Man of Steel has been greatly anticipated since it was first announced. The collaboration between storyteller Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder was an odd one, but most figured they would balance each other out. How did it fare? Man of Steel is good, but falls just short of greatness.
Man of Steel tells the origin of Superman, which we are all familiar with, but goes into far greater depth than has ever been seen before concerning Krypton and what led to Kal-El being sent off to Earth by his father, Jor-El, played extremely well by Russel Crowe. The first fifteen minutes encompass this backstory. The story is then told mainly with flashbacks, allowing both the story of Clark's upbringing and his present-day journey to be told. The cuts and transitions during these sequences are well-done and flow naturally. Never once does this style feel off or throw off the pacing of the movie.
The present-day portions deal with Clark finding his place in the world and realizing that he should do more with his power, that he should become more than what society intended. Once he does, General Zod invades Earth, seeking Kal-El and what Jor-El sent with him. The story is handled very well and makes you realize that Zod is not necessarily a bad guy; he's just doing what he can to ensure the survival of his people.
Now, because this is a Superman movie, everyone wants to know how the action is. I have no issue saying that this movie easily has the best action that I've ever seen before in a movie. It's perfect and absolutely Superman in every way. The final battle with Zod, in particular, who is arguably Superman's superior in every way, absolutely sets the new standard for action movies.
The acting was excellent, with nobody giving weak performances. Everyone seemed absolutely perfect for their roles. Henry Cavill is, in a nutshell, the animated series Superman come to life. Amy Adams gave a perfect Lois Lane, Michael Shannon was an excellent Zod, Kevin Costner portrayed a rougher, tougher Jonathan Kent, and Russel Crowe actually held his own against the great Marlon Brando, who was the last person to play the character in live-action on the big screen.
While it seems like I'm singing praises, I did have problems with the movie. I took issue with certain plot elements, including one scene which actually dampened my enjoyment for the rest of the movie. I have no idea how that scene made it past initial drafts. Against the rest of the emotional movie, that scene came off as cheesy and painful, with the ridiculousness of it overriding any emotion that you're supposed to feel during that scene. I also felt that, even though the movie is 2 1/2 hours, they wanted to get to the action as soon as possible and sacrificed some character development. Specifically, Superman's relationship with Lois. It feels like they should've had more scenes together because Henry Cavill and Amy Adams had amazing chemistry. I also felt as though Clark accepted Jor-El’s words about what he should do with his powers too easily. There was no conflict between the words of the man who raised him and his birth father. He seemed to accept Jor-El’s words just because they were what he wanted to hear.
Overall, it was so very close to being an absolutely incredible movie, and almost genre-defining. However, my issues with the movie did bother me enough to knock the movie down a mark on my scale. Either way, Man of Steel is well-worth your money and I highly recommend going to see it if you haven’t yet done so. 4/5