Man of Steel

 I wrote of review of Man of Steel right after it came out.  I simply noted that I liked it much better than the average review on Rotten Tomatoes.  I am a sucker for Superman stories.  I very much liked the slightly mundane Superman Returns, and I was a big fan of the television show Smallville until it overstayed its welcome by stretching out to ten seasons.

Man of Steel is a near-perfect Superman movie despite a few minor flaws that turned off a few people and critics.  

Just to get this out of the way, the second half of the movie is dominated by over-the-top battle scenes between Superman and other Krytonians, like General Zod.  These superbeings hit each other with such force that they send their opponent flying through multiple buildings doing enormous damage.  Yet, the Kryptonians don't take much damage personally despite the force they inflict on each other.  Superheroes in movies often do physically impossible things, which takes away from the believability, but if such powerful and nearly indestructible beings actually did fight each other on planet Earth, this is what it would look like.

What I like about Man of Steel is that this is the first Superman story to put extra emphasis on him being an alien from another world.  We see Krytopn, and we see their technology and how it is more advanced than ours.  On Earth, the people's initial reaction to Superman is to be fearful, and rightfully so.

Henry Cavill makes a good Superman.  He portrays stoicism and morality in the face of lifelong adversity.  He does a good job of displaying angst over trying to fit into a world that he wasn't meant for.  

But a good hero needs a good villain and we get it in General Zod, who is Superman's apparent equal and played menacingly by Michael Shannon.  Zod isn't just a cartoon character.  He is pursuing the logical goal of preserving the Kryptonian race, even if he has to wipe out humanity to do it

Amy Adams is perfect as Louis Lane.  Kevin Costner and Dianne Lane do superb jobs as Jonathan and Martha Kent.  Many of the other cast members have small but memorable performances, like Laurance Fishburne as Perry White, and Christopher Meloni as a military officer who puts his life on the line.  

However, I feel that Harry Lennix is typecast in most of his roles, always playing similar predictable characters, but he is memorable nevertheless.

I noticed television actors popping up in a bunch of different roles.  I recognized Alessandro Juliani from Battlestar Galactica.

I cringed in just a few places where the dialog seemed simplistic or just unnecessary.  Movies have a compulsion to explain what is going on in the simplest possible terms just to make sure that we get it.

Rating: A-.

P.S. The CW series Superman & Lois feels very derivative of Man of Steel.  The show uses a similar storyline, and similar props and effects.  Since the show is 80% soap opera, I don't care for it.  The 20% that is not a soap opera makes for a good Superman story, but it is not that different from what we have seen before.