Man of Steel: His Triumphant Return

Have you planned to go anywhere on the weekend? Yes? No? Well, in both cases I recommend you to go to the nearest cinema theater and watch this film because it is really awesome.

Where should I begin? Krypton is a good starting point. The planet that is doomed to die is full of life, much more interesting visually speaking than the Richard Donner's version. Jor-El played by Russell Crowe looks far more interesting than Marlon Brando's impersonation and definitely Ayelet Zurer as Lara is by far the greatest interpretation of the character ever made.This is a new Krypton more vital but still troubled by a government that has failed in keeping the planet safe and neglects hearing Jor-El warnings. 

I loved the science fiction feel of the movie. Alien technology really looks "alien" and it is dark and unpredictable as it should be. Also the reasons given for the imminent destruction of the planet and the fact that Kryptonians long ago had abandoned the colonization of other planets are reasonably explained in the film.

The action scenes are breathtaking to say the least. If something that the previous films lacked was believable action then that is not the case here. There is action all along the film. some may say perhaps too much action but that is OK: you can´t expect less than beings who can easily destroy  an entire city in a matter of seconds to fight without any collateral damage.

Michael Shannon delivers an amazing Zod. This is not a simple villain. He actually wants to save Krypton but if that means destroying another planet to do so he will, and he almost does it.

Henry Cavill as Superman has grown quite convincingly into his character. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as the Kents did pretty well, too. Some characters are different such as Perry White (Lawrence Fishburne) who is an African American and Lois Lane who is a redhead. Both are great actors and the changes are dwarfed compared to their characterizations that are strong and convincing. Curiously, Jimmy Olsen does not show up and neither does another quite important character (L.L.). Also, where is kryptonite?

There are things I did not like such as the music that is far from the monumental pieces created by John Williams long ago. Don´t take me wrong. I like Zimmer's past works but there was nothing really memorable in that soundtrack or perhaps the action was just too overwhelming.
And there was no after-credits scene. As someone said to me: "This is not Marvel!" and I agree it is not. 

But that doesn´t take away the fact that this is one of the best superhero movies ever. This is definitely not Richard Donner´s film and the way Superman stops Zod is something you would not expect from Big Blue but it is the most logical thing to do in such circumstances but also something Superman has never done in the past.

Five stars out of five for this one.