Usually I don't write in first person but for my review of Man of Steel, I feel obligated to. At least for the first half of it, which will not have spoilers. The second part of this review will but I'll alert you when that time comes... so please read on.
I live in Cleveland and have my entire 35 years on Earth. Cleveland is the home of Superman but I've never been a big fan of Superman to the point where I would go out and buy the comics. I have some Superman movie knowledge, some cartoon knowledge and a tiny bit of comic knowledge. In other words, I'm not the type of person who thinks adapting the comic cannon to the movie is a make or break thing at all.
With saying that, I went into the theater without watching anything online, outside of the trailers that were released. My expectations were pretty low too and I had to keep it that way since my excitement level for Superman Returns was sky-high and the letdown was really hard. This could have been the best thing for me to do because I saw Man of Steel as being breathtakingly amazing.
From the start of the movie to the end of it, I was engaged the entire time. Even my hand was cupped over my mouth for probably close to half of the movie in astonishment. It was the Superman movie I've been waiting to see my entire life.
I've wanted Superman to be angry in the movies. I've wanted to see lots of damage by someone who is the stronest man on the planet and I got all of that with skyscraper destroying fighting action. And the best part is the train... but that's all I can say because I definitely do not want to ruin that moment for anyone.
So let me get into some SPOILER talk with some things that bothered me. Surprisingly, I cannot find many good things to say because I enjoyed so many aspects of this film. If you haven't seen it yet, this is where you need to stop reading but please come back after you've watched it to finish reading my review.
STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET.
Man of Steel broke my Cardinal Rule No. 1 for superhero movies which is to never ever, ever kill the main villains. Sadly, at the end, Superman does this and kills General Zod. Obviously, it's tough for anything on the planet to hold Zod captive, since he's just as powerful as Superman, but send him off into space (or something) as a form of banishment. Heck, you could have paid homage to the first Superman movie and trapped Zod and two of his goons into a mirror.
My only other concerns with this movie—and remember I can't comment on the story compared to its comic cannon—was all the lens flare, intentional motion blur and plot holes. Director Zack Snyder took a page out of J.J. Abrams' book and used lens flare a lot. In fact, he probably used it just as much as Abrams has used it in his Star Trek movies.
The intentional motion blur is a new thing to me though. Naturally, you get a little bit or motion blur in any movie and it adds a sense of realism to movement in a film. However, Snyder used it way too much where some action scenes were a bit too blurry for my liking.
Plot holes are plenty and here's a couple of the biggest. Why was Kal-El's suit in a 20,000 year old spaceship? Why didn't Kal-El just move Zod's head away if he could break it and spare his life? Why would any son sit and watch his father die when he is so fast he can save him without anyone else even seeing that it was Clark who saved Pa Kent?
But this was still the Superman movie I've been dying to see for years and years. If, for some reason, I never get a chance to see another Superman movie ever again... I'm happy to have finally seen one that truly does the character right on the big screen. Bravo!
6/10
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