Henry Cavill as Superman.

The much-anticipated reboot of the Superman film series, Man of Steel, soars like a jet plane only to wobble in the air like a little bird.

There are high hopes for the movie as it was directed by Zack Snyder, who also helmed Watchmen and 300, and was produced by Christopher Nolan, who was responsible for Batman's groundbreaking The Dark Night trilogy.

Man of Steel follows the ambiance of Nolan's trilogy, as it takes a more humane approach to the iconic superhero.

The movie opens with the birth of the superhuman named Kal-El from mother Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) and father Jor-El (Russell Crowe), the first naturally born child in thousands of years on Krypton.

Krypton is very close to self-imploding and Jor-El intended to save his race by sending his son and the planet's Codex, which contains all of Krypton's knowledge, to begin anew on Earth.

General Zod (Michael Shannon), however, tries to stop this as he wants to take over and needs the Codex to do so. Jor-El stops Zod, at the expense of his life, allowing baby Kal-El to continue his journey to Earth. Zod and his followers are later imprisoned, but Krypton implodes nevertheless.

The movie then jumps forward to Kal-El as Clark (Henry Cavill), the adoptive son of Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane). He is now a bearded young adult working on a fishing boat in icy water looked down on by his shipmates.

When a nearby oil rig explodes, Clark is quick to save its crew, while shirtless and burning in flames.

From here, the film moves back and forth between Clark's adult life and his time as a growing boy.

The film hops back and forth from Clark's grown-up life and his Smallville, Kansas, upbringing with Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane).

Clark grows up knowing that he is not a regular human and is told to hide his true powers by Jonathan, who warns that people are not ready for him.

Young Clark (played by child actors Dylan Sprayberry and Cooper Timberline) has a hard time growing up as an alien. As a young man, he can only watch as Jonathan is killed in a tornado, forbidding Clark to help him to keep his real identity a secret.

Adult Clark drifts from job to job, remaining an outcast in every circle he passes through, as he tries to find his place on Earth.

The movie later introduces Lois Lane (Amy Adams) as an award-winning journalist arriving at a military mission to uncover a mysterious vessel trapped underwater in 20,000-year-old sheet of ice.

Lois follows Clark, who is disguising himself as a lackey in the mission; quietly enter the vessel, which is an ancient Krypton ship. With the help of a key that arrived with him when came to Earth, Clark meets Kal-El in the latter's holographic form.

After his anonymity is blown by Lois, Clark is cornered to make a stand, but the super-powered alien is not sure for whom. Man of Steel has its merits, offering new perspectives on Superman, showing the audience that he is an anomaly, both an alien on Earth and an aberration among the Krypton race.

Cavill delivers as a troubled superhuman, but is less successful in delivering the charisma of Superman. Adams has the duty of countering the ever-frowning Cavill with humor, a task she succeeded at.

Shannon made a convincing evil-hearted and annoying villain. The audience knows they are supposed to hate Zod but Shannon makes them feel righteous for doing so.

Clocking in at 143 minutes, Man of Steel is a long movie but Snyder makes many parts of it feel much longer. The latter parts of the movie is filled with droning fist fights between Superman and his enemies, which feel like endless plows into buildings, roads and vehicles.

Explosions are many ' sometimes, too many ' in the movie, and sparks between Clark and Lois are rarely visible.

Man of Steel
(143 minutes, Warner Bros.)

Director: Zack Snyder
Screenwriter: David S. Goyer
Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Russell Crowe
Producers: Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Deborah Snyder

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