Man of Steel

MAN OF STEEL (2013)

Checked this out tonight in what would probably have been my 3^rd or 4^th choice of theater, but because of the time, it was worth it. Oh wait, this is a movie review right? I promise to keep this one spoiler free. I don’t feel like I have to go too much into the plot. If you don’t know the Superman story by now, you can certainly Google it then come immediately back to the review. First off I want to say that this film is a lofty 2 hours and 23 minutes long. When it was over, I was thinking “do I really have to leave my seat” because I’d spent most of the movie on the edge of it. There are several not great, but better than great things here.

1 – The villains in the movie are not only formidable they are a refreshing break from Lex Luther because frankly I believe he is the most useless villain in comic book history. 2 – The origin story is maybe off of what some fans will want, but to be honest its brilliance far outweighs its flaws. 3 – Multiple really crappy and annoying things about the original set of movies with Reeves are avoided completely. Don’t get me wrong, Superman II was epic in my mind but even it had its “what is going on right now” moments. 4 - We are given enough emotions elements to care about this Superman, something no other movie about his has really succeeded at.

MAN OF STEEL is fast paced, no slow motion here at all and for fans of just straight up action. This film not only rivals AVENGERS and IRON MAN 3, it lays them to waste (and if you read my review you know I have a deep love for AVENGERS).

Zack treats the secondary and even minor characters with true respect and I am not sure where or at which point the writing could have been any better. The acting is extremely sound with the exception of Kevin Costner who plays his role as Superman’s father on earth like he thought he was still on the set of “Message In A Bottle” (not a compliment). I was not in love with Henry Cavill for Superman, but holy cow he won me over and the rest of the casting especially General Zod was superb. I know DC has not delivered their AVENGERS punch yet, but with DARK KNIGHT RISES last year and MAN OF STEEL, DC is at least stepping up its game. MAN OF STEEL was definitely the first film I walked out of this year and thought, MARVEL better watch their backs. I give this film a solid 7 out of 7. That’s right. The first time I have given that rating out this year.

Rating Definition : 7 out of 7 : STUNNINGLY BRILLIANT, this is a movie that should get consideration for your TOP 20 favorite films of all time. This is the movie that you couldn’t wait to see and skipping 4 meals last week made it worth it to fork over the theater price for admission, then repeat the process 17 more times. Then you will send letters to the theater manager asking why they don’t show the movie for years after its release.