Man of Steel.

According to the Internet to ‘reboot’ means to discard all continuity in an established series in order to recreate its character, timeline and backstory from the beginning. The term is used with respect to various different forms of fictional media such as comic books, television series, video games and of course movies. Amongst others we have had the Batman and Spider Man franchises and I would argue that with the addition of Daniel Craig we could include the James Bond movies?

 

The Hero.

The first Superman feature film was Superman and the Mole Men in 1951 and starred George Reeves; this was followed by a further 5 feature films between 1978 and 2006, 4 of which starred Christopher Reeve, with Brandon Routh playing the super hero in Superman Returns (2006). Now Zack Snyder, best known for action and science fiction movies, has been brought in for a Superman reboot, and there is already a sequel planned for 2016 entitled Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with a similar cast list to Man of Steel (2013) including Henry Cavill as Kal-El alias Clark Kent/Superman.

 

The Villain.

This latest incarnation takes you back to the very beginning and explains how he came to earth and set up a life here. We are introduced to his Kryptonite parents in the form of Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer and his earth parents Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. The villain of the piece is General Dru-Zod (Michael Shannon) who has the same superpowers as our hero and has followed Kal-El to earth to ‘reclaim the genetic codex of the entire Kryptonian race’  (don’t ask!)  We also get to know Lois Lane (Amy Adams) reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper who will eventually become Clark Kent’s love interest.

 

The Daily Planet Reporter (Ms Lois Lane)

My biggest problem with Snyder’s film is that it is very predictable if like me you have followed the adventures of Superman from a wee boy via the DC comics. But its abundance of special effects will please the many aficionados of this type of action movie, as will the excitement - which is pretty relentless during its more than two hour running time. I envy any one coming fresh to this franchise because I’m sure they will love it.