Film Hick: Man Of Steel by Zack Snyder (2013)

I have never been as in love with the idea Of Superman as other super heroes – he always struck me as being a little boring. Christopher Reeve elevated him into something I never really found in the comics, but that franchise petered out and lost the plot and my interest seriously waned.
The next time I got even vaguely interested in him was when Frank Miler pitted him against Batman and he got the shit kicked out of him.
Mark Millar\’s Red Son gave an interesting twist on the whole thing, but it didn\’t mean I was interested in straight up Superman.
It took Grant Morrison and All Star Superman to give me a story and a character that I not only liked, but actually found compelling. There was a pretty good cartoon adaptation of this, but it was this book that really counts as my benchmark text on the character.
So, I sat down to this movie with pretty low expectations. I figured we were in for something as lacklustre as the last attempt (Bryan Singer\’s uncertain movie).
I was pleasantly surprised though. It started off with an interesting Krypton, an equally interesting conflict between Jor-El and General Zod, and the way that the re-caps of Superman\’s childhood were handled as episodic flashbacks gave them the weight and import they needed and brought us nicely up to date.
This may not have been the Superman movie that every one was waiting for, but I think for me it ticked more boxes than any other adaptation ever has. I like the aesthetic, I liked the pacing, and I thought the casting was great. If the sequel is as sure-footed as this felt then I think Ben Affleck is going to do fine as Batman, because the director will be on point.