7 Man Of Steel Criticisms Which Were Completely Unfair

5. It's All Style Over Substance

This is a common criticism levied at Zack Snyder which unfortunately shows little sign of abating. Yes, Snyder is a director mainly concerned with the visuals but that doesn't mean his films lack substance completely. Take the scenes between young Clark and Jonathan Kent, in particular the moment when Jonathan explains the importance of Clark's decision over what kind of man he will be. After resisting the urge to flatten a bully, Clark is given a pep talk by Jonathan on the importance of morals and virtue. It's a great scene and really highlighted how much impact Jonathan had in the creation of Superman. There are a number of other great scenes which feed into the story including Jor-El's speech playing over Superman's first flight, Clark's first experience of X-Ray vision and Jor-El's history lesson on Krypton. These are all beautifully shot and they play an integral part of the story. The action heavy third act could be accused of containing style over substance, but by then the stakes have been set and we understand the motivations behind each of the characters. Perhaps it is due to the high levels of action at the end that some of the quieter, character driven moments from earlier have been forgotten about.