Man of Steel (2013) Movie Review

MAN OF STEEL (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

In 2006, everybody thought that the Superman movie franchise would be no more. But in 2013, Zack Snyder brought us perhaps one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. And without question of all year. 

Now for this review, I shall not mention any spoilers as I have a spoiler filled discussion in the works. Anyway, the story focuses on an extraterrestrial being named Kal-El (Henry Cavill) whom has come from the planet Krypton after it's destruction due to natural causes. With Kal on a different planet, he must adapt to the many differences including the atmosphere and the people themselves. He must also try and keep his alien side hidden, as taught by his adopted father, Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner). After many years of being an outcast, Kal is now grown up and is now a ghost who adopts many different jobs and lifes. While doing this however, Kal manages to a ship from Krypton that has crash landed and inside shows him the path to being not just a simple man, but a man who can accomplish wonders. And this could not have come at a better time as now General Zod (Michael Shannon), a renegade general who was sent to the phantom zone mere hours before Krypton's demise. Now free and after revenge against Kal for work done by his father Jor-El (Russell Crowe), Kal-El must now defend Earth from General Zod before he can take over Earth and begin his own dictatorship. This story explaining Kal's origins I felt was a really positive thing as when he crash lands on Earth it immediately cuts to him as an adult and explains his upbringing in the form of flashbacks which I felt was great. Overall, the plot I felt was without question the best aspect of the movie and when compared to everything else, that's saying something. 

Since this movie was directed by Zack Snyder, the director of 300 and Watchmen, it is to be expected that this movie will have some insane visuals. And they are quite insane. When Kal-El is flying around, it looks like someone is actually being filmed flying over the Antarctic. While these visuals are really amazing, very few times it becomes repetitive but then again, I can't knock something down a score for being too awesome now can I? The ships, animals and Krypton in general looked amazing and beautiful, even at the point of it's destruction. Anyhow, I felt the visuals were spectacular and are not just a step, but a leap in the right direction for Zack Snyder. 

And now we come to the part that I was most interested about, the acting. First off, let's talk about Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel and to sum up, he nailed it. Henry showed that he is both a small screen and big screen actor and because of his powerhouse performance, his goldmine of a career is inevitable. Next is Amy Adams as Lois Lane and for the most part, I had no real problems with her as Lois. She was smart, she was sassy and above all, she was pretty. Now when I heard that General Zod was being portrayed by Michael Shannon, I was beyond excited as if you had seen my favourite actors list,  you would notice that Michael Shannon was on there. Thankfully, my hype was completely necessary and Shannon was fantastic as Zod. He was intense, he was scary and above all, he owned the role of the Kryptonian general. As for Kal-El's parents, I felt that the father figures, Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner were really good in their respective roles and both managed to give wisdom to Kal. Overall, the acting I felt was phenomenal and the line up of actors that they got for this movie was amazing. 

Overall, Man of Steel not only gave justice to the Superman franchise, it gave us hope for a Justice League movie. This film was intense, dramatic, heart-breaking and even at times, funny. Although the film has been getting alot of hurt from critics and even fans alike, I for one loved this movie and is hands down my favourite movie of the year so far. Man of Steel is now officially the movie to beat, and that just doesn't apply to movies coming out this year. 

RATING: 8.6/10