Good but not Great.

Rating: 5/10 (20 August 2013)

Well this was the big weekend for DC Comics for sure. Could they make Superman relevant again to the world? The Man of Steel came out on Friday and brought mixed reviews with it. Today, I bring the Good, the Bad & the Ugly on the movie.
The Good –
Henry Cavill as Kent/Kal-El/Superman –
Cavill did a really good job in his portrayal of Kent/Superman. He is a solid actor, very charismatic and, most importantly, made you believe in the character. I could buy his struggle with who he was and the battle he dealt with on figuring out this "power" he held. He will be to this franchise what Christian Bale was to Batman. This was great casting by Snyder.
Zack Snyder –
Visually this was a masterpiece. You could really enjoy the background and just the color of the film that he brought to the table. He did a great job of making you care about Clark Kent. He took a huge risk in bringing in no name Cavill and it paid off. Superman is a very hard character to believe in. You have Batman who people can easily relate to; the same can be said for Spiderman, but Superman isn't the easiest character for people to believe in. I thought Snyder did an amazing job at making you buy into the character and caring about the outcome of the film. That alone deserves a ton of credit on his part.
The fight scenes were over the top and filled with tons of action. He also did an amazing job, building up to the final fight scene, which we all anticipated.
Christopher Nolan –
He helped co-write and oversaw a bunch of relative items regarding the film. You could really tell that Nolan had a hand in the opening scene with Jor-El and the evolution of sending little Kal-El to earth. It was smart, powerful, and very meaningful. You could tell he didn't have complete control the movie. DC was wise to have brought him on board for this film.
Michael Shannon as Zod –
I have gone back and forth since my original draft on whether I really liked this portrayal. After much pondering, I came to the conclusion that I really did like it. Shannon might not have had the best personality with the character but he played a meaningful Zod. When he was on the screen you knew it because you could feel his presence.
Russell Crowe as Jor-El –
As I wrote in Nolan's section the opening scene was a masterpiece. Crowe is a great actor and it showed when he was on screen.
Diane Lane/Kevin Costner as Martha & Jonathan Kent –
Just great casting here. Costner was so good but I think his role will be overshadowed by the other performances in the film.
The Action –
When the fight scenes happened, they happened! They were big spectacles with buildings collapsing, fighter jets coming down, and just kick-ass fighting. I enjoyed how they went all out to make the fight scenes mean something.
Hans Zimmer & the Score – He has brought great scores to so many great films (Batman Trilogy, Inception). He did not disappoint here either; just a brilliant put together score that made the movie work scene to scene.
The Bad –
Amy Adams as Lois Lane –
When I saw the trailer I thought she would be perfect for this role. After seeing the movie, I quickly changed my opinion. She is a good actress but I don't think this role fits her at all. In the Batman series they replaced Katie Holmes after Batman Begins, so I think a switch can be made here. I am not sure they will do it but I think they should.
The Bounce Back –
I don't think they were sure there would be sequels of this film and you could tell. They really couldn't do an origins story from start to finish like they did in Batman. It was kind of sad because we got the flashback scenes throughout the film and I wasn't a fan at all of them. This film would've really benefited from being able to start the franchise over from scratch.
The Ugly –
The length of the film –
What is it with movies these days trying to be 3 hours long? I know this was only 2 & ½ hours long but still they could've easily shaved a good 20-25 minutes of the movie.
The Verdict –
3 out of 5 stars
*As I left the theater this was more of a 3 ½ out of 5-starred movie. The more it played over in my head when I started writing the review over the weekend, it came back down to 3 stars.
The team of Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill has made Superman relevant again. There was good acting, a great score and some awesome fight scenes. This was a good, fun-filled movie, but it's just not a great one. This will not have the replay ability as the latest Batman movies or The Avengers. When it comes to being a good comic book movie, it holds its own.
http://thesportsscript.com/2013/06/18/man-of-steel-review/