Let's get one thing perfectly straight. I am generally not a fan of Superman. While many of you were chomping at the bit to get tickets to see old red cape's big screen return I was only mildly interested, watching the trailers with nothing more than a raised eyebrow. You see I'm from the Frank Miller school of thought when it comes to Superman. He's the blue eyed hero, the indestructible boy scout who has no grey areas. He's the Hulk Hogan of the comic book world except without the creepy sex tape. Then came the fantastic white noise teaser featuring General Zod's warning to planet Earth and as quickly as I'd dismissed every snippet of news that emerged during production I was hooked. So what's it all about? Well, Krypton is dying. The home planet of Superman's ancestors has been completely drained of all its natural resources and is now in the process of eating itself. Hateful and blaming the planets elders for the world's problems military leader General Zod stages a coup in an attempt to seize power for himself. The maniacal soldier's plans to remove the old order and create a Kryptonian master race unfold however when Jor-El - aka Super daddy to the uninitiated - throws a cog in the works and sets in motion a series of events that sees his son, the future Superman, jettisoned into space on a collision course with planet Earth. As punishment for their crimes against the council, Zod and his army are transported to the Phantom Zone for 300 cycles in what appears to be giant ice penises but not before promising they would return to hunt down the son of Jor-El and kill him. Oooh, scary!
Cut to 33 years later and Superman - now known as ruggedly handsome Clark Kent - has grown a brooding but fantastic beard. He's kept his super powers relatively well hidden from ordinary folk although we see various slip ups in his younger years via well thought out, totally unrelated to Smallville flashbacks. But his simple farm boy life is about to be turned on its head as he unwittingly alerts Zod and his crew to his whereabouts causing a full scale invasion that results in what can only be billions of dollars worth of damage. Sloppy work Clark. Those of you hoping for the rich character driven stories that were woven in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy will be very pleased with Man of Steel especially as it so smoothly mixes this with the balls to the wall action style synonymous with the directors own films (300 anyone?). Sure there are some artistic liberties taken with some of the themes but this isn't the Superman you grew up on. This is a Superman for the modern DC Universe where even the unbelievable is at least a little bit believable. For those of you looking for a comic book movie in the style of Christopher Reeve's take on the story will be disappointed. You could call this Superman Begins if you really wanted. It's a new way of looking at well trodden source material and for all it's flaws - because there are some - it can be deemed a massive success. Visually the film is outstanding. Even the 3D looks great for the most part and leaves Marvel's Avengers movie standing when it comes to this aspect. In fact there may be even more action in Man of Steel than the aforementioned Avengers which really is saying something. Unfortunately though the action is rather CGI heavy and on occasion does look clunky and fake in places but everything happens so quickly on screen that it would take a keen eye to really notice. Another flaw is that we perhaps don't get enough time to really get to know some of the characters which saps some of our emotional investment in them. Characters like Jonathan and Martha Kent (thank Christ she wasn't played by Annette O'Toole) are vital to the story but lack the depth they had in Smallville while Laurence Fishburne as Perry White is completely throw away and forgettable. Why bother having such a high profile actor in such a secondary and meaningless role? This is the Superman movie that fans have been waiting for and there's no question that it is one of the must see cinematic experiences of 2013. While Marvel are churning out (admittedly good) sequel after sequel DC's slowly slowly approach seems to be paying off. You could honestly see a character like Christian Bale's Batman existing within the same reality as Henry Cavil's Superman. As different as the films are with their approach to the idea of 'superheroes' they are both equally grounded in reality and despite large sections of Man of Steel being set in space it doesn't seem all that far-fetched - this isn't Green Lantern and for that we are all eternally grateful. Man of Steel melds your traditional summer blockbuster with reality based Sci-Fi drama and will no doubt pave the way for more of DC's Universe to finally make it's way onto the big screen. Whether this ultimately leads to a Justice League movie is anyone's guess but if Man of Steel is anything to go by then the answer will likely be a resounding yes.