Man of steel review

Man of steel review

Spoilers contained within! Be forewarned!  

 

                I saw Man of Steel Friday night and overall I liked it a lot. It was the best Superman movie ever made. Was it perfect? No. Was it a great watch? Absolutely.

            Cavill played the part the best of any actor who has ever donned the blue tights, though you lose the fact that his mother (Ma Kent) made the suit in previous comics lore. That part should always remain as far as I’m concerned.

            I have a few complaints with the story, the first one being the way Pa Kent was killed. That was ridiculous and I do not buy it. I don’t care what the provocation was, no son is ever going to stand there and watch his father be killed if he has the power to stop it. That scene was just wrong, plus the part where Jonathan tells him maybe he should have let the bus load of kids die. No way does Pa ever say that, secondly he would be the man who instilled in him the NEED to save those kids. Those are the two major failures with the film to me.

            Now most people are talking about what they conceive as the major breaking point of the movie Superman killing Zod and the collateral damage. I’ll deal with the collateral damage issue first. IT WAS THE END OF THE WORLD! If he does not defeat Zod and his machinations, we’re all dead! Sorry but there’s going to be collateral damage. This wasn’t just the three criminals from Krypton as in Superman II, this was an army of them and ships with a machine that could tear the world apart. This was do or die with the world at war against these kryptonians. Metropolis got leveled, so what? It’s going to happen with a  situation like this. People are complaining that he didn’t seem to care. Sorry I disagree, he was too busy trying to save the planet and everyone on it from this threat.

            Zod’s death? Yes Superman does not kill, but he killed Zod before. In the comics he killed him with Kryptonite back in Byrnes day. It ended up fracturing his psyche and creating a second personality that became ‘Gang Buster’ Zod was the ultimate threat. He was going to kill that family and he forced Superman’s hand. It was kill him or watch that family die. People are saying “Why didn’t Superman fly away with him?” Zod could fly too, I take it as he was negating Superman’s flight with his own, basically it was a force of wills battling there. Those people would have been cut in half if he didn’t kill him. Yes, he MADE Superman a killer with his actions, and it will weigh on him. It was already shown weighing on him. We don’t need any more than was shown to see it was something horrible for him to deal with.

            This was the most action packed ‘Superman’ film ever. This guy looked the part and acted the part. To me, when I think of Superman in the movies it will now be Henry Cavill, being that I was never much of a Christopher Reeve fan. I didn’t care for his portrayal of Superman. He was whiny at times and I distinctly remember him complaining between films that the producers made him work out and he didn’t like it. Cavill LOOKS like Superman is supposed to look.

            I thought it was a fantastic movie, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was the best Superman movie ever made. I liked the collateral damage, it was spectacular, the way a Superman movie should look. Hell, New York was devastated in last year’s ‘Avengers’, but no one complained. It was a fantastic movie, and far better than that let down “Iron Man 3” was.