CAST: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Shannon, Ayelet Zurer.
PLOT: The planet Krypton endures its final moments as the planet’s core becomes unstable, and Kryptonian Army General Zod (Michael Shannon) and his unit decide to overthrow the ruling council, and take over the planet. Meanwhile, Kryptonian scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) decide to escape the planet with their infant son Kal-el. But, Jor-El discovers that the ship that will take him and his family off the planet, can only hold one. He decides to place Kal-el in the ship. Moments before Kal-el’s launch into space, his cells were infused with the genetic codex of the whole Kryptonian race.
General Zod soon finds Jor-el, murders him, and he and his entire unit were captured and banished to The Phantom Zone. After Krypton explodes, they were released. Meanwhile, Kal-el’s ship arrives in Smallville, Kansas where he is found by married farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) who adopt him, and the child grows up to be Clark (Henry Cavill). Clark spends a lot of years working different jobs and secretly using his powers, until he discovers a Kryptonian scout spaceship, enters it, and finds a hologram of Jor-el who tells him that it’s his destiny to protect Earth. Meanwhile, newspaper reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams) discovers the ship as well, and encounters Clark.
Lois decides to write a story about Clark, which gets rejected by her boss Perry White (Laurence Fishburne), but she decides to do it anyway. She follows Clark to Smallville, discovers his secret, and decides to hide it. But that becomes the least of her worries when General Zod arrives on Earth searching for Clark. After realizing what is about to happen, Clark becomes Superman in order to stop Zod from turning Earth into a new Krypton.
Last month, I saw this the day after its release, and I loved it!!! When I first heard that this movie was being made, Warner Bros. hired a different actor to play Superman. I did enjoy Brandon Routh as the character (Superman Returns, 2006), and Henry Cavill did a wonderful job like Brandon and the late Christopher Reeve did. The one thing that made this retelling of Superman was how Jonathan Kent died. I was one of probably many who was thrown off by that.
This movie was a wonderful way to celebrate Superman’s 75th Anniversary.
The Man of Steel is rated PG-13.