Entertaining and dramatic comic superhero movie! 8!

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2013)

I watched "Superman: man of steel" with very high expectations. I am a fan of the character Superman, read and have many comicbooks of him and have loved the character since I was very little. In fact, with Batman and Spider-Man, Superman is my number one superhero. I love the first movie in the old saga, but the other are worse, specially the last three. I am not a simple spectator of this movie, I am a real fan, so I am reviewing it from another point of view than a normal guy who just watched to see another movie. First, I have to say the movie is very good, but worse than the comicbooks, so it is not that good as an addaptation. I thought it would be better, one of the best in 2013, but some other I saw this year released this year are better or equally good. I was disappointed by four errors (two bigger than the other two). One of the best elements in the movie is the cast and interpretations. Henry Cavill is a young British actor who is promising and did a great job: serious, dramatic and with a good physic. He really looks like the Superman from the comicbooks. Russell Crowe as Jor-El is very correct, like he is always: a really solid and veteran actor as well as versatile. Michael Shannon is excellent as the general Zodd. He is very believable and evil. I had not seen him act that well, but I already thought he was good. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane (I particularly like her) are very efficient in their roles as Jonathan and Martha Kent. Amy Adams, who I find so attractive, is another great promising actress nowadays. She is Lois Lane in the movie and did a really good job. Lawrence Fishbourne is the Daily Planet's editor Perry White. In the movie, the character is too secondary so it does not exploit all his capacity, but very correct anyway. The rest of the cast did a more than decent job. Zack Snyder (who also directed "300" and "Wachtmen" and "Dawn of the dead") did another excellent job with the pace and lenght of the movie. He put a dramatic serious tone not designed for the whole family. He captured the essence of the comicbooks. The movie is quite long even though it looks shorter because it is too amusing and fluid. It has much action but lots of drama, as well, in the right proportion. Like in the comicbooks, humour is not very present. The script has two errors during the battle in Smallville that I do not understand how David S. Goyer (one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood) committed. The romance between Clark and Lois is not so developed, but it is not bad nor good. The dialogues are not incredibly good, but very correct and proper. Jonathan Kent's death is ridiculous and does not happen in the same way as in the original story. Zodd's death is pathetic and illogical, too. These two errors made the movie not be one of the best in the year besides the other two during the fights in the last quarter part of the movie. The soundtrack is good enough, but worse than the one in "Superman". Another good point is the apparation of elements from the DC Comics Universe, like Luthorcorp, Wayne Enterprises, Lana Lang, etc. The ending is very good, to. How Lois and Clark meet one another is not the same as in the comics and I think how Jor-El dies is neither, however I liked this change taking into account thousands of comicbooks are condemsed in one movie. The visuals are great: Krypton, the fights, the ships, Metropolis, the destructions... This is not strange in a so expensive movie. In conclusion, the comicbooks it is based upon, the direction, the seriousness, the cast and the interpretations are the best things in the movie whereas the stupid script holes and changes with the original story have made it much worse than it would be. I recommend the movie for those who like superheroes from comics in general and Superman concretly. 8.