Deviated Too Radically from the Original Story

Rating: 6/10 (25 March 2017)

This movie begins on the planet of Krypton with a scientist named "Jor-El" (Russell Crowe) warning the planet's leaders that their world is about to explode and urging them to send at least a few people out to other planets in order to preserve their race. Having ignored him in the past they refuse to heed his warnings now but before they can dismiss him a general named "Zod" (Michael Shannon) breaks into the council chamber and after killing one of the leaders declares that he is now in charge of the entire planet. However, Jor-El manages to escape from the chamber long enough to send his young son out into the universe in a spaceship headed for Earth. Not long afterward, General Zod and his small band are captured and after being tried for murder and sedition they are all imprisoned in another dimension known as "the Phantom Zone" which, ironically, saves them from a certain death when Krypton explodes. The film then fast-forwards to a grown man with incredible powers saving some workers on an oil platform and then disappearing out of sight. Needless to say, this scene is the initial introduction of a person who will soon be known to the entire world as "Superman" (Henry Cavill). Now even though the CGI in this particular film gave it a significant advantage over the "Superman" movie produced in 1978, I was terribly disappointed with the manner in which the director (Zack Snyder) chose to deviate so radically from the original story. Likewise, the action scene towards the end dragged on much too long and was totally unnecessary. Now don't get me wrong-good CGI and action definitely enhances certain films. Unfortunately, Zach Snyder typically relies too heavily upon these two features and this film suffers as a result. Be that as it may, while this movie certainly had some good points, it could have been better and I have rated it accordingly. Just slightly above average.