Road to Superman (2025) - Man of Steel Review

 

Alright, back to my favorite Road to series. And we're back with one of my many favorite Superman films too.

Man of Steel is a comic book movie based on the DC Comics' iconic character Superman. It's as a reboot to the Superman films series and the first installment of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Production was done by DC Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy, Peters Entertainment with Warner Bros. Pictures also helping with production as well as doing distribution. Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer wrote the story with Zack Snyder directing.

The story is, just before the planet Krypton was destroyed, Kal-El was sent to Earth as a baby. As he grew he started to realize he's not like everybody else. Soon, he travels the world saving people in secret. But when another surviving Kryptonian named Zod comes to Earth and plans to terraform it into a new Krypton, Kal-El must step out of the shadows and save his adopted home.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

My only gray area with the movie is the pacing. The first half can very much drag. Mainly because we do jump back and forth with flashbacks to Clark's childhood. Thankfully as the film goes on the speed does pick up and it starts to become a breeze to get through.

• Positives

Let's start off with things people can agree on and then I move to opinions that I imagine you'll find controversial. First thing is Han Zimmer's score. It's pretty tough to praise this because any positive praise has pretty much been given. Zimmer's score is emotionally heavy and epic. I've watched this at least six times and I still can't help but hum along to "Flight". That bit of music makes me feel like I can fly.

Then there's the action. The action is jaw dropping. I loved it! And one thing I've come to love whether it'd be flight, super speed or fighting, it's you can almost feel and see the physicality.

Now I'll move onto the performances, more specifically from Henry Cavill and Michael Shannon. First Henry. Now I've heard a lot of people complain about Henry being stoic, but that was the point. This is a very stoic Clark because he's trying to figure things out. So it'd make sense Henry Cavill would act like that. But Henry does have and nail a lot of the more vulnerable moments. Hell one of he's best moments is when he's angry and he's punching Zod all while saying "You think you can threaten my mother!" It's a small moment but it was great acting from Henry. Then there's Michael Shannon as General Zod. Shannon was fully committed to the role. He perfectly nailed Zod's unyielding ruthlessness and focus on his mission to resurrect Krypton, but also added a lot of quiet emotional depth as well. And he's especially amazing when goes all feral.

My next praise will be to oh what a surprise, Zack Snyder's directing. It's basically my same old praise. He makes shots visually stunning . His camera work is dynamic and his images are breathtaking. Many of those frames did become iconic to Superman. Some creators have even outright said they were inspired by Snyder's style. These shots alone 👇🏻 are great and they're not even scrapping the top of the iceberg.

Now here comes my biggest controversial opinions, starting with the gritty tone. I know people hate the gritty tone, but people! You have to understand something. Superman needed a newer tone. Snyder and co. couldn't copy the tone from the Donner/Reeve films. They tried that in 2006 with Superman Returns and guess what? It bombed. People showed back then they didn't want a tone from 1978. They wanted something different! And Man of Steel provided that. The tone is actually handled very well. And the thing is the movie's just gritty and that's it. It's not overtly dark like everybody tries to make it out to be. Besides, you know those comic books that everybody on social media talk about, the source material that they supposedly love oh so much? Well a lot of the best Superman stories are gritty and throw away the "big blue boyscout" shtick. Hell! I reviewed one of them not too long ago! Kingdom Come. That story's gritty and I always see it on the top five best Superman stories. So yes, the gritty tone is actually a good thing.

The next and last controversial opinion I have is about the story. Despite the initial slow start, the story is really good. We've got great world-building with how Krypton works. What their society is like and a lot of the technology. But the best part were the themes. Two things touched upon is identity and belonging. Throughout a good portion of the film we witness Clark struggling to figure out who he is. Him discovering his alien heritage, why he was sent to Earth, and even why his birth is such a big deal. Then he wants to figure where he belongs in this world. It was quite a great hero's journey. There was also the writers tackling destiny and choice. The movie highlights the clash between Superman's decision to become a protector and Zod's predetermined fate of being a warrior/protector of Krypton and only Krypton. These themes added great layers to the movie and I loved it.

While I wasn't blinded to some flaws, I still really liked this movie. It was the modern Superman I was waiting for.

My final rating is, Great.

It was so much fun revisiting this. But that's all for now. Come back on Saturday, May 17th, for my review of Final Destination: Bloodlines. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.