'Man of Steel' Is Not Super, But Likable

You would think after the Superman story being redone so much there would be no real way to keep it truly fresh and the audience entertained. Man of Steel somehow manages this while keeping the backbone of the Superman origin story intact. Although it is not the total win that DC Comics were hoping for as Man of Steel really is just alright. It is no ground breaker like Iron Man was, but it has it's merits as well as faults. We all can give a round of applause to Henry Cavill for doing a fantastic job as Clark Kent, and bringing his own element to the role. Its a wonder how we're expected to believe he is able to hide his true identity with just a pair of glasses.  So let's dig in and take a look at the ups and downs of Man of Steel.

So Man of Steel began on Kryton as we see Kal-El (later known as Clark Kent) being born to some pretty epic music (cue the trailer music here please). The scene move to Zor-El (Russel Crowe) talking to the council about Kryton's immanent doom and the measures they need to take in order to save their future race. This is when General Zod and his band of minions barge in declaring the council criminals and that he is in charge now. Zor-El manages to escape, and in his final moments, see his son sent away to Earth for safety. Time jump to the future as a grown up Clark is traveling for some reason and taking odd jobs along the way. Let's not forget saving people too. It's when he lands in the arctic he meets Lois Lane, and finds his destiny. He soon figures out he is meant to be a symbol of hope to the people of Earth. After her encounter with Clark, Lois begins doing some digging into this mysterious hero intending to tell his story. Elsewhere General Zod and his gang of minions figure out where Kal-El has been all this time and begin to head towards Earth.

Now there was a bunch of things that Man of Steel did right with it's take on Superman. The two casting the impressed me the most was the casting of Russel Crowe as Zor-El and Henry Cavill as Clark Kent. These two really knew how to play their roles and really made Man of Steel a bit more better. I also wasn't expecting Crowe's character to stick around for much as he did, and he didn't overstay his welcome at all. My favorite scene in Man of Steel is with Zor-El and Lois Lane as they escape the ship and Zor-El is just a total badass. Only Russell Crowe could make someone effortlessly beating people look awesome. With the childhood of Clark Kent, I like how Man of Steel decided to show it using flashbacks instead of dragging out the wait of Clark slowly realizing how "special" he is. I think at this point in time, the tale has been told so much (2 movies and 3 television shows), this was really the only way for Man of Steel to pull it off. Not to mention they altered a few things. I like how Man of Steel didn't have to pull out some krytonite to stop Superman, but instead it was something else that made him weak. Yes it would have been classic, but cheesey had the villain pulled that magic green rock on Superman.

Now your gonna have to forgive me a bit as I'm a bit biased against Man of Steel as I felt it really wasn't something that just "Super". There a couple things about it that I was ify on or just didn't like. First, why was Clark taking a journey and what was his goal? To discover the meaning of life? To figure out who he is? He sure wasn't going to find that on Earth. I felt like the writers made Clark wonder because it was different than him staying in Smallville or the Daily Planet. Another thing that irked me was how easy it was for Lois to connect the dots. Yes I get that she is an expert reporter, but she isn't the only one in the world and trail she picked up didn't seem too hard to follow either. The final plot point I had issues with was the matter of Johnathan Kent, and how ridiculous it seemed. I mean seriously killed by a SPOILER for SPOILER for a SPOILER. Although it was made in the last moments of his life with the look and gesture he gave his son. That single act in the last moment was just heart-breaking. Onto more technical stuff, I felt that the camera was really shakey at sometime (this could be attributed to where I was sitting) but at some moments it was really hard to see what was going on. I personally don't mind a shakey cam, but this was a little bit too much for me. Time wise, usually you can tell how much time has passed in the movie, with Man of Steel it felt like it jumped from one place to another, with the exception of the flashbacks.

Overall Man of Steel is enjoyable and a good summer movie, but nothing really ground breaking. I do like how they changed the theme and some facts about Superman to make Man of Steel into something of it's own. It certainly delivers in the action department. Fun fact, how much that Amy Adams had appeared on Smallville as a minor character prior to Man of Steel? That little titbit of information made me giggle at the irony slightly, but then again I think some of expected that there was going to be someone people from Smallville in Man of Steel. My main concern though is DC Comics going to try to launch a Justice League movie from this film? We'll see what happens. Our rating for Man of Steel is a bit complicated cause it's either like/dislike kind of movie. If you like Superman, then go see it, otherwise our rating is:

You can check out the trailer below.
What did you think of Man of Steel? What did you think of Henry Cavill as Clark Kent?