Man of Steel

It starts of in Krypton just before Kal-El's birth. Krypton is in a civil war (much like the reference Brando makes in Superman where he calls Kryptonian history a "bloody mosaic") and Russell Crowe's Jor-El must act quickly if he is to save the future of Krypton and his son at the same time. Leading one side of the civil war is General Zod, the sworn protector of Krypton, though he too wants to save Krypton but in a way where he can decide which bloodlines will live to see the future under his probably less than benevolent rule. You see, Kryptonians no longer have kids the old fashioned way, they have children in a Matrix type of way and people paths are pre-determined (kind of takes the fun out of things doesn't it?).

So despite it's advanced technology, Krypton isn't the utopia we once thought it was. They've got a boat load of issues. Zod kills Jor-El but not before he can send his infant son Kal-El off in a rocket to Earth with the codex of Krypton (it's something that has the DNA for the test tube babies of the planet). Eventually Zod's revolt is subdued and he, along with his supporters are banished to the Phantom Zone and Krypton explodes soon after (due to over mining and stuff, a little zinger towards big oil and Hydraulic fracturing).

Kal-El/Clark grows up with Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as his adoptive Earth parents and Jonathan Kent spends most Clark's life giving him advice about his powers (he kind of even scolds him for saving a bus full of school kids that crashed into a body of water and Clark pushed the bus out of the water prompting Clark to say, "what was I supposed to do?"). His mother (Diane Lane) even helps him to focus so he can choose when he wants to use his powers. Eventually Costner reveals where Clark came from and that he was just trying to protect him until the time came. Clark was kind of like every other kid, battling with his father about things and never seeming to realize that his father had his best interests at heart...allegedly. Clark realizes this too late when Costner sacrifices himself in order to save the dog during a tornado. Personally I thought this scene was a bit much. Always the good son Clark abides by his father's wishes of staying behind and leading everyone on the highway to safety under the bridge (in Kansas?) despite that Clark could have saved his father. So apparently there is no clip of Glenn Ford's death scene from his appearance in 1978's Superman The Movie (the 15 whole minutes I searched was fruitless) but trust me it was a powerful scene and I feel a better one that Costner's death in Man of Steel.

As you can see, this updated version stays pretty faithful to the 1978 version but with upgrades in film technology and a more elaborate story. With a little bit more detail, Clark goes to find himself and along the way pulls of inconceivable rescues while carefully hiding his identity. A unique discovery of an ancient Kryptonian spacecraft (which will probably serve as the eventual Fortress of Solitude) introduces of to Lois Lane and leads her on a quest to find out who her mysterious rescuer was. When she finds Clark, it happens to coincide with Zod and his crew showing up and demanding that Kal-El be turned over to them lest they opt for the consequences (which usually are never any good). Superman being Superman turns himself in because he can't allow harm to the humans he's sworn to protect. Of course, Zod can't be trusted (was there ever any doubt) and he wants to eradicate life on Earth in order to set-up a New Krypton. You see, Krypton has a different atmosphere than Earth so Zod and his team must fix the atmosphere for Kryptonians can survive (Kal doesn't have that problem since he was raised in our atmosphere. He may have some form of asthma a a kid but that was his body adjusting) and Zod doesn't really want to share with the indigenous lifeforms anyway.

Much like Superman II, Kal has to go through Zod's cronies before the final fight scene. The SPX here are very good. Kal fights Faora, who's much better at hand to hand combat than Kal, seeing how she was bred to be a warrior and has trained all her life.

Eventually, Kal thwarts Zod's plan and the two have their showdown...

Again, another solid scene but it kind of looks a little too familiar, check it out...

When I saw thee final battle, I knew I'd seen something like that before. Not that it's a bad thing but a little something different could've been in order but not a big deal.

Kal defeats Zod and in doing so, he becomes the last Kryptonian. He decides after the final battle that it's time for him to enter society and he comes his disguise as mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet. Which works out well because despite that he has no skills as a reporter and no experience, the Daily Planet is looking to hire since the final battle left the city in a mess and probably thousands of people died (plus he's got kind of a thing for Lois). That's the funny thing about superheroes, sure they can save the world but they usually leave a big mess (in the forms of massive destruction) in the process and you never see them help with the clean up.

I liked what they did with this film. The story was really good as were the CGI scenes. Clark's past is told through flashbacks of exploits (there's a scene where he saves the bus and one kid is left in stunned disbelief and when the final battle goes through Smallville, Superman fights it out in the Ihop he manages and Clark gives him a look that says, "yeah that was me who saved the school bus that day and my parents denied it. Sorry if you had several years of therapy trying to deal with it") that shape who he becomes. The acting was very good and the fight choreography was nicely done as well. There was also little science tidbits to explain how Clark controlled his powers and why Zod had to change the atmosphere (killing us Earthlings in the process). My problems were it was a bit long at 143 minutes. They could've cut a few minutes from the destruction of Metropolis because it was a bit much. Also, the part where the Kryptonians set up the atmospheric re-arranger (totally just thought of that) is taken from an episode from season one of the Justice League cartoon, Secret Origins: Part II. But hey, what plot device isn't borrowed from something else in film these da ys. Man of Steel has Christopher Nolan's  fingerprints all over it and it was very nicely done. In the comic book movie genre, I put it up there ahead of Iron Man 2 & 3, on par with Iron Man and  The Amazing Spider-Man but below The Dark Knight trilogy. I'm not sure if I'd categorize this as a "must see" but it was very good and I look forward to a possible sequel (like that's even in doubt).