This film could have actually been three separate films; the destruction of Krypton, the little boy wonder growing up in Smallville and aliens invade the earth. There were plenty of special effects in this film, almost to the point of overkill. I actually liked the Krypton special effects the best. I thought they were the most creative. When I called my sister and asked her how she liked the film, the first thing that she said was "it was long". I must say that I could not agree with her more on that point. The last 30 minutes of the film was a continuous brawl and had me thinking that it would never end. While I was watching Kal-El/Superman (Henry Cavill), the thought that kept running through my mind is that Superman is not all that super (although he was ruggedly handsome). I think that one of the most cleaver things about this film is the way that they kept Jor-El (Russell Crowe) incorporated in the film. That was pretty creative and unexpected. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) was a lot tougher than her predecessors. She was tough and gutsy which was a breath of fresh air from always playing the victim. Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) on the other hand was more docile than I expected. I remember in the comic books there were always a lot of symbols in his dialog box (smile). I didn't expect cursing, but I did expect him to be meaner. Speaking of mean, General Zod (Michael Shannon) fit the bill to a tee and I have to say, he was a tough one to beat. I think that the DC Comic franchise still has a little bit of catching up to do to the Marvel franchise. Unlike the Marvel films, there is no humor; it was straight drama. I never really developed an emotional connection to the character. I also think that I would have liked the film more if the story had been told sequentially instead of filling the screen with an over abundance of retro-vision. I do think that this film is theater worthy, just because of the CGI, but pack a lunch because you are going to be there for a while. This is one of those times that I wish we had a blue light (somewhere between amber and green), but because I am feeling pretty generous today, I am going to go with a green light.
Review of Man of Steel
