Man of Steel is a fairly normal action movie with little new or added appeal. It is just as much a superhero film as a science fiction one.

Henry Cavill starred in the film as Superman and he physically fit the part perfectly. His acting was decent, but not particularly notable. Superman’s love interest, Lois Lane,is played by Amy Adams. Unfortunately, the film did not develop their romance, and thus they lacked chemistry on screen.

Instead, the film focused on Superman’s relationships with both his real father (Russell Crowe), and his adopted father (Kevin Costner). With the help of the two father figures, Superman worked to find himself and his place in the human world.

The film was somewhat hard to follow at times. Without warning, the story jumped around seemingly randomly from Superman’s adulthood to childhood. These transitions could have been better integrated into the movie. The film also was very long, lasting well over two hours. It would have been beneficial to cut quite a few scenes to make the movie faster paced and a more enjoyable length since there were a handful of dull, unmemorable moments.

Nonetheless, the digital visual effects were amazing. The action was very exciting, although it could have been more spread throughout instead of being mainly all at the climax of the movie.

Although it was generally enjoyable, the film was very serious and could have used more humor. Even though the movie was based on the original Superman story and had some adaptations, I thought the movie lacked a sense of uniqueness. It was also missing an emotional message, which prevented it from becoming a truly powerful film.

Aran Kirschenmann, 16, is a contributing writer for the Bellevue Reporter and a Junior at Bellevue High School. You may reach and connect with her on her Facebook page “The Young Critic.”