Man of Steel manages to finally give Superman an action filled movie to reside in

Rating: 9/10 (9 July 2013)

I was skeptical when I had first heard of this film, even more so when I learned of Zod being the villain of the piece. I thought they were going to make the same mistake they had done during Superman's previous movie and simply copy one of the first two Superman films. Superman Returns was a rehash of the first film, and I feared this would end up being a rehash of the second despite the casting of a new Superman and a new director. To many times directors and producers fear doing something different, so they rather copy the success of previous movies and such. Well, they did not do that here and they finally managed to give me the Superman film I have been waiting my life for. I was never impressed with the Donner films, the first a high budget film that focused mainly on Superman's flight ability. The second had its moments, but rushed the relationship between Louis and Superman in a way even the comic book had not gone to at that point in time. Superman III was just goofy, but had some charm to it as I liked dark Superman and Clark fighting and I actually though Robert Vaughn's character was more Lex Lutherish than Lex Luther himself. The less said about IV the better and then as I said, Returns was just a remake. Here we are finally given a Superman film, filled with action, more than probably those five films mentioned combined!
The story goes over the early stuff and how Superman came to this planet. More detail is given to his back story here as the scenes on Krypton are amazing. Zod, himself, is given more back story and his character better developed in this section than he was in both Donner films. All I know of the Zod there is that he orders his minions to break crystals, he hates Jor El and that he wishes the son of Jor El to kneel before him. Soon we are taken to Earth as a young Clark Kent tries to cope with his powers and find out who he really is. Unfortunately, things are rushed as Zod makes his way to Earth. He seems to only want Clark Kent, however, he has sinister plans for Earth. Clark Kent will have to use his unnatural abilities to try and counter Zod and his forces, but can one man stand up to an army of super powered warriors?
The casting was good, I really thought both Russell Crowe as Jor El and Kevin Costner as Johnathon Kent did great. I also like the choice of Henry Cavill as Superman. It was nice they did not try to go for a clone of Christopher Reeves this time. I think they learned their lesson after Returns, sure a clone can sound and act sort of like the person they were cloned from, but they have no emotion! The action was great, this film featured a lot of colossal battles between Superman and the other Kryptons. Lots and lots of destruction. It also had the best one on one fight between hero and villain I have seen yet in a comic book film...the Avengers having the best team battle. However, while I enjoyed this movie a lot, it is not without its faults. The gang at the Daily Planet were a bit underused, you never really get to know any of them beyond Louis Lane. The film also could have used a few more lighthearted moments in it. I do not mind that the film was dark, but just because the overall tone is dark does not mean you can not have a bit of comedy. Look at Amazing Spider-man.
So, yes this is my favorite Superman film. It is the Superman film I have been waiting for, one where his abilities are all on display and are used in full force. With that said, I do hope the next film develops some of the Daily Planet's staff a bit more and that they do return to Lex Luther as the villain. Just a different Lex, one not consumed with real estate or a crazy crime lord, but a corrupt businessman. We have finally made up for the lack of action missing in all the previous films so I am okay with a return to a less threatening menace in the next film.