RAR 3: Man of Steel

Hello, I'm the Rebel Angel, bringing you the best of heaven and the worst of hell. But this movie... is a little bit of both apparantly. This is the story of Superman, once again retold. Made by Zach Snyder and starring Mark Cahill, Man of Steel was released in 2013, and many people thought it was good, but an equal amount thought it was BAD. But where does it really fall? Well, let's hope we can find out.

We open up in Krypton, where Jor-El is trying to convince the council of Krypton to leave the planet, due to their natural resources being nearly obliterated from years of mining. However, in a military coup, General Zod and his forces depose the council, as Jor-El takes the genetic template of all Kryptonians, and sends it away with his son, Kal-El, the first naturally born Kryptonian in centuries. Jor-El is unfortunately killed, and Zod and his crew are sentenced to the Phantom Zone.

Flash forward to a few years later, as Kal-El, adopted by Ma and Pa Kent, and going by the name Clark Kent, is beginning to develop his powers, due to exposure to Earth's yellow sun. His parents tell him NOT to expose his powers, but unfortunately, he does just that, when a school bus ends up plummetting into a river, and Clark saves the passengers by lifting the bus OUT. Here's where one of the problems comes out. When Clark asks his father, who is disappointed in him for revealing his strength, if he should have just let the children die, his father, played by Kevin Costner, simply says, "Maybe." Wow. That's kinda dark.

Not only that, but since the movie is kinda placed in the Dark Knight trilogy's famous "story out of order" format, I have to keep up, and make them into chronological order. Anyway, when Clark is a young adult, a tornado occurs, which claims his father's life. And all because he didn't want Clark to save him. WOW. That was kinda dumb.

Later in Clark's life, he goes from town to town, never telling his name, and acting as a sort of "secret superhero." Eventually, he does find an old Kryptonian ship, inadvertantly saving Lois Lane from a Kryptonain robot, and realizes that he is destined for great things, so he puts on the suit that is onboard, and becomes Superman.

Later still, Zod escapes from the Phantom Zone, and threatens Earth unless Kal-El gives himself up. Superman does so, and finds out that Zod plans to turn Earth into a new Krypton, killing most, if not ALL of the indigenous life on Earth. What makes things worse is that the Genetic Template is within Superman's DNA. They extract it and prepare to make Earth the new Krypton, leading up to a climactic final battle between Zod and Superman, which destroys most of Smallville AND Metropolis.

Now, most of the problems with the film are present, like shaky cam and all that, but apart from that, I kinda liked the whole thing! It was pretty enjoyable, and showed Superman in a new light! But it is FAR from a perfect film, and now a days, what is considered a perfect film anyway?

PROS:

• Henry Cahill is a great Superman
• I kinda liked Michael Shannon's portrayal of Zod.
• The minor changes were pretty good, I didn't mind them.
• Russell Crowe is a great Jor-El.

CONS:

• Kevin Costner's ever so bland performance.
• The crucifying a truck scene that Clark did.

So anyway, I give Man of Steel 3.5 stars out of 5. It's a good film, but not if you're one of those DC Purists, or expected something like the old Superman movies. Give it a watch and tell me your opinion. This is Rebel Angel, and I'll see you next time!