Man Of Steel

Man Of Steel, the latest film from Zack Snyder is absolutely breathtaking in every way. It's the one movie, outside of Star Trek: Into Darkness that in my opinion not only lives up to the hype, but far exceeds it. It's a visual feast, an aural feast, and it possesses a storyline that you can truly sink your teeth into. Because it excels at all the phases of the game, Man Of Steel gets four huge buckets of Killer Korn (with extra butter).






Okay, let's face it, Zack Snyder's last few films did NOT live up to expectations. Maybe that's unfair to say but since I paid to see them, I think I have that right. Well, I didn't pay to see Sucker Punch and boy am I happy I passed on that crappy film. Nazis zombies and giant Samurai? Really Zack? Anyway, since I don't really do animated films, I didn't pay to see Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. It could have been amazing, but amazing films reach the ears of those who have no interest and no one I knew raved about it, there was no "OMG Mark, you MUST see this film", so I passed. Maybe Zack set the bar too high with his gripping tale of the Spartans in his genre bending film 300, how else can anyone explain how his Watchmen film was dead on arrival? It had its moments sure, but overall it was a snoozer. I say all this to indicate, as nicely as I can that Zack needed a hit and big time. He wasn't in M. Night territory yet but one more box office dud could have had him sitting next to M. Night in that same row boat singing "merrily, merrily, merrily" as they faded into obscurity. Well Zack has nothing to worry about because Man Of Steel is a bonafide hit. No, seriously, the shit is amazing!

On my way to the theater I read the review of it in the NY Daily News and while I won't drop any names, I don't know what movie that person was watching. Calling it leaden and giving it only two stars makes me think they want it to fail. I did something I have done only once in my movie going history (and it's a long damn history), I applauded at the end. I NEVER DO THAT! Well, like I said, I did it once before at The Dark Knight but that was IT! This movie made me do it again. It was spot on from the story of Kal-El, played by Henry Cavill and his birth to his journey here on Earth. To his father Jor-El, played with true sincerity by Russell Crowe and his struggle, his mother Lara, played by Ayelet Zurer and her unconditional love for her husband and newborn son. It told of General Zod, played brilliantly by Michael Shannon and his desire to do whatever he could to keep Krypton alive, Lois Lane, played by Amy Adams and her intrepid, alpha female ways that gets her into serious trouble. Laurence Fishburne plays Perry White, editor in chief of The Daily Planet, Diane Lane beautifully plays Martha Kent, and Kevin Costner played Jonathan Kent (it's the best he's acted in years). Honorable mention goes out to Antje Traue who plays Faora-Ul, she is a supreme bad ass!

Written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan, they answer pretty much every question anyone has ever had about Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman could have ever possibly had. I know it answered mine. From everything like what was Clark like in school, how was he able to control his powers, was he almost driven crazy by them, how did the Kents help him through the madness, where did the fortress of solitude come from really, so forth and so on. This movie is like Richard Donner's Superman I and II, only hopped up on steroids. We learn that every child on Krypton is engineered for a purpose, they have no say so in what they do with their lives, which is why Jor and Lara had Kal the old fashioned way, so he could choose what to do with his life, so he could dream of becoming more than what he was bred and engineered to be and do. With Krypton about to implode due to them using up all their natural resources (timely much?), Jor and Lara send baby Kal to Earth, General Zod's coup fails and he and his henchmen are banished to the phantom zone for eternity but he vows to Lara that he will find Kal if it takes him forever to do it. When Krypton is destroyed, Zod and his men are freed and then all hell breaks loose.

Like I said, this movie is visually stunning. Everything from the costumes (James Acheson, Michael Wilkinson), set design (Ann Kuljian), production design (Alex McDowell) is done at the highest levels, not to mention the brilliant special effects and CGI work (by WETA and numerous other  companies). SOMEONE is winning an damn Oscar. And if none of the names I just listed do then I know one person who will at least get nominated, Hans Zimmer for his AMAZING score! Being a John Williams fan and loving what he did for the first two Superman movies, I though Hans had bitten off more than he could chew, let's face it, John DOES cast a rather large shadow, but Hans knocked this baby out of the park and didn't trot around the bases, he strutted. He had every right to do so too. The themes are brilliant, from Superman's theme to Zod's to Earth's, he nails it, my hat's off to him. OMG, you MUST see this film, there I said it. And whatever hang up you may have about seeing Hollywood blockbusters or not liking crowds, get over it and see Man Of Steel now, like right after you finish reading this. SEE IT! SEE IT! SEE IT! You will NOT be sorry and I'll see you on line because you can best believe I am seeing this puppy again.