Principal Cast Henry Cavill -- Clark Kent / Kal-El Amy Adams -- Lois Lane Michael Shannon -- General Zod Diane Lane -- Martha Kent Russell Crowe -- Jor-El Richard Schiff -- Dr. Emil Hamilton Christopher Meloni -- Colonel Nathan Hardy Kevin Costner -- Jonathan Kent Laurence Fishburne -- Perry White Ratings Ratings are based on Rick's four star system. One star - the commercials are more entertaining than the viewing. Two stars - watch if you have nothing better to do. Three stars - good solid entertainment. Four stars - you never dreamed viewing could be this good.

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The new Superman reboot is essentially a remake of Superman and Superman II, minus Christopher Reeve, minus Lex Luthor, minus the humor, and minus the great music by John Williams. Man of Steel has better special effects, but the Richard Donner version has more heart.

Jonathan Kent is played by Kevin Costner in Man of Steel and was played by Glen Ford in Superman. Jonathan Kent has almost identical speeches in the two films. "Clark, I know you were sent here for a reason." But I can't imagine Glen Ford telling Clark it might have been better to let his classmates die than to reveal his secret identity, as Kevin Costner does.

The beginning and end of Man of Steel are an entertaining special effects extravaganza. The constant flashbacks are annoying. The boring middle of the film is a long and unnecessary exposition by Jor-El, telling us things we already know. I got the impression that, to get Russell Crowe to play Jor-El, they had to promise him a certain amount of screen time, but that's just a guess.

My entire reaction to the film can best be summed up by "Ooh, smashing skyscrapers. Ooh, more smashing skyscrapers."

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Rick Norwood is a mathematician and writer whose small press publishing house, Manuscript Press, has published books by Hal Clement, R.A. Lafferty, and Hal Foster. He is also the editor of Comics Revue Monthly, which publishes such classic comic strips as Flash Gordon, Sky Masters, Modesty Blaise, Tarzan, Odd Bodkins, Casey Ruggles, The Phantom, Gasoline Alley, Krazy Kat, Alley Oop, Little Orphan Annie, Barnaby, Buz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon. Visit his web site at comicsrevue.com.