I loved the Man of Steel! Apparently me and Kevin Smith have some similar (SPOILERY) views on it. And we're both high while reviewing it (only he's just way smarter than me)

Not only did I escape the heat for two and a half hours, I simultaneously watched Man of Steel this afternoon. Oh, it was more glorious than I could have imagined.  So these are merely the SPOILERY thoughts of a stoner with a GED who likes to watch movies…

(See if you can read this whole paragraph in one breath.) First of all, as someone who never went to church or read the Bible, this story totally reminds me of Jesus. But it doesn’t take an atheist under the influence to see the parallels. He was conceived and born under miraculous circumstances, then sent to Earth where he possesses God-like powers. As a child, his altruistic nature is misunderstood, and our outcast hero wanders aimlessly from ages 18 to 32... Until he ultimately takes the figurative and literal leap of faith for humanity and accepts his destiny as savior of mankind.

We all know this story and it serves its purpose themecally, but it’s far from the best thing about this highly enjoyable film.

The thing that stuck out to me was the non-linear structure. It’s quite brilliant and keeps the pace moving quickly. Writer, David Goyer, collaborated with producer, Christopher Nolan, on each part of the Dark Knight Trilogy. But it was Batman Begins that featured Goyer as a co-screenwriter with Nolan. Like Batman Begins,Man of Steel was written without the assistance of Nolan’s little brother, Jonah. The fragmented plot style of both films lends itself to telling a familiar and somewhat predictable story (like the superhero origin story for instance).

So this is a pretty straightforward tale. Superman’s home planet is dying, so his father, Jor-El (played by Russell Crowe) sends him to Earth. He spends his twenties as a lonely migrant worker and secretly going around saving people. Then, one day, the xenophobic Kryptonian military leader, General Zod, comes to Earth to kill the son of Jor-El and destroy mankind so a new Krypton can flourish on Earth. Clark Kent must then save the world. Yada yada.

The cool part of the story is in between all of that, the audience gets to see Clark at different points of childhood and the big emotional experiences that lead him down his path of becoming Superman. (Big kudos to Cooper Timberline and Dylan Sprayberry, who respectively play the 9 and 13 year old versions of Clark) These sad and beatifully touching parts of the film where a scared kid has to figure what the hell is wrong with him were my favorite. All the while kids tease and bully him, parents are freaked out by him, and Young Superman is angry and angsty and confused. 

Kevin Costner throws down one the better performances he’s done in a while as Clark’s father, Jonathon Kent. Speaking of, this movie has one hell of a cast. Henry Cavill has wonderful chemistry with Costner, along with Amy Adam’s brilliant Lois Lane, as well as, the magnificent Diane lane as his mother, Martha Kent. (the first scene where Superman and Zod square off might be one of the most powerful scenes I’ve seen in while.) Michael Shannon is the fucking man. All the time. In everything he’s in. (Also, I never get tired of seeing Chris Meloni or Toby Ziegler do anything.)

Man, Russel Crowe’s performance was the only somwehwat disappointing one. It was stilted and lacked any emotion. I couldn’t tell if was he’s just playing super stoic or what, but it was kinda boring.  I haven’t seen a good one from Crowe in a while (he had the only non-amazing performance in Les Mis). To be fair to him, his character in Man of Steel had the least cool stuff; the writers used him mostly as an expository device more than anything (of which there was quite a bit of.)

This is the best flick that Zack Snyder has ever directed. The entire thing looks gorgeous, but all of his films always look really great.  He took it to another level with this one.

While I liked Hans Zimmer’s score, I would have liked to hear some more pop music. I loved what Snyder did with pop in Watchmen, and Man of Steel had only one big piece of music that wasn’t Zimmer score. It sounded like Pearl Jam but I couldn’t find information about it. Anyway, I liked that song.

The best action scenes were the ones with Superman and Zod squaring off.  Some of the other big military/alien set pieces dragged on a bit. At almost two and a half hours, I might have cut some of those scenes.

The other glaring thing was the strong urge I had after the movie to go get a Slurpee on my way to Sears to pick up a new dishwasher, but not before a hearty breakfast at IHOP. Go a little easier on the product placement; you either have to create an entirely new sort of surreal world with fake products like Quentin Tarantino or Kevin Smith or you have to be slick about it like David Chase.  They just went for it like Wayne’s World. (“Nuprin: little…yellow…different” *thanks for that reference, Brittani.)

If you like Batman Begins or Watchmen, I’d recommend this. Although I think it’s pretty fucking good compared to anything.  I’d give it an 8.9. Fart noise. The End.