'Man of Steel' directed by Zack Snyder

Without wishing to put too fine a point on it, I suspect that this film has garnered at least part of its box office success from the appearance of its leading man - Henry Cavill - a man so muscular that in the words of my date for the evening 'his chest kind of looks like a butt.'

So, despite some reservations about what the content of Man of Steel would actually consist of, it turned out that there was some very interesting, and previously unexplored, back story to take a look at, which was handled well by Russell Crowe as Jor-El (Superman's father) in full Gladiator mode. Essentially, Russell's sub plot involves a lot of shouting and looking serious, which he executes with his usual aplomb.

Zack Snyder handles these scenes quite delicately, which was an unexpected bonus given that his filmography contains some efforts that lack coherent structure and emotional depth (Watchmen, anyone?). This prelude on Krypton leads eventually to some slightly less apocalyptic episodes from Superman's childhood on earth.

By this point, he is of course known as Clark Kent, under the care of loving parents. Unfortunately for Clark, his classmates and neighbours do not share such understanding. Clark, well aware of what he is capable of, has to stop himself at every turn from using his powers to hurt those who upset him. Although, it is good fun to see him using them more passively on a trucker who acts inappropriately towards a girl Clark carries a torch for.

As he enters adulthood, it becomes harder for Clark to hide his true nature. Rumours abound regarding his powers and, soon enough, he finds himself the subject of a pursuit by Lois Lane, a fearless and often feckless reporter.

Amy Adams' take on Lois is a refreshing one given that she is usually a damsel in distress figure in most screen adaptations of Superman. She is ruthless about getting her story yet she has enough moral direction to realise the damage that she could do if knowledge of Clark Kent's powers was to become more widely known.

And unfortunately, Lois Lane is not Clark's only pursuer. Enter the malevolent General Zod, played with a wonderful moustache twirling villainy by Michael Shannon. His performance is nonetheless frightening as a character whose sole intention is genocide for the human race.

It is upon Zod's arrival that Clark realises who he must become. Their fight is one that will define the future of the human race and yet, for the most part, humans are essentially bystanders to the all powerful aliens doing battle in their midst.

These scenes are well executed as Superman realises that he must breach his own moral code in order to beat Zod. Henry Cavill, whose performance is for the most part fairly wooden, comes alive as his character's limits are tested.

Cue various ridiculous CGI special effects that are a bit disorientating. This is, however, a superhero film, so that be forgiven. It was also impressive to observe that Zack Snyder and his team were brave enough to examine how humanity as a whole would react to the presence of Superman. This was quite refreshing in that it was honest enough to acknowledge that his reception may not be universally positive.

That is the perhaps the strongest part of what is a very watchable blockbuster which, whilst a bit inconsistent in terms of quality from one scene to the next, was nonetheless worth the ticket price.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the photograph used in this review and will remove it at the request of the rights holder.