While certainly the most dazzling Superman movie to hit the big screen, the 143-minute “Man of Steel” is also one of the longest, and it only justifies that heft because it leaves room to keep the effects coming. By the end, Henry Cavill’s subdued performance in the lead role is the sole element of restraint left onscreen. At first, “Man of Steel” attempts an outstanding fusion of pricey imagery and narrative finesse. Unlike its predecessors, it would be impossible to imagine “Man of Steel” without the excessive production values, which start to take hold after the unquestionably compelling first hour and eventually subsume other, more promising ingredients hinted at during that time. Here, the dreary atmosphere underscores unremitting commitment to a brooding storyline that creates the illusion of meaning behind the abundant CGI. Superman’s inviting persona has even been drained from the title.
“Man of Steel” takes a more self-serious approach, constructing a sullen tale involving Superman’s emerging commitment that (perhaps due to producer Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” influenced hand) almost never cracks a smile. Even Bryan Singer’s unfairly maligned 2006 take, which bored audiences who obviously wanted a more explosive good time, nobly placed the colorful nature of Superman’s plight ahead of the action. The earlier entries in the franchise enlivened the character with genre elements like comedy and romance that - as with Joss Whedon’s delightful “The Avengers” last year - balanced off the demand for extreme spectacle. However, in contrast to the Richard Donner films that practically invented the guidebook to superhero movies, “Man of Steel” is practically a reinvention of the Superman mythos. Impressive in parts, scattered and blandly familiar in others, “Man of Steel” attempts to rejuvenate its hero with a whole lot of big ideas stuffed into a dense assemblage that alternates between visual wizardry and complicated non-linear plot ingredients, some better than others. Instead of making a blockbuster Superman movie, Snyder has turned the Superman narrative into yet another modern day blockbuster. Krypton, the ill-fated planet that even people who actively avoid pop culture recognize as Superman’s birth place, comes alive in the prologue of Zack Snyder’s snazzy update with some of the finest special effects this side of “Avatar.” A single virtual camera pan across Krypton’s golden vistas reveals an intricately defined fantasy land filled with remarkable details: braying alien livestock, towering structures and airborne spacecraft instantly define a Krypton unlike anything achieved in 80 years of comics, movies, TV and videogames, but the story can’t keep up. The opening minutes of “ Man of Steel” depict a very expensive world.
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