Movie Review: 'Man Of Steel'

art by Paul Shipper

I've said before that I'm not too much of a fan of superhero films (Marvel in particular for some reason), but I did enjoy Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' trilogy and Zack Snyder's adaptation of 'Watchmen', so I was fairly looking forward to watching their collaboration on 'Man Of Steel', especially after watching that third trailer.

It's the familiar origin of one of comic's most iconic characters, in which 'a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.'

I liked the way they told Kal-El/Clark's upbringing and certain other events with flashbacks. Yes, this film is essentially a rebooted origin story, and it is a quite familiar story even to non-fans, so there's no need to go into too much detail, but just enough to get a grounding on his early life in Smallville and until we meet him proper.

The overall feel of the film I thought it was very sci-fi, much more so than any previous Superman film, what with the beginnings on Krypton and all the spacecraft etc. But I did enjoy that, and did separate itself from the previous films as a result.

This is a Zack Snyder film after all, and that is very apparent from the effects and camera angles. For me it did work well, particularly the way Superman, Zod, Faora etc were jumping and speeding around on screen. Also the carnage! By 'eck is there a lot of carnage during the climactic battle. So much so, I don't think there is much of a Metropolis left to make the already green lit sequel. Whole buildings collapsing, rubble everywhere, it all reminded me of the 9-11 ground zero videos.

I liked the ending with Clark and Lois at the end, had a smile on my face after that. Thought it was a good way to end it.

There is also a 42 page prequel comic, (story by David S Goyer, Geoff Johns and Zack Snyder, script by Sterling Gates with art by Jerry Ordway) that is worth a read that is set a thousand years before the film and ties into events in 'Man Of Steel'.

So, a modern update to a classic origin with all the thrills and action you can want, albeit with not much of a story, but just enough. The cast is really good in this and Henry Cavill IS Kal-El (Clark Kent only really appears at the end). If you're expecting a film in the same vein of 'The Dark Knight' trilogy, as most 'critics' probably were considering their low ratings, then you may be disappointed. But if you enjoyed 'Marvel's Avengers' and the other supers films from Marvel, then you'll certainly get a kick out of this!

**** out of 5