s going to have to make a choice to hide or stand proud behind who he is and how the world views him. 

The man of steel has always been referenced to that of a Christ-like figure.  A father who sent his son to our world as a form of salvation, ridding the evil from it, and leading us as an example to be the good person that we all possess.  He’s always been viewed as a symbol for moral excellence.  In Man Of Steel his father Jor-El played amazingly by Russell Crowe with his brilliant accent, even refers to Kal as a God amongst men when he lives on Earth.  For this reason, Superman has always been held above all heroes in my humble opinion.  What he embodies, what he stands for, he’s the ultimate Boy Scout, the one hero who you know will always do what’s right and be a leader of all leaders, the hero of all heroes, a super-man; giving hope to all those who know of him, bringing out the good in their lives and the good person they truly are inside.  Hans Zimmer’s AMAZING score brings out this and a lot of other important aspects of the film!   

I think this was a great first step for DC, now that they basically have to start over.  So I don’t feel I should get too much into what all I didn’t like with Man Of Steel.  I see a little why it rated very low with critics, which I was hurt by.  But overall I think the film was well done and a proper first step towards The Justice League, the most anticipated movie of the decade in my opinion. 

So with that said, and everything amazing about what Superman stands for and his character, I felt the editing style and concept was amazing!  However, the pacing of the film to give off the mood that it did wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.  I wanted this film to pass with flying colors, pun intended, yet it’s not as close to that point as I would’ve liked, as all the Batman films were pretty much there in my opinion.  With Man Of Steel, Director Zack Snyder would start BRILLIANTLY with a scene and then JOLT CUT to another scene which would destroy the mood and momentum built by the previous scene.  It could’ve been properly paced a whole lot better to give us the movie from the trailer.  THAT movie was AMAZINGLY paced!  The first set of trailers market the movie in such a way that brings a grown man to tears.  I can’t tell you how much I cried whenever I would watch those trailers because they were PERFECTLY done!  They EASE into each point to properly build the suspense all the way up to the climax of this 2-3 minute movie, leaving you wanting more and so eager to see the film.  There are a couple moments in the film looking back now that I was so eager to see and literally on the edge of my seat for, to not get as much as I would’ve hoped from the scene that transpired.  I understand that you can build something up too much that no matter what you see will never satisfy.  But I wanted to rate this film a perfect score or “if they just fixed that ONE thing it would’ve been perfect” kind of a score; instead it drops an octave below the latter in my book, and pretty much fails the test completely amongst the average critic that watched it, which is so hurtful to think about because for most of us, including critics, this was the most anticipated movie of the year.  I believe the pacing and the satisfying us with each pay off to each set up would've increased it's likeability amongst critics.  Not to belittle the film though, it was still amazing, but to explain why it didn’t rate a perfect or near perfect score.  I loved it, just not as much as I wanted to, but yes it is still an amazing movie. 

Didn’t care much for the Jimmy Olsen change of gender or the fact that no one knows who Clark really is because of a pair of glasses. With this “real” Superman that’s being created here I was hoping more thought would go into this point.  But it’s the classic tale of Superman and maybe they’ll delve into this as the story progresses.  I am eager to see what’s next so I can’t wait! 

This Father’s Day, be reminded of what it means to be the good person that you are and that you can instill that in others!

Man Of Steel

Action & Adventure, 143 Minutes, PG-13

Story by: David S. Goyer & Christopher Nolan

Screenplay by: David S. Goyer

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, & Russell Crowe