Living Up To Both Your Father's Expectations

This Father's Day, it's important to remember just how much we were shaped by our dad.  Or in the case of Kal-El, dads.



Man of Steel brings us Christopher Nolan's take helming DC Comics' other franchise (after three Batman films, Nolan hands over the directing work to Zack Snyder of 300 fame and produces the film) and the film definitely revolves around fathers.  Specifically, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), the fathers who raised Kal-El (a brilliantly cast Henry Cavill, as perfect a choice as Robert Downey Jr. was as Tony Stark in Iron Man.)

We get the full origin story here, as young Kal-El is launched into space as a newborn, the last hope of dying planet Krypton, as the planet's highest military leader General Zod (Michael Shannon) attempts a coup over the planet's high council.  Zod, furious that Kal-El has sent the child and the repository of Krypton's 100,000-year civilization, the Codex, into space, kills Jor-El and is finally caught and sentenced to a very long term in the extra-dimensional Phantom Zone.  Freed once Krypton finally implodes, he searches for his rival's son.

And that brings us to Clark Kent, seen at various stages in his life realizing that he has Powers And Abilities Far Beyond Those Of Mortal Men.  His father Jonathan and mother Martha (Diane Lane) want nothing more than for Clark to remain safe.  Jonathan knows that humanity is not ready for Clark's powers, the opposite advice Clark eventually receives from his other father, whose downloaded consciousness wants him to be a beacon of hope for all of Earth.

The struggle between the expectations of his fathers keeps Clark helping people whenever he can, and then doing everything to cover his tracks as he drifts across the planet.  His story eventually comes to the attention of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams, easily the best Lois Lane since Margot Kidder) who attempts to uncover his story in the present day.

All of that gets complicated very quickly when Zod and his crew show up looking for the Codex, and Clark has to decide what kind of man he is, and how to heed the advice of both of his fathers.  Not an easy task for anyone, but if there's someone who can do it...well.

Like Clark himself, the movie has the imprints of both fathers, Nolan and Snyder, upon it.  Nolan's smart writing along with partner David S. Goyer is a sharp contrast to director Zack Snyder's kinetic, unapologetic, and brutal action in the final third of the film, but it does leave enough room for humor and Lois Lane's intelligence moving the film along.

This is definitely a popcorn flick of the highest order, and you should do yourself a favor and catch it.  And it's Father's Day.  Go call your dad.