Man of Steel - 2 smiles

Although Iron Man 3 had its hero suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Tony Stark retains his sense of humor. And even though The Avengers are busy defending the world from Loki, they manage to balance the action with humor and fun. I wish the same could be said for Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel.” The script, written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan, contains too much angst and not enough enjoyment. The movie is entertaining in parts and hits some satisfying notes, especially the first half about a young man discovering who he is and what his purpose is. The second half focuses on a mind-numbing (and tedious) battle with an overload of CGI that literally bludgeons the viewer.

The movie begins with a lengthy prologue on the doomed planet Krypton. Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) load their newborn son, Kal-El, into a pod and send him to Earth. Before Krypton explodes, Jor-El faces off with General Zod (a fiercely effective Michael Shannon), whose genetically-encoded obsession with ensuring that Kryptonians survive gets him and his cohorts arrested, frozen and blasted into space. We jump 33 years later as Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), a rootless wanderer taking odd jobs, searches for the meaning of his existence. Clark’s heroic impulses continually conflict with the advice of his adopted father, Jonathan (Kevin Costner), to delay revealing his powers for fear mankind won’t accept him. Reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams, effective in any role), whose Daily Planet is now edited by Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, has grit and swagger, but little gift for banter. She mostly regards Clark as a source. And, of course, we know we haven’t seen the last of General Zod. Brit Henry Cavill successfully conveys Clark’s confidence and vulnerability and he looks great as the next iteration of Superman. We don’t learn much about Lois Lane (Amy Adams) other than she’s the reporter who chases a story that results in her meeting Clark. Lois utters the name ‘Superman’ one of the few times it’s mentioned.  Bottom line? Way too much blow everything up in CGI spectacle and not enough fun. “Man of Steel” is a cold, barren movie. Too bad. 6/14/13