Man of Steel

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a reboot!

Most people will be pretty familiar with the story: Young Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) from a modest farm in Smallville, Kan., discovers he’s not from this world at all. He’s actually from a far off, long-gone planet called Krypton, different enough from Earth that he possesses super powers when he’s here. Clark learns to hone his powers and blend in with modern society, while still fighting to save mankind from the invading kryptonian General Zod (Michael Shannon, Take Shelter, Mud).

“Man of Steel” seeks to update the time-honored tale of Clark Kent, also known as “Superman,” although he’s only called that once in the film. Gone are the days of golden-age comic book manliness or Christopher Reeve’s sheepish jokes; Clark Kent is grounded in 21st century realism, and with great power comes great responsibility.

Cavill, the latest Superman in a long line of supermen, gives a sense of quiet, stoic realism to the man who has to shoulder that great responsibility, similar to Daniel Craig’s James Bond. He manages to do the boy scout routine without making it contrived or boring, but while he’s a collected and promising new hero, his development is a little swamped by all the action going on around him.

With the reboot comes a more thorough look at the politics, history, and destruction of Krypton, as well as what fuels Shannon’s Zod’s disappointing one-note scowl. It gives the movie’s first half some dynamic pacing by jumping from Krypton to grown up, wayward Clark, with flashbacks to important chapters in his growth. But by the second half, “Man of Steel” has become your standard summer blockbuster, waging battles of mass destruction across metropolitan cityscapes with no thought to insurance claims.

The film gets a bit full with the creative approach to Superman’s origins; all that complexity begins to feel a bit mind-numbing for a two-and-a-half hour movie aiming to be grittier than its Marvel counterpart. For instance, while Amy Adams (Enchanted, The Muppets, Trouble With the Curve) brings some well-earned spunk to the role of Lois Lane, her dynamic with Clark consists of fewer quippy conversations and more severe exchanges between reporter and source. It’s an interesting new method to tackle Superman and, if the writing weren’t so uneven, might make it one of the better superhero sagas.

“Man of Steel,” like most Superman incarnations, gets a little bogged down in its commentary of the kindness of mankind and its capacity for good. It’s not as skillful with its political commentary as, say, “The Dark Knight” either. But it’s not easy to take Superman, pinnacle of the boy scout archetype, and make him interesting to watch. DC probably isn’t done with its latest entry to the superhero franchise, but hopefully the next one will focus a bit more on the man and a bit less on the super.

The verdict: Much like its titular character, the movie is a bit bulky, but it gets the job done.