Puts the Super in Superman...

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2013)

DIRTY WARS wasn't playing, and neither was HARVEST OF EMPIRE, so I opted for MAN OF STEEL. (Oddly enough, there was a Wal-Mart promo before the film, but no mention of the 1,127 sweat shop workers killed in Bangladesh.) MAN OF STEEL is better than I thought it would be, though some of the casting (of Perry White and Lois Lane) is questionable and the whole ode to our Military Industrial Government is more than a little off-putting. The fx, however, are truly stunning (especially in 3D) and the slugfest that comprises the bulk of the movie should satisfy any vidiot with a first-person shooter game at home (though it drags on WAY too long for my tastes). Worthy of note also are the several genuinely dramatic moments that occur throughout the film that lend it a timeless resonance; if some of those scenes don't leave a lump in your throat, consider yourself beyond all hope (the director has a deft way of milking a dramatic moment for all it's worth)- and the film DOES manage to convincingly convey the sense of SPEED and POWER of the Greatest Superhero of All Time. Director Snyder has done The Man of Steel justice. As a lifelong fan, I came away satisfied. More or less.