Good flawed film with a great soundtrack
By Jack Anderson on September 16, 2018
(5/10)
KRYPTON
The film starts extremely fast with a broad sense of urgency, coupled with a great and very effective soundtrack. This is pure sci-fi, and after the very serious and down to Earth Dark Knight trilogy, things are going 360° in the opposite direction and it is very good to do it like this. It feels fresh and even though the introduction is filled with CGI, it still works because we know this is just one part of the story.
BECOMING SUPERMAN
Through various flashbacks, we get to see Clark Kent becoming Superman, over the years, until he really finds out who he is. This is well produced and overall interesting. My only concern is that it doesn't really work. As an example, there is one particular scene that clearly does not work. It is a flashback where Clark Kent basically lets his father die. While it could have worked maybe on paper, it really does not in the film.
While I understand the rational and the original angle, it does not work.
I DISLIKE HENRY CAVILL
As for the actor himself, Henry Cavill has obviously the looks of Superman. My problem is that I think hiring Cavill was a bad casting decision. The character is not able to go past the perfection of Superman. He doesn't bring much added value to the character. Therefore, his performance is contrived and doesn't really work for me. To be frank, it is not entirely his fault, to say the least, as he doesn't have much dialogue to work with anyway.
NON-STOP ACTION
At one point, during the film, there is a massive action scene taking place in Smallville. And as big as it is, unfortunately, it ultimately fails because we simply do not care about invincible people fighting other invincible people.
ZACH SNYDER
Zach Snyder directs an interesting movie and really did the work. The overall problem for me is that we get a movie so focused on the action that we are left wanting for me.
SOUNDTRACK
But I cannot talk about this film without referring to the soundtrack. Hans Zimmer is, once again, the master of movie soundtrack. I kid you not, if there was a version of the opening scene without his music, the film would suddenly feel way worse than it is.
SERIOUS TONE
Still, at the end, the movie is not bad. I liked the very serious tone of the movie, insufflated by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan's writing.
SUMMARY
I give it 5 out of 10. A good but flawed film with a great soundtrack.