Man of Steel approaches its establishing premise in a similar way to Batman Begins, which isn't surprising given the folk behind the scenes. The problem here though is that Bruce Wayne's origin story is layered, multi-faceted, and requires a hefty chunk of time to establish. Clark Kent's does not. It's one of the more charming elements of his character: he's simple. He was sent to Earth from a dying planet because his parents knew his superhuman abilities would make him a god to us, and they kind of just crossed their fingers that he would grow up to be a benevolent one. That's all you need exposition-wise. Even if you're trying to take the character in a different, darker direction, that only needs to be addressed once he's put on the suit and realised protecting every single citizen on this planet is thankless, morally questionable, and a wee bit tricky to pull off. The problem with Man of Steel is that this relatively straightforward tale gets covered beneath fucking mountains of expositional dialogue that serve to alienate and confuse anyone that hasn't been reading Superman comics since 1938. A situation such as "Our super-powered baby boy, along with a bunch of alien DNA, is being sent to a planet that he can protect to ensure the survival of our race" becomes "JOR-EL IS SENDING KAL-EL, HIS KRYPTONIAN SON, TO A DISTANT PLANET, FAR FROM THE CLUTCHES OF GENERAL ZOD, WHO DESPERATELY WANTS THE KORADEX, WHICH HOLDS GENETIC MATERIAL FOR MORE FLOOGADOOS. YOU SEE, MANY EONS AGO, THE GREAT BATTLE OF JUNGAMUNGA TOOK PLACE AND..." No. No.
So eventually this Superman movie starts talking about Superman, and that's when things get interesting, because the most compelling part of this Superman movie is that it's not a Superman movie. Sure, Clark Kent exists, he flies in a blue and red suit with a big ol' S on the front and nobody can notice the tears in his work shirt from his gigantic muscles so long as he's got a pair of glasses on, but here's the thing: in Man of Steel, Superman doesn't really care about people. It's staggering how many people he lets die in the course of this flick. In one scene, a pilot falls out of a helicopter. Superman catches him just before he liquefies on the pavement, sets him down and stands triumphantly, fists on hips, as the helicopter that still has three other passengers crashes and burns behind him. He had time to save them. He just chose not to. In another scene, Zod dropkicks Superman across Metropolis. Without losing momentum, he is sent through five different skyscrapers before tearing up concrete with his face and coming to a stop. He gets up, dusts himself off and shoots into the air to keep the fight going while the five structures crash to the ground around him. There were people in those buildings. What makes this really interesting to me is how Superman is essentially a terrorist. In the movie's epilogue he tells Generic Army General Character that "I will protect Earth. But you must stop looking for me." After what I'd seen, that basically means "You see what happens when I'm protecting you? Don't get on my bad side, motherfucker." He's taking the world hostage, and honestly, I kind of like that. Or, I would, if the rest of the movie wasn't telling me otherwise. Those aforementioned mountains of dialogue regularly tote him as the best goddamn Jesus-esque protector this planet will ever see and it's up to him to make sure they all die many years from now of natural causes and not by having the sheer bad luck of being in the way of a train he's just thrown. Which then leaves me thinking that Zack Snyder just wanted huge, gorgeous, elaborate action set-pieces that had little to no connection to the movie's narrative or tone; not a surprise from the guy that made Watchmen.
There's also an action that Superman takes towards the end of the film that has a lot of people grumpy. Zod and his minions' big evil genius plan is to turn Earth into a new Krypton by using a big hammer to beat the ground into nothingness and increase the gravitational pull at the same time. Because science. Superman just finished destroying his hometown and is pissed off that they're razing Metropolis without him so he decides to swoop in and break some shit, maybe saving the day in the process. He fights some metal snakes for...a reason and this takes about a half hour. Meanwhile, everything that isn't bolted to the ground (including people) is repeatedly being lifted into the air and slammed back down, spreading the blast radius of the gravity machine with each pulse. Laurence Fishburne stays with one of his employees so she doesn't die alone. It would be sad if three hundred thousand people hadn't already been "uuhhh, just a bit too far away" for Superman to save. Eventually, Superman destroys the Grav-O-Tron, and Zod boots him off through some buildings. Honestly, it's a wonder that there's even a Metropolis left to fight in, let alone an entire district that still has people going about their daily business. But it wouldn't be a Not-Superman movie if there weren't more folk for him to negligently kill! Their fight eventually takes them into a subway. Supes gets Zod into a headlock. The day is saved! But a family doesn't make it out in time and Zod decides to put Superman's one rule to the test: he turns on his heat vision and slowly starts moving his eyes towards the huddling nuclear group. Superman has to make the ultimate decision: does he allow Zod to murder these innocents and then be tried and convicted justly or does he forgo his vow in light of the dire circumstances and murder this alien for the greater good of mankind? Heavy stuff. Or, it would be if this actually meant anything. Not once before this point does Superman's unwillingness to kill come into question. Hell, when he destroys the Grav-Be-Gone that Zod is piloting, he also destroys the DNA of his fellow Kryptonians and doesn't seem all that worried when he catches up with Lois Lane that Zod may have survived the blast. So if you combine that with his nonchalance regarding the mortality of those he's supposed to protect, all weight of this decision is removed. Do whatever the fuck you want, Superman. He snaps Zod's neck. THAT'S NOT SUPERMAN. But, once again, this wouldn't be a problem if the film wasn't constantly going back and forth on what it wants from its protagonist. Superman the Hero saves people and only kills if he must, a decision that, if made, will weigh heavily on his conscience. Superman the Terrorist does whatever the fuck he wants and you'll shut up and say "Thankyou, oh benevolent Superman" if you know what's fucking good for you.
Honestly, I could talk for a lot longer about how bizarrely awful this movie was, but I know I've already lost a bunch of you with this overly verbose analysis of a dude who once froze a lake, picked it up and dropped it on a chemical plant that was on fire, not to mention any of my other points are kind of second-rate to the above. And not to mention I still enjoyed the shit out of it, even if it was for the wrong reasons. So let's wrap this up quickly. Did this movie do anything good? Yes. It's visually breathtaking, as all Zack Snyder films are. The flying has been appropriately reinterpreted for a new audience with new technology, opting for an over-the-shoulder camera technique that elicits the same exhilaration Dick Donner's did way back when. The combat scenes have been updated as well; if gods were fighting, this is probably how it would go down. Michael Shannon knows how bad his dialogue is, knows how cheesy his entire role in the movie is, and fucking runs with it, making for a guilty pleasure of a villain. Kevin Costner somehow manages to do the opposite of Shannon and actually elevates the shitty dialogue to something almost believable because, you know, he's Kevin Fucking Costner. Ultimately, there's a good movie in here somewhere. When young Clark Kent asks his Earth Dad after revealing his super strength to a bunch of drowning kids in a bus, "What was I supposed to do? Just let them die?" and he replies with, "...Maybe", or when Superman touches down in Smallville and Martha Kent, seeing him for the first time in costume, smiles and says, "Nice suit, son", this flick is tapping into beautifully simple, effective and emotionally engaging character development that, if sustained, could have believably brought Superman to a new audience with a fresh interpretation; a Superman that wasn't afraid to let his selfishness and rage get the better of him. But it didn't, so it doesn't. Here's a shirtless picture of Henry Cavill.
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