Why so serious, Snyder?

Don’t get me wrong; I find a number of things to like about Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” — at least in terms of concepts, if not execution. I just think Snyder still suffers from ADHD storytelling and tried to throw as many interesting ideas at the viewers without developing them or weaving them into a compelling tale. Sometimes less is more, and at 143 minutes this movie certainly had room for editing. Yes, the CGI was great, but if you don’t leave room for character development and interaction, then the film might just as well be a giant video game. Props to Snyder for showing just how titanic battles between earthbound gods should be, but how many times can you show scenes of destruction without these becoming repetitive and ultimately meaningless, especially if you don’t find a lot of reason to care about the characters? I don’t feel the movie has even shown why Superman should care about the human race, and why people should empathize and root for him. The movie sometimes becomes too tedious because characters have taken a back seat to concepts, and storytelling has been replaced by spectacle.

I appreciate what Snyder and the writers tried to do, even though a lot of it involved putting together a pastiche of different Superman comic books and themes from other superhero and sci-fi movies. I just think he could have used more editing and a lot more characterization. One of the things you should keep in mind is that this is a sci-fi film, not a superhero movie. It’s also been proven time and again that Snyder can painstakingly take comic book material and recreate them frame by frame on screen, like what he did for “300″ and “Watchmen,” but that he’s really a creator of spectacle instead of a storyteller. Also, that “Man of Steel” wants to emphasize the otherness of an alien who hasn’t felt he belongs in this world and in human society, and to make Superman a grittier and, well, less than ideal hero. The funny thing is that DC’s competitor Marvel has always had heroes who are flawed, but who rise to the occasion to do heroic things. Now we have DC’s latest attempt to make Superman less than perfect and more “relatable,” but I’m not sure how much of the hero they left in the process. Over 75 years, Superman has been alternately overpowered and depowered, and has always struggled to balance his alien and human sides. Yet for the most part he’s always strived to do what’s right and to live up to a standard that other heroes couldn’t reach. Take that away, and you might as well create a new character instead of slapping the name Superman on this stranger.

At the end of the day, “Man of Steel” is a great spectacle and a testament to digital magic, but it’s as generic a summer blockbuster, though on a much larger scale, as a Transformers movie.

Superman deserves better.