Christopher Nolan is one of the greats in the film business. All of his films are masterpieces, save for some minor flaws in The Dark Knight Rises and the newest film he’s a part of, Man of Steel. If I were to share these flaws with you, I would be spoiling two major parts in the movie. Starring Henry Cavill as the title character, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon as this film’s baddie, Man of Steel takes itself much more seriously than other Superman films. First of all, they removed the ridiculous red panties he wears on the outside. Some of you may like them, but remember that he’s trying to be dramatic here. The Fortress of Solitude is now a scouting ship from Krypton, and a Russell Crowe-efied Jor-El is his mental guide. I’m just glad he didn’t sing this time.
As for casting, Cavill did much better than Brandon Routh in the flop Superman Returns. As for Michael Shannon’s General Zod, I feel that he was a bit to dramatic. Amy Adams was fine as Lois Lane. Russell Crowe was great as Jor-El, as he brought the perfect amount of drama and poeticism that is expected to come from a now deceased mental guide.
The movie is 2 hrs. 33 min. long, but it feels much shorter. This is due to the fact that the film doesn’t go five minutes without something blowing up. This is unfortunate, in my opinion, as they didn’t give time for the characters to really develop. The bad guy was a bad guy throughout the film, never letting up being evil. They do explain why he was being evil, but it’s not explained very well. I would go into detail, but that would be spoiling it.
I would describe the plot as being a mix between Superman: The Movie and Superman II. It’s an origin story, much like Superman: The Movie. It has General Zod and his posse of baddies, much like Superman II. I haven’t seen the two films in a while, so I’m not sure if the overall plot of the film is like them. Knowing Christopher Nolan, he probably didn’t follow the plots of the first two films at all. But hey, you never know.
Overall, I was impressed with this rendition of Superman.
9/10 overall