Man of Steel
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 14, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
24
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
NPRGlen WeldonJun 14, 2013
What it fails to supply much of — surprisingly, it must be said — is fun. This is serious business, Snyder seems always to be saying. This is badass. And given the sheer logistical size of the spectacle on display, it's a position that's hard to argue with. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 13, 2013
At once frantically overblown and beautifully filigreed, Man of Steel will turn on everyone it doesn’t turn off. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 11, 2013
The serious-minded result has many super-cool moments. But when it gets clunky, it’s super-meh. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyJun 11, 2013
It has heft, it looks amazing, and it's businesslike to a fault. Read full review
60
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJun 10, 2013
It’s a relief just to watch the actors act once in a while, and thankfully, Snyder is astute enough to punch some breathing holes in this steel-clad colossus. Read full review
60
The GuardianAndrew PulverJun 10, 2013
The whole film ends up feeling weighed down: though Man of Steel bounds from one epic setpiece to another, you're left with the nagging feeling that you just can't work out what the central twosome see in each other. And for Superman and Lois Lane, that's hardly ideal. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 12, 2013
Like Snyder’s Sucker Punch, it’s a confused but fascinating mishmash of religious, military, and sexual imagery. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnJun 10, 2013
While certainly the most dazzling Superman movie to hit the big screen, the 143-minute Man of Steel is also the longest, and it only justifies that heft because it leaves room to keep the effects coming. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensJun 13, 2013
If this version of Superman is to have a future — as Warner Brothers seems convinced he will, having already green-lit the sequel — I hope Snyder will dial back both the casualty count and the Krypton mythmaking and instead focus on establishing a fictional Earth that’s rich enough to be worth saving. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 13, 2013
Taking a cue from the “Batman” series, the film is dark and thudding and overlong. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 13, 2013
At least an hour of Man of Steel's excessive running time is devoted to the sort of crash-and-burn, slamming-into-skyscrapers CG fight scenes that we've already seen in "The Avengers" and "Dark Knight," "Iron Man," and "Spider-Man." Man of Steel is just the same old same old. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 13, 2013
What went wrong with Man of Steel? The early teasers promised Terrence Malick. The finished film is more Michael Bay. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 12, 2013
While its ambition and scope pull one way, its pinched and unconvincing sense of drama pull the other. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 12, 2013
The movie isn’t dead on arrival, like Snyder’s over-reverent "Watchmen." But it’s pleasure-free. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJun 12, 2013
Man of Steel has too many characters and too much plot, resulting in a movie that feels overstuffed and overlong. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 12, 2013
If every generation gets the Superman it deserves, Man of Steel suggests we’ve earned one utterly without wit or charm. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 11, 2013
A mostly underwhelming film, with underdeveloped characters and supercharged fight scenes that drag on forever and offer nothing new in the way of special-effects creativity. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 11, 2013
The local multiplex is lousy with celluloid crime fighters. So what turf is left for good old Clark Kent? That's the nagging question that director Zack Snyder's Man of Steel tries — and ultimately fails — to answer. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedJun 11, 2013
Redundant, unnecessary and a colossal waste of talent and money, you can pretty much sum up Man of Steel in the scene in which a lady police officer watches with her mouth wide open as Superman tosses aside tanks like Tinker Toys. “What are you smiling about, captain?” asks another cop. “Nothing, sir — I just think he’s hot.” Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 13, 2013
Here's one more studio extravaganza brought down by numbing action and an addiction to generic digital effects. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 13, 2013
So we get no zippy, Tony Stark-flavored one-liners. No comic-relief characters. No nonsense. But that means we also get no up, up and away, either. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 13, 2013
Despite looking, feeling and (especially) sounding expensive – this is one of the loudest summer spectacles of recent years – Man of Steel is second-tier and third-generation Chris Nolan-flavored neo-superhero material. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 11, 2013
The better actors — Kevin Costner, chiefly, as the adoptive Earth father — strain to supply warmth, but mostly, the minutes stretch into great expanses of blahness, much of them filled with Transformers-grade skyscraper snapping and bloodless catastrophe. Read full review
40
VarietyScott FoundasJun 10, 2013
The humorless tone and relentlessly noisy (visually and sonically) aesthetics leave much to be desired. Read full review
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