Man of Steel Review

Before I get to reviewing Man of Steel, I want to take a moment and rant. I have come to the conclusion that superhero or comic book movies are not made for die hard comic book fans. I've read some reviews and listened to people talk about not only Man of Steel but other comic book movies for the past year or so and I don't know why but reviewers seem to nit pic way to much. It seems like that if they don't agree with one little thing they can't enjoy the movie. I think a lot of hard core comic book fans just don't go in with an open mind and it's hard to enjoy anything like that. I hear way to much negative talk about these movies. These are not comic books. These are movies. Take them for what they are. I digress, lets get to the review.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead....

I wanted to wait a few days to write a review so I could talk in more detail and not worry about spoiling anything and mainly get my thoughts together, so if you have not seen Man of Steel yet please come back after you have seen the movie.

First of all you have to realize when going into this movie that this is NOT your Christopher Reeves Superman and this is nothing like Superman Returns (thank God). Your not going to have superman fly around the world backwards to turn back time and your not going to have a super villain created from a nuclear bomb shot off at the sun. At least in this movie, we don't get a stumbling and awkward Clark Kent, which gets old pretty quick. This is a new and more serious Superman.


Man of Steel is visually beautiful! Krypton was amazing. Everything on Krypton was so interesting and clean and beautiful. The look and feel it had because of it's red sun was stunning. Even the flashbacks to when Clark was growing us has a nice feel to it visually. I thought the way Superman flew around was magnificent.  I also thought all the Kryptonian suits were pretty awesome. They looked a lot better than spandex. I didn't know how I would feel about Superman's suit going into the movie but I did like it a lot in the movie. It looked better on film than one or two screen shots.

Man of Steel was nearly two and a half hours and there was A LOT of action. A lot more than I expected really. I think the first thing my wife said leaving the movie was "that was exhausting". Overall it had a great story though. Maybe could have had less action and more story but it was great because we have never seen Superman and this much action before on the big screen and he needed that.
We spend the first thirty minutes of the movie on Krypton with Zod trying to take over, baby Clark or Kal-El being sent to Earth and the ultimate destruction of the planet. That may have been my favorite part of the movie.

I loved the flashbacks too from when Clark was growing up. Kevin Costner did a great job as Clark's Earthly father. He was supportive, protective and influential like we all know and want Jonathan Kent to be. They only had one good scene with Martha Kent in my opinion. The one time she went to the school to help Clark that was good but other than that I think they missed the mark with her and the relationship between her and Clark.

Before I get to the actor who stole the show for me, I was to talk about Amy Adams and her take on Louis Lane. I think she did great. Not he typical look but I'm okay with that. I love how she was a hard nosed reporter and when she found out the truth about Clark and he tell his story about how Pa Kent dies in the tornado and all was such a great part and so touching. You can see how it affected Louis and understanding she becomes and keeps his secret. I still don't know if I like the fact that she knows he is Superman already but it was good for the story.

I just want to say that Russell Crow was spectacular in his part as Jor-El but I guess we should expect that from him. He was in the movie a lot more than I expected. Someone said he was in it more than Superman was but I didn't mind that at all. He look totally awesome in his Kryptonian armor too.


Henry Cavill did a great job as Superman. I think the women loved him more because he was visually nice to look at, but getting past all that, he made for a good Superman. The few emotional moments were great. He did a great job selling it. After killing Zod (we'll get to that) I could really feel his sorrow and although it didn't last very long, I know that he truly didn't want to do it.
The casting for the most part was great in Man of Steel. Zod and Faora were awesome. You could really feel the emotions from Zod throughout the movie. His hatred and evilness translated very well on screen.

Lets talk about the two controversial parts of the movie for a minute. First one that everyone one is talking about is the fact that Superman never tries to take the fight away from the populated areas so no one would get hurt. The first time in Smallville and the other in Metropolis. I think for the most part the reason he didn't was because he was to busy getting his butt kicked, expectantly in Smallville. He was fighting two elite Kryptonian worriers and he had never been in a fight before really. Maybe he could have taken Zod out in space or something to fight him but there was no where for him to go. The destruction from these fights were a little overwhelming especially adding the destruction from what the ship did in Metropolis.

The biggest problem most people had was the fact that Superman killed Zod at the end. I was initially shocked he did that but after thinking about it I guess he had to. They could have spent more time showing how Superman didn't have a choice and it was his last resort and all but the movie could have gone on for hours. Look, as quick as that scene was, all we need to take away from there was that Superman had no other choice and he was very sorrowful and upset that he had to kill someone. Yes, Superman is not suppose to kill but he had to in this case. Get over it.
I really liked the ending and the reason he gave to be at the Daily Planet, although we all know it was to be closer to Louis. They didn't do a lot of stuff we are use to seeing so it makes me excited to see the next film and featuring some other parts of Clark and Superman.
I haven't read many superman comics but one graphic novel I have read was Superman Earth One Vol. 1 and I could tell they pulled some material from that book which was was pretty cool for me.
Overall this was an awesome movie. Of course there were some things they could have done better or different but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm ready to see it again and will be buying this on DVD when it comes out for sure.