The definition of incredible

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2013)

I'll start by saying, this is the film that finally made me cross the Rubicon and write my first ever review.
I can't find one facet of the film that I could imagine being better. From the film's score, to the cinematography, to the direction, Man of Steel successfully transferred the Superman concept into a serious and deep film. It blew me away on every level.
Taking some cues from his previous films 300, Watchmen and Suckerpunch, Director Zack Snyder did an amazing job and was the perfect choice in being attached to this project. They got the casting right this time, in contrast to 2006's abysmal Superman Returns. Unknown (in Hollywood terms) Henry Cavill pulled off Clark Kent/Superman with flying colors. Amy Adams was absolutely perfect as Lois Lane. And finally, Michael Shannon - playing a bad guy so well as he always does - was phenomenal as Zod. I'll also mention that the name "Superman" was only uttered once throughout the entire film, which I thought helped make the film as a whole more down to earth and realistic.
On a more shallow level, the action and sheer level of destruction was off the charts and raises the bar for all movies of this genre, here-on-out. The action scenes, perfectly synced to an amazing score by Hanz Zimmer - including the ominous personal favorite 'Arcade', were more extreme, and there were more of them than one would even expect from a Superman film.
All that aside, this is a film that had a deeper esoteric and allegorical message that was overall good, that sadly will fly straight over most people's heads. Just for starters, Superman was obviously a Jesus archetype story (not to advocate Christianity), with Clark emerging as Superman at age 33 (the famous age Jesus became referent and died), having the adoptive parents of Jonathan (Joseph) and Martha (Mary) and more. Zod has a sickle as his chest symbol, which for communism/collectivism there is no more famous symbol. I could go on...
Bottom line? See this movie!