263, Man of Steel

Its fair to say that Superman Returns was not the greatest comeback for the DC legend that its producers intended.  After the fantastically awesome Batman Trilogy something needed to be done to ensure the Superman franchise didn't fall in the wake of one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time.

With Man of Steel - we go right back to the beginning - as with the original Superman movie, we see the Baby Kal-el in his fathers arms in the midst of Krypton's destruction.  There is far more involvement as well between Kal's dad Jor-El ad Zod - the military leader of the home world who's standing up against the Krypton government in its dying hours. 

You can easily say this is a remake of the 1978 classic with the special effects out of this world, literally when it comes to the opening battles.  Then, we have the brilliant interactions of Earth parents Kevin Costner & Diane Lane bringing up Clarke as a boy but cut seamlessly as flash backs from an extremely muscular Kent as he comes to terms with discovering himself.

Even better - it only takes about 40 minutes until we see the suit adorned for the first time and as with Batman - its a far darker suit, very distant from the 'man in sparkly tights' from all those decades ago.

I loved this movie - the special effect are awesome & the music, almost deafening with bass and a melodic drum beat that builds and builds throughout some sequences - exploding as Superman takes flight for the first time.

Henry Cavill - well, there is no geeky journalist approach to this Clarke here, until the end at least and for the mad fan base out there - this movie ends with a truly fantastic opening to absolutely anything they want it too. 

I enjoyed all of the sub-plots and twist and turns that this movie had to offer.  They've gone places that none of the others Superman movies did, the most formidable change being Lois Lane knowing Superman's identity (not really a spoiler here - it happens early on) and bringing Zod in almost immediately - there is also a single reference to Lex Luthor but blink and you'll miss it as it's in the form of a Luther Corp oil truck (unless I missed more).

I could go on and on gushing about this movie.  Cavill is brilliant, Lane and Costner make fab older parents, Russell Crowe as the hard man father in Krypton and Zod himself, Michael Shannon who makes a stand out performance.  Amy Adams is every bit the legendary writer Lois Lane and shines in her portrayal of the pit bull reporter and who else but Laurence Fishburne could play the overbearing Daily Planet editor - Perry White.

Enough said - Awesome special effects and soundtrack - stand out performances by all.  This is easily on par with Batman Begins and I for one hope there is much more to come and with the closing scenes seeing Clarke take on the far more familiar 'cover' role as the geeky Journo - I expect there will be.