A new iconic Super Hero well very new in some ways and not so in others

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2013)

No one can deny the awesome talent of Chris Nolan as a storyteller or re-teller, in the case of Batman and Superman. If you are too much of a purist, you probably don't like the retelling of anything; hence, you missed out on The Dark Knight and this recent Man of Steel, probably Pride and Prejudice as well as Jane Eyre too, too bad. I can be as nostalgic as the next guy but I live in the 21st century and new generations were ready for this remake. Nolan's story, which is directed for the screen by Zack Snyder provides more back-story than ever before and it is captivating back-story. I doubt anyone hasn't heard of Superman (pardon the almost double negative), so I won't bother mentioning the whole storyline other than to make a few comparisons to earlier versions. Kal-El, Superman, we are told now, and with more memorable scenes, is a rare baby not only on earth where he was dispatched by his father Jor-El, played very well by Russell Crowe, but also on his planet of origin, Krypton. You'll also get to understand in greater depth why Krypton was destroyed and how. By the way, we get to see a whole lot more of Jor-El in this version than in previous ones; I enjoyed that character here and didn't feel cheated out of sub-plots as had been the case before. Superman's mom, Lara Lor-Van, played by Ayelet Zurer is a hot looking mom too; I'm just sayin.
One of my recent new favorite actors, Michael Shannon, plays General Zod; I was very glad to see him in this role because he does 'pissed off' like few others can. This brings me to another aspect of the 2013 version of Superman; it has no humor and no stupid puns. It's just as well, because it would have taken away from the drama of earthlings, that's us, facing doom, nothing funny about that. Besides, General Zod's character just won't fit any kind of humor or pun, not with Michael Shannon. In other words, Man of Steel is darker, like the most recent Batman is. That persona did very well with audiences and it's clear it's doing as well with Clark Kent. Again, for Clark, we get a bit more in-depth with back-story. Henry Cavill, now that I've watched the movie, was a good choice for Kent; oh and, no red briefs for Cavill, makes the new look more serious as well. Now that I've brought up serious, I can tell you that Lois Lane's character is more serious as well and the role has more depth, which suits an actor like Amy Adams very well. Okay I like Adams, I've written that many times before in reviews, I'm not about to change my mind now. We'll have to wait for any romance between Lois and Clark to develop in sequels (in the making) as there sure isn't any here, but there is a special relationship started, and that worked quite well in my opinion.
The CGI, for those who eat that stuff up, won't let you wanting in this movie; it had better not and didn't for me. Finally, I'd like to say that the rest of the cast was well chosen; though I loved J.K Simmons as the daily Planet's Editor-In-Chief White, the non humoristic character, played by Laurence Fishburne in the current version, was a good choice. Ma & Pa Kent, played by Diane Lane (I always find her huggable) and Kevin Costner, again a nice fit.
Purists, stay away from this movie, you can only have negative things to say; everyone else, watch it, you'll like it. That being said, as my Zen friend Zoey reminded me in her blog, we should be thankful to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for creating Superman in the first place, that's one thing for which I won't fault purists.