Man of Steel
2013 · Directed by Zack Snyder
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- science fiction
The story
A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
What it’s like
Burnished, desaturated palettes of rust, steel blue and ash grey, with a golden-brown glow creeping in during the Kansas sequences, and a camera that is rarely still: handheld jostling in the early flashbacks, sweeping orbital moves around figures in flight, and an almost constant drift through debris, dust and smoke. The surfaces look gritty and digital-sharp at once, and the sound is the real texture here, a thundering, layered score by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL with swelling choral strings and a low percussive pulse that rises into full-blown orchestral heroics, cut against the crack of impacts and roaring rubble. Its vibe is epic, earnest and sun-scorched with a sense of awe, best suited to a big-screen evening or a loud, immersive night in rather than quiet background viewing. The pace is relentless once the invasion arrives, though the opening stretches on the lonely, displaced hero's sense of not belonging, and the arc follows a solitary man learning to trust that his strangeness can mean hope. Intensity is high: sustained city-wide destruction, collapsing buildings, many deaths glimpsed in the wreckage, hand-to-hand and aerial combat with forceful punches and neck-snapping violence, and some tense peril for children, though little gore and no sexual content. It is for viewers who want blockbuster spectacle with a humane, sincere core and do not mind a heavy, punishing final act.
More films like Man of Steel
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Man of Steeland we’ll explain which ones fit you.
