REVIEW: “Man Of Steel” (2013)

mosMAN OF STEEL (2013 – Warner Brothers)

DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300, SuckerPunch)

PRODUCER: Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Intersteller, The Dark Knight Trilogy)

WRITTEN BY: David Goyer (The Dark Knight Trilogy, one of the Blade movies)

US RELEASE: June 14th 2013

RUN TIME: 2:32


Hey, I don’t know if you guys knew this..but I LOVE Comic Books! Right? Gasp, shock and awe! You may have also noticed I really enjoy superhero movies (..well except Iron Man 3..).

Now, most of you who know me know my absolute favorite superhero is Batman. I’m A DC guy, I’ll admit it. I also really enjoy Superman, depending on the creative force behind it. I’ve spoken at length about The Symbol of Superman is as iconic as Mickey Mouse, and serves as a symbol of American pride, hope and strength-so I do have very strong feelings for the character. Hell, this will make my THIRD Superman movie review in just over a year (vs The Elite and Unbound from DC Animation). I’m also LOVING the new “Superman: Unchained” comic being put out by DC, written by Scott Snyder (Batman, American Vampire) and the art by Jim Lee (..its Jim fucking Lee..). So…lets get to why you’re all here.

“Man of Steel”, the first Superman live action FEATURE since 2006’s “Superman Returns” has FINALLY hit the big screen today, and I went to go see it at midnight. What did I think about it? Well, click the jump to find out!


kneel before zod….

Despite spending the last DECADE rebooting Superman in “Smallville”, Warner Brothers opted to go the “Batman Begins” route. We got a brand new Superman origin story-not brand new as completely revamped or anything-but brand new as we got to see a whole DIFFERENT Krypton. We got a Krypton that felt like a real alien world. Crazy alien technology, Jor-El riding a dragon, living computers, Matrix birth pods…


what? Oh yes.. you read that right.


Jor-El. Riding. A Fucking. Dragon.


The first 10 minutes of the movie are all on Krypton, and they all show Jor-El pleading with the Council about Kryptons impending doom. In comes General Zod, who tries to take over the council and destroy anyone he doesnt see fit. Jor El runs away, to get the “genetic codecs” for Kryptonian life. He rides a damn dragon to get them-all while fighting off Zods minions. Finally he gets them, gets back to his house-and starts the sequence to send his son Kal-El to Earth.


Why Earth?


Well the backstory is that Earth was at one point a “Kryptonion Colonial Outpost”. It’s explained in the Man of Steel Prequel Comic, that Krypton sent scouts out in search of life-and one them landed on Earth THOOOUSSANNNDDS of years ago. Thats a key plot point.


Zod attacks, killing Jor El as baby Kal-El flies into space. Why is he so special? Well..he’s the first Natural Birth on Krypton in Centuries. See, on Krypton, babies are born of the Matrix Genesis Pods and their entire life is preset for them. Kal-El was different…


Fast forward a bit, and Zod’s coupe is quelled and he and Faora and their crew are sent into the Phantom Zone. It’s not a spinny pane of glass like in the Donner films, and its not some crazy trippy dimension like int he Animated Series. The Phantom Zone is a….hibernation pod? Fair enough.


When Krypton [SPOILERS!!] goes boom. Zod and his crew are awakened and freed. They begin searching the outposts to figure out where Kal-El was sent.


FAST FORWARD to a boat.




We see a mysterious bearded man, out crab fishing or whatever it is they do on those big giant fishing boats that get their own History Channel shows. They come up on an oil rig thats about to explode, and Mr. Greenhorn (..the bearded guy) vanishes. We cut to the fiery oil rig-who everyone else has abandoned. He shows up, engulfed in flames and saves the crew-‘sacrificing’ himself so a rescue chopper can get away.


We jump around alot from here…showing the bearded guy doing various heroic things. They flashback to his childhood-where a young Clark Kent saves a school bus. They show him as a barkeep, who destroys a dirtbags semi after he was a complete douchebag. All this other awesome stuff-to drive the point home that Clark Kent will do good and help people…whether he should or not.


Fast Forward to the artic, where Lois Lane is doing a report on a military / government project thats uncovering an old thing from ice. She of course goes exploring-and fines a hole burned into the ice. She follows it-because yeah…and she finds a Kryptonian Scout Ship. Clark Kent is inside (he was posing as a helper on the expedition). He unlocks Jor-El’s consciences, and instead of giving him vague cryptic responses, Jor-El actually..ya know…HELPS HIM.


The robotic gaurd attacks Lois, and Clark destroys it. He flies the scout ship away from the ice-and drops Lois off in the middle of the artic. This begins her story arc of trying to FIND HIM-piecing together these stories of a mysterious man who comes and helps people.


In the ship, Jor El reveals the Superman costume and the movie begins.


After Lois figures out who he is, Zod appears and demands Kal-El be returned to him.


From there..the movies goes BANNANAS, and its what you fucking WANT a Superman movie to be.


Property destruction, shit gets blown up. It was AWESOME. Nonstop action all movie. A brief Lexcorp logo flashes on screen. A brief Wayne Enterprises logo appears on a satelitte, and its great.


Im not going to go into a scene for scene breakdown here. Just know this..the movie is AWESOME. Flawless? No. Not at all. Not by a LONGSHOT actually. Do I like the idea that Lois knows who Superman is? No..not really. But its a different take on the character.


Overall, i LOVED the movie. It was SOOOOO much better than Iron Man 3..go see it. now.

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