Movie Review: Man of Steel

I saw Man of Steel yesterday but have decided not to do the standard review. Instead I'll hit what I thought worked and didn't in this new take on the classic character.

Basically most of Man of Steel delivered if you want a popcorn action flick with lots of explosions. It had some great moments, some decent ones and quite a few bad ones, so here's the high and low points:

What worked:

--Henry Cavill as Kal-El. While some critics have taken him to task for being stiff I actually liked his take on the Last Son of Krypton. While not as effective or as charming as Christopher Reeve, Cavill captured this verison's take on the character as a loner trying to find himself in this world. He also-despite what has been noted-does have some light moments with Amy Adams' Lois Lane and Diane Lane's Ma Kent. I know some have mentioned that this one seems more mopier but outside of some arguments with Pa Kent not as much as has been made in the reviews. At least he doesn't whine about a cave of gold and tells people it's not his problem.

--The take on Lois Lane. Instead of the usual clueless reporter, Adams portrays Lois as an investigative journalist who gets to work and finds her story.

--The music by Hans Zimmer.

What didn't work:

--An overkill of action. I know that summer movies have to deliver big thrills but this one went overboard. The big smack down in Smallville is then dwarfed by not one but two massive scenes of Metropolis being totaled, all in some attempt to top The Avengers in the destruction derby sweepstakes. While I'm all for action some of this could have been chopped down.

--The final scene between Zod and Kal-El. I won't spoil it here but it left me cold and showed a decision that didn't work.

I know a more full review is needed but I need more time to think about it. So I'll add more later but for now I'll close by saying that Man of Steel works fine as a sci-fi film but needs some to go before it equals Richard Donner's classic. Until next time..