My wife and I checked out Man of Steel this past weekend. I'm a huge fan of the Donner classic, but was well aware that this new version was a completely different beast.
I left the cinema with mixed emotions.
Superman is at heart a simple story; an orphan from a doomed planet is brought up by a kindly couple and chooses to help folk with his wonderful powers. Man of Steel heaps a whole lot of convoluted back story atop this premise.
Unnecessarily complicated sums up the whole experience. After mulling
quite a bit, I think I've put my finger on what troubled me about MOS:
it's not that it's a bad movie, but it seems to suffer from the 'too
many cooks' syndrome. Everything is over-designed, over thought out, and outrageously over-the-top, while not enough time is spent crafting characters I wanted to cheer for, facing peril I actually cared about.
The result is a 'realistic' take on a morally conflicted, navel-gazing Superman that revels in mind-numbing violence with lovingly-rendered shattered real estate. One of my favorite moments featured the Jor-El hologram, which is ironic and appropriate, since the living characters didn't appeal much to me at all.
The 'shocking' end to the conflict didn't bother me as much as other purists; I realize this 'vision' of Superman is tailored to today's cynical, morality-impaired society, and a clever hero who solves dilemma's without resorting to justified (?) 'murder' isn't very hip. Simply put, it's not 'my' Superman, so I took what was presented at face value.
It's perplexing to me that Hollywood can't present a version of Superman that is inspiring while being entertaining. Instead of worrying why he wears a 'super suit' or how exactly his powers 'work', why not focus on showcasing an appealing character having interesting adventures? The folk behind MOS got lost in the fine details, and forgot who they were dealing with: a kind god amongst mortals, doing the right thing just because it's the right thing to do.
