Heroic moves

ning a pair of glasses).

There is no question that Cavill is a great Superman – handsome, noble, and exuding great confidence in his powers, while at the same time displaying just the right amount of emotional and moral vulnerability. The jury may still be out on whether he is a great Clark Kent (at least, the mild-mannered, journalist Clark Kent we all know), but as Superman, he is perfect.

The movie itself certainly isn’t perfect though. Way too many things in the story don’t make sense, and certain elements will definitely rile Superpurists. However, it more than makes up for this with some of the most exhilarating action ever seen in a Superman movie. Not only do we get some spectacular action sequences, for the first time ever, we also get to see what a real fight between two (or three) opponents with Superman-level powers looks like. Boy are those fights spectacular, with both Zod and Superman utilising all the weapons at their disposal (i.e. flight, super speed, super strength, and heat ray; no mention of the cold breath, funnily enough), and almost levelling the entire city of Metropolis in the process (eat your shawarma-clogged heart out, Avengers).

So, while Snyder’s movie doesn’t sink like Singer’s, its more sombre tone also means it doesn’t quite soar like Donner’s. It’s also slightly incredulous as well – with the level of destruction seen here, you have to wonder how a Justice League movie would ever work. If I were Batman, I’d take one look at how Zod vs. Supes levelled an entire city and say, “Yeah, I’m just going to stay in Gotham and beat up some thugs, if that’s alright with you guys.”

All the same, a sequel already being fasttracked by Warner Bros and a Justice League movie being mooted for 2015, this version of Superman is certainly going up, up and not away.