Man of Steel

 

Threw on my Challenge of the Superfriends Chucks and went on down to the theater to watch another Superman movie.

 

 

 

I'm not a fan of Supes as I prefer my comic book characters a bit more angsty, dark and occasionally weird. Big Blue is not any of these. That being said, I have seen all the Superman movies, and even some Smallville. I am still a comic fan boy and will go support (most) franchises, even if it comes from Krypton. Plus there is the chance for lots of destruction, which is usually entertaining.



Man of Steel gives us another look into the birth of Kal-El, the Genearl Zod failed coup and the death of Krypton. Hell this was like a descent chunk of backstory and wasn't awful. I'm not sure how many liberties and changes were made, but Superman fan boys will correct any mistakes.

Then we get some present day and then some Clark Kent flashbacks and this continues for a bit. Until Ricky Bobby's girlfriend and the military discover a Kryptonian ship in the arctic. Then the movie starts to move forward with Clark discovering his real family, planet, history and all that from his father Maximus Decimus Meridius.

Holy cats! Then we get General Zod and his cronies showing up, after they have been released from the Phantom Zone. Seems they followed a signal from said frozen ship to Earth. They are all jaded and want to turn Earth into New Krypton (which has a final Authority story arc feel, man I miss that book). Then the big action begins!

We get Supes having a throw down with Zod cronies with the military shooting them. There is Supes vs. a metallic tentacle ship defense system, some Metropolis destruction, more super fighting and the final showdown vs. Zod. All this stuff is very fast, smashee, explodee and decently fun.

I wasn't unhappy with Man of Steel, it was a descent flick and good comic movie. I didn't want another super hero reboot, but that is what happens now. I was surprised to see the ever expanding Larry Fishburn as Perry White. I had no idea that was coming. It made me smile to see Felix Geata and Karl "Helo" Agathon doing some Superman investigation, Lords of Kobol I'm a nerd. The Lexcorp trucks and buildings was a nice touch too. The action was fun: trains being thrown, people hucking people threw stuff, big ole punches, laser beam eyes and the like. Henry Cavill was a good Kal-El. Not to besmirch Terrance Stamp, but Michal Shannon's General Zod was great. He was a good bad guy. He wasn't over the top, he wasn't unlikeable and he was just doing what he was made to do. Even some of the touching flashback stuff was touching, but that was mostly me drawing from similarities to my own experiences with my own kid.

Now the bad stuff and there was some. I hated the fraking camera. After about three minutes of shaky cam I had had enough. Sadly it kept going through the movie. Could they just get a damn tripod for a few minutes. Why was the camera constantly jittery. Was there a tweaker or some spastic running it? Some of the effects, especially the punch fight flying stuff, looked a bit off. Maybe it is still hard to make that really believable since it is so impossible. Can we get a Superman movie where Lois Lane isn't falling to her doom? Damn, put a leash on here or tie here down for once. Superman is Catholic? I never knew.

This was a descent Superman movie. If you disagree watch any of the others. Go on! Go watch them. Now then after the 1978 Superman  (good story, right time, good cast and feel), the rest are pretty awful. Now Superman 2 is infinitely quotable, but it isn't that great. This blows the doors off the rest of them doesn't it?