Man of Steel

Director: Zack Snyder
Screenplay: David Goyer, Christopher Nolan
Cast: Henry Cavalli, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Michael Shannon, Lawrence Fishburne , Diane Lane
Genre: Action
Rating: ***
Venue: Ster Kinekor Maerua Mall Cine 2

Finally after waiting a long time for the new Superman movie, this week I got to nit and pick at it and boy oh boy is it full of surprises. Surprise number one and I must say this is a step in the right direction, is learning Superman’s real identity. Surprise number two is Superman’s underpants are on the inside of his costume (finally! he does not have to be the silly-looking action hero anymore). Another surprise is the all-star cast. Need I say more?
With so many great actors in the movie its hard to pick a favourite but all of them together make this a great watch. The film starts off on planet Krypton where Clarke Kent’s / Kal-El’s (Henry Cavalli) biological father, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) tells the planet’s rulers that the abuse of natural resources will soon cause the planet’s destruction. General Zod (Michael Shannon) who is an ally quickly becomes an enemy when he seeks to take over as ruler of Krypton. His actions lead to him and his gang being locked up and banished by the planet’s rulers. Jor-El and his wife are then forced to send their son Kal-El who is Krypton,s first ever naturally-born child to earth in a capsule where he lands on the Kent farm which is owned by Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) and his wife Martha Kent (Diane Lane).
What follows next are flashbacks of a young Superman struggling with his identity. He ends up in situations where he has to use his powers but should not in order to protect his identity and not draw too much attention to himself. He manages to keep things on a low profile with the help of his earth father, who teaches him the difference between good and evil. Everything is rosy for Clarke and his mother until the day that Clarke finds a ship similar to the one he came in and uses a key to find out his true identity. All hell breaks lose when a now free General Zod and his goons manage to locate the thing that they have been looking for, for years and target Metropolis.
This is not before Lois Lane (Amy Adams) somewhat exposes Superman to the world. She becomes his confidante. A series of mishaps follow the town of Smallville and Metropolis as buildings are crushed, burnt and destroyed. Superman does manage to save the day again and soon everything returns to normal. The hero in Clarke Kent is not extinguished when he joins the daily planet newspaper as a journalist. Here he can still keep his ear to the ground and always have his love, Lois Lane in his sights. In previous Superman movies Clarke Kent is an action hero pretending to be a journalist, but it seems Goyer decided to take a different route in this one.
Man of Steel is enjoyable from start to finish, the storyline is great, acting is top class and casting Lawrence Fishburne as Lois Lane’s boss was a good choice. Kevin Costner as Clarke’s dad brings that sweet subtle effect to the film. However I can not say the same about the Computer Generated effects in some of the scenes. They tend to shift from realism to animation sending one’s head into a spin. Yes Superman soars, and he does soar fast but more work should have been done to avoid him zig-zagging through the air and causing a lot of headaches. Please do not get me wrong, I love Henry Cavalli as Superman, no one has ever worked the Superman costume like he works it in Man of Steel. He is an excellent actor and gives fans exactly what they deserve. Spectacular and entertaining best describe this film. Go and watch it, you will most definitely be soaring with Superman.