Man of Steel
{4.5/5} “Your mother and I believed Krypton lost something precious — the element of choice, of chance. What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspired to something greater? You were the embodiment of that belief, Kal.”
Clark Kent is not an ordinary man. He was raised on Earth but he actually comes from another planet. He can do things that no one else can, but if he shows his incredible power to the world will they fear him? When others from his planet arrive and threaten Earth, he has no choice but to come forward. Meanwhile Lois Lane, reporter for the Daily Planet, has encountered Clark and uses her journalistic skills to track him down.
Man of Steel, released in 2013
I saw it in 3D (the only way they were showing it at my theatre).
There’s something about Superman. My knowledge of him comes from 4 of the 5 previous movies plus the Superman: Grounded and Superman: Earth One graphic novels. It’s possible that Christopher Reeve’s real-life heroism and John Williams’ amazing music has affected my affinity for Superman.
In any case, we now have a movie Superman for the 21st century. In its basic elements it’s the origin story we know, but there are lots of differences in the details. Lois is a more interesting character this time, and gets in on the action. Clark’s human parents and his Kryptonian parents both have great scenes.
The scenes on Krypton are astonishing, and made me want to spend more time there.
Like all big action movies these days, there’s an absurd amount of destruction. But like Star Trek Into Darkness and Iron Man 3 even if you find some of the action scenes a bit boring there are lots of other scenes to keep you interested.
If I were to watch all the Superman movies now, I’m confident this would be my favourite. I liked the movie a lot, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.
The music is by Hans Zimmer (The Dark Knight Rises). There was no way to top John Williams’ iconic Superman music, and Zimmer’s music is quite different but it has its own theme that I liked quite a bit. I particularly like the track “What Are You Going To Do When You Are Not Saving the World.”
Henry Cavill (Stardust) plays Kal-El / Clark Kent and Amy Adams (Trouble with the Curve) plays Lois Lane. Russell Crowe (State of Play) plays Kal-El’s father on Krypton. Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm) and Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) play Clark’s adopted parents on Earth.
Michael Shannon (Vanilla Sky) plays General Zod. Laurence Fishburne (Mystic River) plays Perry White. Harry Lennix (the TV show Dollhouse) plays General Swanwick and Christopher Meloni (the TV show Law & Order: SVU) plays Colonel Hardy.
The movie was directed by Zack Snyder (Watchmen).