Man of Steel

This is not your father’s Superman (wait that’s me). This is a very exciting and enjoyable movie. It is a classic super hero movie but more dramatic and less cartoonish. The story is action packed and there are interesting character interactions. One theme of the move is “Who am I” and this is played on different levels with Superman as a child and as an adult. Simple can be very effective, especially with good direction.

Henry Cavil, is a Brit as Superman. I think he will be embraced by the audience, more by the women than by men. Besides being a classical actor, this guy is ridiculously buffed. He has balloon muscles; it’s like Popeye was his personal trainer. When Christopher Reeve played Clark Kent he was a bumbler then as Superman he was forthright and boringly serious.  Henry’s persona is consistent and self-assured. I really like the way they handled the early Clark Kent scenes. I am not a fan of flash backs but they were done well here. His parents are Diane Lane and Kevin Costner, not a bad pick. Their roles were brief, but important. Costner did a good job.

I had my doubts about Russell Crowe; he does not strike me as the fatherly type. But he did a great job as Jor-El. His scenes are early in the movie during the destruction of Krypton, but thanks to movie magic he appears in the rest of the film.  Amy Adams is Lois Lane. Her approach to Lois Lane is less obnoxious than Margot Kidder’s but she is still self-confident and pushy. Amy Adams and Superman click in the movie a bit quicker than expected. I do not think that Laurence Fishburne was an effective Perry White. He was too laid back, too Morpheus.

The bad guys were super. General Zod has no conscious and is ruthless. He is devoted to Krypton’s civilization to the point of exterminating the human race for his cause. There is this female solider named Faora ( Antje Traue, a German actress, but of course) who is a nasty piece of work. She is scary hot. The battles are epic. They seriously trash New York City. Bloomberg was in the audience and he was pissed.

Superman’s suit is OK but a bit somber and dark. Some touches of fuchsia would make the suite pop. For most of the film Superman did not wear those ridicules glasses. Here is a guy that can leap tall builds in a single bound and is faster than a speeding Acela and the best he can do for a disguise area pair of black horn rim glasses. Now poor Henry really looks like a Brit. Thankfully he is also missing the jerry curl from his forehead. The fuchsia and the jerry curl would clash.