MAN OF STEEL IS A LITTLE TOO BRASSY.

Courtesy Photo - Man of Steel 

THE FIRST HALF OF THE MOVIE HAS MARVELOUS VISUALS AND SEQUENCES THAT ARE EYE POPPING

At first I was thrilled at the action. My expectations have let me down. Oh sure - Henry Cavil is probably the most Handsome guy around as he buzzed around town. After all, he is Superman. But machinery has buzzed him out. 

I kept thinking that Superman will rescue me, and take me on a really exciting mission. Well, that sure as hell did not work for me. There is too much Garbage floating around the planet. The action on the screen begins to bore. They pound the Sh-t out of each other as they bounce from one Transformer to another. As the action continues -- I'm getting more bored. The Guy who was sitting next to me kept falling asleep. I bumped his Arm a couple of times to wake him up. After all, I didn't want him to sleep on me. Even the over wrought music and the over whelming banging of space ships almost continually drove me to the nut house. Hey, will somebody yell this out? -- "Attention, Attention, Attention - Do Not Take The Elevator. Attention, Attention, Attention! Now you listen to this continually and you will see why I was ready to be locked up. Booooring! 

Too much action -- Too much noise -- Too long, and Clark Kent does much ado about nothing. Oh he flies around. Very impressive. Love his outfit. Great face and body -- everyone agrees on that. O.K. - some of that is O.K -- but the second half is not nearly as good as the first half of the show. The story just gets more bloated as it goes along. Yes, you want to scream and look for the nearest exit. Please sir - show me the way. Can I ride on your Cape? The movie is not bad, but not great either. There is not much of a back story. Yeh, he reveals a little, but not enough. I'm sure that everyone thought that this would be a great big fantastic movie. The best part of it is the fabulous colorful scenes. Gee, at last for a couple of minutes we get to absorb the scenery without it falling down on us. The focus is totally "Action". Don't expect much in the love affair department. When he gets a little too close to the writer at the Newspaper - He jumps out the window to get away from females. Sorry girls -- I have a Cape to carry on my back. 

The score by Hans Zimmer was rather annoying. Here's a tip if you go -- see the movie in 2D - Not 3D. Stay back from the screen as far as you can. If you don't, you will get a headache. The entire cast was wonderful. It was the directing that kinda messed up the film. Here are the Superb Actors: Henry Cavil (Clark Kent) - Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon (Zod).  - "they gave all they could, with bold nuanced acting."

STILL PLAYING AROUND THE BAY AREA 

RATING: Two Glasses of Champagne!! 

(((Lee Hartgrave has contributed many articles to the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Datebook Section, and he has produced a long-running Arts Segment on PBS KQED)))