Man of Steel

A derivative, disappointing restart to the “Superman” franchise about the life of Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), an adopted alien from another planet, and how he works numerous odd jobs before accepting his role as the savior of mankind when Earth is threatened by his own species when they desire to repopulate the planet with their own kind, led by the vicious General Zod (Michael Shannon). Director Zack Snyder is far from the most skilled in the business, given his obsession with slow-motion action sequences, as well as his pacing being all over the place and never consistent. The last hour of this movie is so violent, so full of jumpy action sequences with no room to breathe, capped off coldly by 9/11 imagery at one point, the viewer should be relieved when the movie finally reaches its end. Ultimately, the special effects are awesome, no question, and there are glimpses of promise, but they are often vanquished by lackluster production and a story full of characters we do not really get to know as well as we should. Ultimately disappointing. Maybe not terrible, but it sure comes close to reaching that status.