Man of Steel - Movie Review

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a brand new movie review from me! :)

Before I go any further, let me state this loud and clear...

WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Now. Let's continue.

Unless you live under a rock, you probably know that there is this little movie called Man of Steel that just came out today. Now, I must confess, I'm not entirely on the Superman bandwagon. I like Superman, but I just have other superheroes I like better. However, the previews for Man of Steel looked so great, I decided to give it a whirl. And I'm so glad I did! 

My brother and I went to the midnight release, and it was absolutely worth the sleep deprivation. So if this review seems a bit rambly and random, I shall have to blame it on the fact that I've had a grand total of about four hours sleep. :)

The movie was incredibly well crafted, superbly casted and acted, and was thoroughly enjoyable. The pacing was fantastic and kept you interested throughout the entire running time. The plot was marvelous, and made perfect logical sense. It was entirely believable (except for the whole aliens from another planet thing, heh.). I loved the gritty feel of this movie. It was very reminiscent of The Dark Knight trilogy.
 

And as a related side note, let me just say I kind of like the darker direction that DC is taking with it's newer movies (IE: Dark Knight, Man of Steel..). Don't get me wrong, I love my Marvel movies, but it's a refreshing change to have something a bit darker. So kudos, DC! Keep it up!

Moving back to Man of Steel now...

I especially enjoyed the way the movie was cut. Portions of Clark Kent/Kal-El's back story were interspersed with current happenings, and it really helped to explain things as you went along without bogging you down with too much story/development upfront. An example of this was where Lois Lane and Clark meet up at his father's grave, and he explains to her that his father did not think the world was ready for him to show his true self. This is promptly followed by the flashback of his father's death, and it really helped cement everything to show you why he was choosing to do what he was. It was a great storytelling method, and I thought it worked well without being heavy handed. 

Another part I found interesting was the appearance of Kal-El's father aboard one of the Krypton ships on Earth. He embedded his consciousness into the mainframe, and was able to explain to his son his history/etc. Now, I'm not as up on Superman lore, so I'm not sure if this was somehow derived from a comic book verse, but I thought it was brilliant, and made perfect sense.

 Plus, more Russell Crowe = perfectly fine in my book.

Also well handled was the "Kryptonite being Superman's weakness" notion. Rather than having it be an actual element that he was affected by, it was explained as being the Krypton atmosphere that caused him trouble, as he had adapted to Earth's atmosphere during his time here. I was impressed by it, I will admit. 

My only complaint about the movie is that the final battle ran a bit too long. After awhile it just seemed to be more gratuitous than anything, and I found myself thinking "Alright, we get it, you can smash each other through buildings...can we move on and get this over with now?"
I have since dubbed General Zod 'The Thing That Just Wouldn't DIE'. 

All in all, it was a FABULOUS movie. I will, and already have, highly recommended it to others. I haven't read any of the critic reviews yet, but I really can't see how they could have anything negative to say (other than the final battle). 

I'm hoping there will be future movies in this franchise. I may end up as a Superman fan yet! :)