Man of Steel Review

By Charles J Hines

Man of Steel is my favorite Superman film. Yes, its that good.

Lets start with what I liked!

Man of Steel opens on a very beautiful Krypton and we see what events lead up to Kal-El being sent to Earth and the destruction of Krypton. I'm so glad director Zack Snyder decided to actually put a fully realized Krypton in the movie. It was a bold choice to have the opening half hour on this alien planet and it pays off big time. Not only does the opening sequence set the bar high for emotions, it also shows some great action.

I am very thankful that they decided to show key moments of Clarks childhood and teenage years through flash backs, instead of just showing it in chronological order. I feel like it made the movie feel more fast paced and kept it from getting boring. We have all seen Supermans origin story and all know what happens.

General Zod and his crew members make the perfect villains for this reboot. Not only do we see Superman kick some serious ass, we get to see him be physically challenged by his own people. I really thought they made the right decision there. The badies also had a good motivation to want to come and destroy Superman and stuff, it didn't feel like a half-ass motivation.

The CGI in this movie is pretty impressive. Whether it was CGI Superman, his cape, destruction, or Krypton, it all looked great. The only gripe I have is that when the action really picks up and there's lots of destruction, it looks like a blur and you cant tell what the heck is going on.

Acting is top notch in Man of Steel. Henry Cavill gives us the best Superman performance since Christopher Reeves. But Russel Crowe and Kevin Cosner really steel the show, whenever they are on the screen you are just captivated by what they are saying. Amy Adams doesn't really have anything to do, shes just kind of there, but she did great for what she was given. Then Michael Shannon does pretty good as Zod, but I just wanted him to be a little more menacing. He played it safe. Every other character in the movie is severely under developed and I feel like judging their performances wouldn't be fair.

Han Zimmers score is fantastic throughout the movie and he hits all the right notes. But it comes nowhere near being as iconic as the original score that everybody knows and loves.

Now the Bad.

Probably the biggest problem this movie has, is that once the action starts it does not stop. The first hour and a half to two hours have bits and pieces of action. But once the first huge battle happens, it just keeps on going. I feel like each action sequence tried to out do the one before it and it got a bit repetitive. But luckily the action ends with a pretty awesome fight between Superman and Zod.

Again, besides the clear main characters, everybody else seems like they are there in the background and are seriously under developed. I think the film good of benefited a lot from adding more depth to most of the characters in the movie.

Overall, I think Man of Steel is the Superman movie we all needed. With its new direction and bold choices. Its a fresh of breath air from its seemingly now bland predecessors. But there are some things that kept Man of Steel from truly being Super!

Final Score: 8.9

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