Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is a guy with…angst…a great deal of angst. He wants to fly around the planet and save people, but thanks to his earth daddy, Jonathon Kent (Kevin Costner) he’s afraid to do that.
What? Superman afraid? Yep or maybe paranoid is a better word.
Ever since he was a boy on the farm, Clark was told by Jonathon, that the world is not ready for him. That his super powers would scare people…
And in ‘Man Of Steel’ directed by Zack Snyder (‘300’) and written by David Goyer, that certainly seems to be the case…At least for most of the film….
Which is part of the problem…Who wants to see Superman moping around, even if he is as cute as Mr. Cavill?
When we first meet Clark, he is all grown up and hiding his true self from the world. He travels around the country, working at odd jobs and keeping his powers in check, except for an occasional rescue here and there.
Through a series of flashbacks, we find out what every human on planet earth already knows…i.e. how Kal El’s biological dad, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and mom, Lara Lor-Van, sent him to earth as a newborn baby, when they realized that Krypton was doomed. We also find out why…
The super bad-ass, General Zod (Michael Shannon, doing his usual villain thing) and his evil Kyptonian posse, hate Jor-El and a few other things that I won’t go into here, for fear of spoiling it for those folks unfamiliar with the story.
Anyway here on earth, we continue to travel back and forth to Clark’s youth…meet his mom, Martha (Diane Lane) and get glimpses into his difficult childhood in Smallville. After all, It’s hard being an alien kid, who can burn down a city with a single glance.
Of course, what would a Superman movie be without Lois Lane?. This time, Miss Lane (Amy Adams) is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and right from the start, she knows Clark’s real identity and yes, they’re ‘hot’ for each other.
The Daily Planet’s editor, Perry White is also back and he’s played by Laurence Fishburne.
There are definitely a lot things that I enjoyed about ‘Man Of Steel’ …The scenes on Kyrpton, plus the ones between Clavill, Costner and Lane are among my favorites.
My big problem with the film is how repetitive it is…I mean how many times can you watch Superman throw Zod into a building and vice versa?. According to Snyder, many, many, many times. Guess he wanted to make sure that the audience got their $225 million dollars worth.
I gave ‘Man Of Steel’ which opens in theatres, Friday June 14, 2013 only 31/2 bagels out of 5. I really expected to like it much more than I did.
Check out our video for John’s bagel rating and of course for more of our witty banter.
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