Review: Man of Steel

Warning: There are Minor Spoilers for the film below, nothing huge that will ruin the film for you, but if you want to go into the movie completely spoiler-free, come back to this once you've seen it.


Best Superman movie of all time. Quite a bold statement to begin a review with, I know, but I thought I'd get to the point. I honestly feel like that statement is true. To be honest, and I'll go straight in and say it, I feel like this is the greatest comic book movie In recent history. Into more specifics, I guess:

This film does in the first three minutes what a lot of films only do around an hour into them, it jumps almost immediately into the action and into the main theme of the soundtrack. It won't be much of a surprise to you that the movie begins on Superman's home planet: Krypton, but this is a very different Krypton from what we've seen in the previous films. This incarnation of Superman's father, Jor-El, is also quite a big departure from the usual scientist, he gets quite a lot of action revolving around him in the first scenes of the film, and as unexpected as that was from a character who you hardly ever see fighting, even in the comics, it was probably one of my favourite scenes of the film. Also, the action scenes on Krypton are really breath-taking, some of the best cinematics I've ever seen in a film.

After the first twenty minutes or so, the film does tone down the action a little bit, this felt like quite a drastic change for me, but the scenes in that section of the film were enjoyable nonetheless. In fact, the Smallville scenes are some of the most interesting, it really shows a good insight of how it would be growing up on Earth, trying to be a normal child with all of these incredible abilities and the Kents' struggles to keep their adopted son's secret being revealed.

The film jumps back and forward between three phases of Clark Kent's life, his time as a child in Smallville, him in his late teens to early twenties and the current time. At first the changes were a little bit confusing, jumping from significant points in his life really quickly, but in time you get used to it and can really appreciate the method of storytelling used. In fact, one of the most moving scenes in the film takes place in one of these flashbacks, and it really strikes you right in the heart, I won't spoil it but I think you'll know which one I mean if you've seen the film and you'll definitely spot it when you see the film if you haven't already.

Every character in this film is played just right. Michael Shannon's Zod is the man willing to do anything to protect the Kryptonian race, Amy Adams' Lois Lane is the often overly reporter fascinated with Superman ( And I think I prefer Amy Adams' Lois Lane to the one appearing in the actual comics ), Kevin Costner's Jonathon Kent is the loving father who is willing to sacrifice anything to keep Clark Kent's secret safe, even if he's not his natural child, and pretty much every character in this film feels like the character they're based on, the reason I didn't include Henry Cavill's Superman in the list above is because I feel like he's just Superman, and the best portrayal of him away from the comic books I've seen.

See, one thing I've always wondered about Superman movies is: How do you make the final battle interesting? More than just another punch up. To me, the final fight in a Superman movie, or any movies like this, has to have some sort of personal impact on the protagonist. I feel like this film accomplished that, and I won't spoil it, but I feel like it made this huge, violent physical fight between Superman and General Zod moving in a way. The circumstance Superman is put in really brings out one of Superman's core themes that I think is often overshadowed by all of his powers, he's willing to sacrifice anything to save the lives of humans.

This film has some amazing cinematics, it really shocked me just how amazing it was. I saw the film in 3D and it really took my breath away, I watched the final thirty minutes of the film with my mouth open, I was just so taken a back by it.

Drawing to the end of the review now, I thought I'd mention that I sat through the entire credits of the film, and it wasn't to see if there was a post-credits scene, I needed time to think about the film, I was so amazed by what I'd just seen, I just sat and listened to the soundtrack as I thought what a brilliant movie it was. In fact, I saw this film with my Dad and my Sister, when we'd gotten out of the cinema, I didn't speak to them for around twenty minutes, I just couldn't speak, I couldn't walk properly, I know that sounds like I'm exaggerating but I'm honestly not. It was such a moving and epic film that I was literally speechless. No film has ever done that to me before, but they'd captured Superman so perfectly and shown just how brilliant he can be that it was overwhelming.

The final main point I'll mention is one that I only realised the morning after seeing the film: I wanted Superman to win. I know this is a bit of an odd statement, but let me explain; When I watch superhero movies I always want to know what would happen if the Villain won. That's a side of the story that has always interested me, and I've always wanted to see that happen. But this was a different story all together, Zack Snyder, David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan, Henry Cavill and all of the other actors involved with the film had done such a great job with the Superman character and made me really care about him and his supporting cast that I really, truly wanted Superman to beat Zod, to win the battle and save the Earth, this is the first film that has made me truly want to see the protagonist win for a while, and I was very impressed.

Overall, after way over a year of waiting and suspense, this film delivered. Not only that, but it exceeded my expectations and was so much better than I could have ever imagined. I don't feel like any film will stand up to this one for a long, long time. The greatest comic book movie in recent history, overtaking all of Marvel's franchises and even, in my opinion, the Dark Knight trilogy. This is a film that you'll want to see over and over again, as I do. The Last Son of Krypton is shining brighter than ever before! Thank you, Zack Snyder!

Rating: 10/10!

I was so tempted to give it eleven, but I know it doesn't really work that way, just know that this film is honestly amazing. The best I've seen pretty much since I was born. That's a huge statement to make, but I'm being honest. This film is Truly Unmissable.