Man of Steel Review - Spoiler-Free!!! (ish)

Before I start my Man of Steel review, I have some big news to announce.  First, this is my fortieth post ( Thank you, thank you, please hold the applause).  Any who, this means that I'm ten posts away from the big five 0.  So these last 10 posts (including number 50) will be Christopher's 10 for 10: My top ten favorite things for 10 different categories.  I haven't nailed down all ten categories yet, so feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions. In addition, I plan to ask my faithful followers what their favorite posts are, so if you don't remember anything I have two comments: 1) dishonor on you, and dishonor on your cow and 2) there's an archives for a reason.  Click on it. Read it. Use it.   Well that's all for the announcements, now for the man event.

MAN... 

OF... 

STEEL... 

THE REVIEW

Synopsis:  The planet Krypton is about to explode. General Zod (played by Michael Shannon), the supreme leader of Krypton's military attempts to overthrow the current administration  in order to institute new leadership in a desperate move to save the planet.  He and his fellow conspirators fail and are banished to their prison, the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Jor-el (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara (Ayelet Zurer) send their son Kal-el to Earth to escape the planet's fate.  The planet explodes, releasing Zod and his fellow prisoners, Kal-el's space ship crashes in Kansas, and then we learn about Clark's struggles to live on earth with powers through a series of flashbacks as the main story line introduces us to an adult Clark ( Henry Cavill) who is helping people and searching for his origins.  In addition, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is searching for a mystery hero, against the advice of her editor, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne).  As you can imagine, Zod and his peoples arrive on Earth searching for the last son of Krypton, the Military gets involved, and Superman must earn the trust of the military all while being thrown into IHOPs and skyscrapers by the invading Kryptonians.  

 (17%) Music: 

Best Tracks: "Goodbye My Son" - Starts out soft and then comes to an emotional crescendo; "I Will Find Him" - Intense and gripping, "Tornado" - Invokes the urgency of the scene going on, "You Die Or I Do" and "If You Love These People"- Playing at the climax of the film, these tracks carry the emotional weight of all the stakes that been created in the past two hours of the film, "What Are You Going To Do When Your Not Saving The World?" - The Superman theme, this is a song you won't easily forget (nor will you want to).

This score is fantastic and the music compliments the plot perfectly.  9.5 

2. (20%) Acting: 

Michael Shannon had a quite intensity that made Zod intimidating before he even threw a punch.  Just like I'll never forget Terrence Stamp saying "Kneel before Zod," in the old films, I'll never forget Shannon saying (or yelling) "I will find him!!".  Henry Cavill is Superman, nuff said.  Amy Adams was terrific as Lois, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were a great Jonathan and Martha Kent, some of my favorite scenes from the movie are just Clark and Martha scenes.  Russell Crowe.... needless to say, I have no need for Marlon Brando. Ever.

10

3. (18%) Plot: 

I thought the plot of the film was very well thought through, everything that happens in the second half of the film has a foundation in events and decisions made in the first half.  9.5

4. (21%) Execution:

Aside from one minor mistake involving the laws of physics in the film's climax, I thought the plot was executed very well.  I know some critics didn't like the pacing of the film, but I thought it was necessary in order to include everything that needed to happen.  I also liked that instead showing young Clark growing up in a linear fashion, they only show flashbacks to points in his life that had a direct relevance to a choice or decision he either had made, or would make later on in the movie; I hope they continue to use the format for the sequels, slowly revealing more of his childhood. Plus I'm for whatever gets Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as much screen time as possible.
9.5

5. (8 %) First Reaction:
Ironically, I liked Man of Steel better the second time than the first.  I think it was because I was able to soak in and really understand what was going on, as opposed to being awestruck like I was on opening night.  Nevertheless, I won't adjust my score.  9.25

6. ( 8%) Comic book-ness -
Superman was punched through a building.  That automatically got it a 9, so everything else was just frosting.  On a more serious note, the special effects in this film are incredible, Krypton looks amazing and the action sequences depict what would actually happen if two super-powered titans actually fought in the middle of big city.  And the flying..... man, I wanna fly so bad!!10

7. (8%) Faithfulness to source material-  

This is a bit of a tricky category to use because for any reviewer, including myself, it depends upon which source material you've read/seen.  There are many incarnations of Superman throughout the comics, tv shows, and movies, both animated and live action.  Now, I've read a plethora of comments by fans who say that the Superman depicted in Man of Steel isn't their Superman.  While I'm not going to doubt their love of Superman, its not my place to do so, I would say that the Superman they like is not my Superman based on everything I've seen and read.  Essentially, it comes down to this, the film was faithful to graphic novels like "Superman: Earth One" (Volumes 1 and 2), "Superman: Secret Origin", and a several other stories while unfaithful to others.  It just so happens that I'm a huge fan of "Superman: Earth One" and am delighted to have seen certain elements from the book portrayed on the big screen.  10

The Verdict

Man of Steel is, as I knew it would be once I saw the first trailer last July, one of my top ten favorite movies. EVER. (Future Post Spoiler Alert).  It's the best movie I've seen this summer and I'm looking forward to seeing it at least one more time before it leaves the theatre.  I would recommend this to my friends, acquaintances, family, and enemies.  My scoring system gives it a 96.6 out of 100, which I think accurately sums up how much I liked it.  So for all you have seen it, what did you think about it? Post your thoughts in the comments section.  And for those of you who haven't seen it yet, what are you prepared to do to rectify the situation? 'Cause if ya don't see it at least once.... 

I WILL FIND YOU!!!!!!