Man of Steel — Daryn Kirscht
The moment Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer brought in Zack Snyder to direct Man of Steel was the moment that the Superman mythos officially got a unique take worthy of a big-screen revival. This 2013 summer blockbuster not only reinvigorated a property not properly helmed in decades, but re-established the character for years to come.
Man of Steel might not have won any Academy Awards or made $1 billion at the global box office, but the grounded and serious take on the character and his mythology–combined with The Dark Knight creators and Snyder’s iconic visual aesthetic–is incredibly under-appreciated (which looks absolutely stunning in 4K). Sure, there might be a controversial moment or two, but those creative choices were consistent with the world they were building. If those choices bother you, the creative team more than made up for them with other incredible sequences, like Superman’s first flight, and an endless array of wonderfully fun Easter Eggs. This film is by far the most ambitious standalone Superman film in terms of world-building, whether it be Krypton or the Superman suit, and does a masterful job of telling an alien invasion story combined with a coming-of-age tale of an alien immigrant—something Sheraz Farooqi of ComicBook Debate elaborated on so eloquently a few years ago that Snyder praised it.
The other aspect of the film that lends it to being one of the best of the decade is how it began a cinematic universe, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). It is unfortunate to see how the DCEU has been completely destroyed by the theatrical cut of Justice League and the abandonment of it ever since in favor of simple, bright, and “heroic” solo films that have made a lot of money (with the exception of Joker). There was a time when Henry Cavill’s Superman shared the screen with not only Ben Affleck’s Frank Miller-inspired Batman, but also Gal Gadot’s iconic Wonder Woman for the first time ever in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Whether it be costume designer Michael Wilkinson, set designer Patrick Tatopoulos, screenwriters David S. Goyer and Chris Terrio, composers Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL, or even the casting of Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, and Gal Gadot, this universe was building towards something uniquely special.
Sure, people overreacted to the theatrical version of Dawn of Justice and, after the release of the Ultimate Edition and learning many new details about Snyder’s cut of Justice League (which was trending #1 worldwide on Twitter on its two-year anniversary and has gained the public support of the cast, crew, and celebrities in Hollywood) it was shaping up to be something Joseph Campbell, one of Snyder’s creative inspirations, would have been proud of. All of this came from the DCEU’s origin, Man of Steel.
