Man of Steel Review

Producers: Christopher Nolan

The Good

Krypton was an amazing planet. The different creatures and technology on this world was great. You get a small lesson in the ways of a Kryptonian without going into a full origin story.

The overall pacing for this movie was awesome. This origin story of Superman didn’t feel like the classic retelling of the iconic hero. It took a different twist on the franchise.

The incorporation of flashbacks added to the movie nicely. The idea of going to a flashback in order to show Clark learning a valuable lesson made the movie enjoyable. It was a good movie to show flashbacks instead of trying to push all of the details in the beginning of the film.

Michael Shannon as Zod was a great fit. Zod’s ideals made you sympathize with him while he’s doing destruction. He did everything on Earth to keep the Krypton race going.

Awesome supporting characters in Diane Lane, Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner. Each one of their characters placed a pivotal role in Kal-El’s upbringing.

Russell Crowe- This is a new and kick-ass Jor-El. His action scenes on Krypton makes you cheer with each moment. He was a man of peace but a person not afraid to fight for what he believes in. No one can replace Marlon Brando but Russell Crowe did an amazing job in this remake.

Diane Lane- Her scenes with the young Clark were powerful. Martha Kent helped control Clark’s powers and show him that he’s in control of his surroundings.

Kevin Costner- He played a great Jonathan Kent. When Jonathan died in the tornado it brought tears to everyone’s eyes. He didn’t want Clark to reveal his identity. He taught Clark that sometimes you will have to make some unpopular decisions but they are the right decisions.

The Bad

The fight scenes felt more like a sequence directly from Dragonball Z. It felt slightly exaggerated with a lot of zipping around. Granted the Kryptonians are advanced creatures and they’re very fast but the fighting seemed over the top.

Lois Lane figuring out Kal-El’s secret really didn’t fit well in this movie. It was a little too easy and would make you think that anyone with a search engine could find out his identity. She linked the pieces of the puzzle by just following stories of miracles which lead directly to Kal-El.

The heavy destruction of Metropolis really makes you think about three questions, “Who’s going to rebuild this place?, Why did they blow up so many buildings? and Why didn’t Superman take the fight to a desert of some sort?” The people of this city felt the battle between the aliens.

Originally published on the Bring On The Reviews Blogspot blog on April 24, 2014.

Man of Steel (2013) Cast and Details

Man of Steel (2013) is directed by Zack Snyder and stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner. It runs 143 minutes and is rated PG-13. You can look up the full cast and crew on IMDb. You might also like my Minority Report review.