Man of Steel

You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Whoever that man is, he’s going to change the world.

DC fans, your next movie has arrived. Man of Steel, the newest incarnation of Superman, takes the hero to a new, more realistic place that he's never been before. Director Zack Snyder (of 300 and Watchmen fame) portrays Kal-El as the alien that he is, and shows us how the world would most likely react as if he truly was real.

Overall, the movie takes on a darker, more realistic look, no doubt thanks to Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan's involvement as a writer. According to writer David Goyer (who also worked on the Dark Night trilogy), they wanted to portray Superman as if his story really happened. How would people react to a super-powered alien showing up? I feel that they really did this successfully, which helps fuel the thoughts of a successful Batman/Superman and/or Justice League in the future, the latter of which is almost certainly a sure thing.

That being said, it does suffer a bit from Originstoryitis so far. As necessary as they are to help people who've never heard of the hero (who hasn't heard of Superman?), they just aren't as interesting as in a movie with established heroes. Marvel's The Avengers and its related stand-alone films are a good example of this; buzz about the films after the team-up movie is much more than for those before. Only time, and subsequent movies, will tell if this trend continues.

The S Man's First Flight

The movie starts out a bit slow, but shows some of Kal-El's back-story before thrusting us into present day. Throughout the film, we get thrown back to the past in flashbacks. While these do add a little to the story, I feel that they could have been handled a little better, or even put them at the beginning of the film in chronological order.

MoS may not have a lot of rewatchability, but the characters are really well developed. No offense to fellow Iowan Brandon Routh, but Henry Cavill absolutely kills it as Superman. And Michael Shannon as the movie's villain General Zod is delightfully sinister, even though you can understand why he does what he does. All in all, the attention to detail, both in the characters and in the little things scattered throughout the film, are amazing.

Man of Steel gets an above average 7½ stars

All things considered, MoS is a good movie. It takes a well known character (who's had so many film adaptations it's not even funny) and turns him into a believable hero. Not only does it do that, but it quite easily gets the ball rolling for the DC Universe to have its own team-up move a la The Avengers. I recommend everyone go see this, 3D not required.

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