Overview – In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is a young twenty-something journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond anyone’s imagination. Transported to Earth years ago from Krypton, an advanced alien planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question ‘Why am I here?’ Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Diane Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), Clark soon discovers that having super abilities means making very difficult decisions. When the world needs stability the most, it comes under attack. Will his abilities be used to maintain peace or ultimately used to divide and conquer? Clark must become the hero known as Superman, not only to shine as the world’s last beacon of hope but to protect the ones he loves.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy has had a tremendous impact on the way filmmakers and studios now approach comic book adaptations. They’re now taken with a more serious, often quite dark and very much post-modern tone, interestingly exploring the psychology that makes up a superhero and how he handles the weight of responsibility as protector of humanity’s own path towards destruction. Arguably, Ang Lee’s largely disappointing ‘Hulk’ and Bryan Singer’s excellent ‘X2: X-Men United’ were really the first films to touch on these themes; however, Nolan took it further, went deeper and traveled into darker territory. Today, the movie superhero is no longer a comic caricature, but a flesh and blood character, almost human, struggling with grave moral demands that adults can appreciate.
Frankly, these more thoughtful aspects to comic-book superheroes come as little surprise, they’re familiar themes that have been enjoyed by devoted fans and have already been acknowledged and discussed by academics for decades. The only real surprise is that it took movie studios this long to finally give comics the respect they deserve. Then again, maybe it’s not that much a surprise, all things considered. Nevertheless, we’re here now, and filmmakers are unafraid to posit our heroes as heavily flawed individuals with quandaries, damaged goods who must overcome their imperfections and personal dilemmas to aspire for greatness. There’s also something inspiring in seeing what we previously thought of as perfect as only being good at hiding their inadequacies.
One aspect within the Superman mythos not often enough explored for mainstream audiences is the character’s desire to know more of his origins and the dilemma over his foreignness. From a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer — the same pair that made ‘The Dark Knight’ movies a success — almost the entire first half in ‘Man of Steel’ is dedicated to this personal struggle with self-identity. Although Clark Kent (Henry Cavill doing his best but never becoming wholly convincing) is adopted by two very loving parents (a surprisingly good Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) and raised in the American heartland of Kansas, he must cope with the fact that he is different from others, that he’s an immigrant (or an illegal alien, to be perfectly honest) in the truest sense of the word, a being caught in the middle of two seemingly opposing cultures. This is a fact his parents have chosen not to keep secret from him.
