Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Russell Crowe, Harry Lennix, Christopher Meloni, Richard Schiff.
The least said about the 2006 Superman Returns film the better, the small screen adaptations although kept the legend alive were filler, more fluff than in a room full of pillows and for the films that made Christopher Reeve the deserved star he would be, there was so much wrong with them, so many parts miscast, so much playing for laughs that it can be often surprising to think that they three sequels.
Man of Steel changes all this. Directed by Zack Snyder it is a film that craves attention and gives so much more back in terms of its story and imaginative pace. More so it takes what the Batman/The Dark Knight films learned in the last decade and adds more than a few grains to the comic book world, it gives cinema a hero to believe in, one undisturbed by his own demons and ready to fight for a cause other than deep latent revenge.
For all the rightly deserved plaudits thrown Marlon Brando’s way in his long career, including some very deserved highs in films such as Apocalypse Now, A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront and Last Tango in Paris, his appearance in Superman in 1978 must be amongst the worst in a series of films which themselves whilst vaguely, briefly entertaining were not fulfilling or have stood the test of time. More played for laughs, they are also an unfitting testament to the brilliance of Christopher Reeve or Marlon Brando.
Roll on through the years and the way that the Marvel brand of comics has been received on celluloid and Superman’s stable mate Batman or The Dark Knight, depending on which way you want to look at the Gotham City crime fighter, has been astronomical. From Captain America, The X-Men, Spiderman, Thor, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four…o.k. you can go too far with the comparisons sometimes but the point stands that apart from Batman (Dark Knight), no D.C. character has really ever been given the broad brush in which to appeal on the big screen.
Man of Steel explodes all of these previous incarnations like a fist full of kryptonite, finally cinema hails a glory in spandex and Henry Cavill gives a performance worthy of Clark Kent/Kal-El. Not only that but the entire cast and production team seem to treat this film with absolute reverence, from the delight that is Amy Adams’ portrayal of Lois Lane, a woman journalist with more balls that every man around her, Russell Crowe as his father Jor-El in what amounts to an astonishing reason to care about those Kal-El has been forced to abandon and in his brief time on screen does more for the film than the legendary Marlon Brando ever could and the sheer understated brilliance that Kevin Costner brings to the role of Jonathan Kent.
It is Mr. Costner to whom the biggest nod of approval must go to in the film. For a man who appears less on screen than any of the building being demolished all around the citizens of Metropolis, it is a timely reminder why for so long he was one of the undisputed kings of American cinema.
Finally Superman/Man of Steel gets the treatment it fully deserves, plush, driven and fully formed, Hero’s sometimes need to be big and bold to stand out and Henry Cavill is perhaps the finest example since Superman made his first entrance back in 1938.
Ian D. Hall