MAN OF STEEL is an interesting and action-packed reboot of the Superman mythos.  It isn’t quite balanced as BATMAN BEGINS, but the casting and music score (by Hans Zimmer) is on target.  The only thing I didn’t like is the overuse of CGI in the fight sequences between Superman and Zod.   I think the Zod and Superman fight in Superman II is superior to the MAN OF STEEL fight since you can see the characters actually fighting and not be a mess of CGI figures fighting it out.   

Russell Crowe brings a gravitas and cool to the role of Jor-El that Marlon Brando never could (Marlon seems stiff and too stately compared to Crowe’s take and Crowe seems like more of a great father figure).  Michael Shannon brings a more grounded approach to General Zod, the military man who believes what he is doing is right for the future of the Krypton race, and I like it more than the over-the-top performance of Terrance Stamp’s memorable take as Zod.   Michael does as much as he can with the underdeveloped role of Zod as the rest of his military followers have zero development (including the really cool badass Faora).  The characters in this movie that are the most developed are Clark/ Superman, Lois Lane (who is very independent and I love how she quickly discovers who Superman is), Jor-El, Martha Kent, Jonathan Kent (which is amazing given how little screen time that Kevin Costner has), and Perry White (someone who doesn’t really need development other than play the role of the editor-in-chief at The Daily Planet).   That brings me to how Henry Cavill nails the conflict inside Clark Kent/ Superman and being the loner/ outsider who is trying to discover his role on his adopted world.   I know the relationship between Clark and Lois Lane comes out of the blue too quickly (and I wonder how much of their story ended up on the cutting room floor since Zack Snyder has mentioned he had a three hour version of this movie before he edited it down to its current length).  I think Amy Adams currently is my second favorite actress to play Lois Lane (behind Erica Durance on the Smallville TV series) and I will be watching to see where she takes it in the sequel.

The opening scenes on Krypton are amazing before the movie launching into a disjointed journey for Clark Kent aka Kal-El aka Superman before General Zod shows up (and the plot kick starts again).  I do think MAN OF STEEL does portray the doubts of Clark Kent well as he struggles with his role of being a hero and doing what is right, but it isn’t as cool as say Bruce Wayne’s path to become Batman in BATMAN BEGINS.  Still I like the path of Clark being the outcast who embraces his path by the end of the movie and joining the world again with his alter ego of Superman.  This origin story is more about Clark Kent becoming Superman and less about how Clark Kent (since he isn’t even a reporter in this movie).   I am excited to see where the sequel will go and I hope they rely less on CGI for the fight scenes and backgrounds next time.

This blu-ray review is (c)6-16-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com