Man Of Steel: 7 Reasons The ''S'' Stands For Sucks
3. Superman
For many people, (quite rightly) no one can surpass Christopher Reeve as Superman. He had the distinction between Clark Kent and Superman nailed perfectly as well as maintaining a charm level that kept you firmly on his side.
In the 2006 reboot, Brandon Routh had the look but pretty much nothing else. He had all the screen presence of a bag of cement as he posed his way through Superman Returns. Part of the failure of that film lies with Routh who looked like a cat caught in headlights and clearly unable to carry a blockbuster movie.
Henry Cavill takes the baton and it is his job to make Superman fit the Nolan-DC world of realistic super heroes. It is a job he does quite well but for the most part, he is as dull as watching a royal wedding.
We see some angst as he is growing up, but in fairness, the actors who play the younger Clark Kents do a better job than Cavill at showing the turmoil of being seen as a freak and outsider. When Cavill tries to do that, all the painful looks off camera and grimacing doesnt amount to much.
I understand that this is a more grounded Superman and he has the same life struggles we all face. But in a film that is so dull to watch, if the central protagonist does nothing to inject a bit of energy into the film, then the whole thing will come crashing down. And crashes it does, by the time we get to the conclusion, you are hard pressed to actually care about anyone or anything on the screen. Thats because we have invested nothing emotional in this Superman, he is a good-looking plank of wood in a cape. Sure the good body and chiseled jaw line might make some swoon but as a superhero with the weight of the world on his shoulders, he is a super sack of nothing and totally unmemorable.