Man of Steel

A retelling of Superman. Krypton is dying. A scientist sends his son away in a capsule and the planet breaks up. The child grows up on a farm in Kansas. He is told to hide what he can do, and in several scenes that has a bitter result. The adult Clark moves from job to job. He hides his identity and each time saves someone and disappears. He finds a ship in the north. There he learns who he is. At the same time a signal goes out. General Zod arrives and wants to turn Earth into Krypton. From there the film is a war. A town, a ship, a machine, and Metropolis. What the narrative is interested in is not power but belonging: Clark is caught between two planets, and the film builds him as a stranger rather than a hero. The tone is entirely separate from earlier adaptations. The colour is drained, there is almost no humour, and the character is uncomfortable with his own existence. The destruction at the end is the most argued-over part. The whole city comes down and the film does not ask what that cost; the sequels made the criticism their own subject. The decision in the last scene was also argued over. The character crossing that line was a problem for readers of the source material. The music is by Hans Zimmer. Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are in the cast. Zack Snyder directed. Who it is for: anyone who wants a dark, heavy superhero film. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the classical Superman tone; the film is not cheerful and that is deliberate.