The summer blockbuster Man of Steel in-depth film review from West Coast Midnight Run

West Coast Midnight Run™ is a copyrighted publication of Citadel Consulting Group LLC

The Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill is a completely redesigned movie that strays far from the original series in terms of look and imagery.

This film is very close in terms of style with the most recent Star Wars franchise and also borrows heavily from Alien (designer/stylist H.R. Giger) and the latest string of sci-fi blockbusters such as The Transformers, Battleship and The Avengers from Marvel.

It would seem that Chris Nolan and David Goyer heavily infused the new production with a Dark Knight flair that almost harks back to Tim Burton’s

original format and style.

And director Zack Snyder, who helmed Watchmen, is no stranger to dark and gothic styles, having directed the 2009 R-rated superhero film that heavily used gothic and art deco motifs and mixed real life social politics from the Cold War with gritty and sexual depictions of costumed heroes living on the brink.

The Man of Steel bristles with dark gothic and ominous medieval motifs from Krypton. At some point felt as if this were The Skeksis of Dark Crystal rather than the Kryptonians. And this wasn’t any minus. The movie is just different in tone.

For one thing there is not a single piece of green kryptonite in sight in this film so the quick and easy way out is not part of the storyline.

The editing is fast, real fast and once it starts the action is nonstop and just gets louder, meaner and bigger and almost smacks of Darkseid, the creature that kills Superman in the DC
Comics series.

In IMAX format, The Man of Steel is also very loud - the seats were vibrating in the theater from all the explosions as if they were happening in your very own lap. Each thud, each punch sounded like an explosion