Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2013

This unnecessary reboot is more a blow-stuff-up science fiction fantasy (we don’t have enough of those) than a superhero saga. It badly wants to be taken seriously, but it’s soulless, manipulative, overlong and derivative, the characters are thinly drawn, the tone is dour, the patriotism is faux, and it plods when it should soar. There’s no joy. The luminous, rather simple Superman story just can’t be shoehorned into the dark, complex Batman mold. Henry Cavill, as the title ferrous fellow, shows that The Cold Light of Day was not a fluke. He really is a dreadful actor. Man of Wood, maybe. Superturkey.