****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
**This review covers both the movie and the actual Man of Steel Collector's Edition Bluray Combo Pack. If you are only interested in my review of the actual Man of Steel Collector's Edition Combo Pack and not the movie itself, you can skip to the bottom.**Personally, I can't stand critics. Screw 'em! If you are a fan of movies, you owe it to yourself to see Man of Steel!Granted I am a huge fan of Superman, but Man of Steel may very well be the best movie I have ever seen! Considering movies like Nolan's "The Dark Knight", Peter Jackson's third installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "Return of the King" and Whedon's "The Avengers" top that list, that's saying a ton! As you can likely tell, I'm an enormous fan of the action/sci-fi/fantasy genre, so your mileage may vary (meaning if those movies don't strike your fancy, you may want to look elsewhere).What Zack Snyder has done with this film is "genius"! This is such a grand movie, yet nothing feels forced or exaggerated. Everything is given to you in exactly the right dosage. You aren't force-fed action like in other summer blockbusters. In Man of Steel, the action feels natural as if it is part of a story being told. Imagine that!The origin story is there, but it isn't too much that it bores you to tears and Snyder goes about it all in precisely the right manner - through flashbacks. This way, you get the gist of how Clark came to be the man he is, without the movie needing to be longer than it has to.All the actors/actresses do a fantastic job in their particular roles and help the movie to do what it is supposed to do: tell a story. While I'm still adjusting to a fair-haired Amy Adams in the role of Lois Lane, I can say that I left the theater content with her performance. She really grew on me by the time it was all said and done. However, both Michael Shannon as Zod and Russell Crowe as Jor-El were very much spot on for me. I was extremely happy with both performances in their respective roles.Growing up as a huge Smallville fan, I was convinced that nobody could do the role of Clark justice after Tom Welling. While Brandon Routh fit the role physically in Superman Returns, he was just too stiff and too much of a Christopher Reeves knockoff to leave me satisfied. I'm not saying Reeves was bad in the role (quite the contrary), I just would have preferred it if Routh had brought something he could call his own to the role.That's where Henry Cavill comes in! The best way I can put his performance is this - he owned the role!You know how it goes. Often times you've seen an actor or actress cast in an iconic role, only to be dissatisfied with the choice after seeing the movie (or perhaps before and after). With Henry Cavill, I can say this, "Henry Cavill is Superman!"The whole time while watching the Man of Steel, I felt as if Cavill was truly an outsider from another planet. And, I mean that in the highest regard! Movies are often about the suspension of disbelief and we as moviegoers sometimes need a little push in the right direction. Cavill's performance did that for me. The fact that the guy looks like he trained day and night nonstop, tells you all you need to know about his dedication to the role. Kudos Henry!The special effects didn't hurt either. As far as cutting-edge special effects go, this movie has it in spades! By far the best special effects I've seen in any movie to date...hands down! Better than Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Matrix, Avatar or any of the Marvel movies, including The Avengers! Words cannot describe them, particularly the Metropolis battle scene! Truly epic!Speaking of battles, the fight between Supes and two notorious Kryptonians (formerly seen in another of the Big Blue Boyscout's movies) was in essence, borderline orgasmic!That battle seen alone was worth the price of the movie's admission!...And Man of Steel still had plenty left in reserve.Let's face it; we don't go to movies about comic book heroes to be bored to death by dialogue. We want action and suspense to go along with a good, relatively fast-paced story. In Man of Steel you get that!It currently is and will be by summer's end, the biggest and best movie you will see this summer. Mark my words!Do yourself a favor and don't walk, run faster than a speeding bullet to see this movie! I promise you, you will not leave disappointed! If you do, then you're either dead or worse, a critic! "Gasp!"---As for the actual product itself, the Man of Steel Collector's Edition Combo Pack: I'm going to keep this short and sweet! Unless you are a diehard Superman fan and look to collect all things Superman, do yourself a favor and save your money. This product though somewhat (albeit barely) cool, isn't nearly as wonderful as I had hoped. :(Yes, it has all the film related media including both 3D and 2D versions of the film; however, the metal "S" glyph is actually a tin container identical to those that used to carry your lunch around as a kid and nothing more. I was expecting something a bit more "solid" and not a "lunch box" made to hold the movie discs, etc.Had this not been The Man of Steel or had I not been a huge Superman fan, and had I not purchased this product at its cheapest price point offered here on Amazon (which just so happened to be less than $10 over the cost of the regular combo pack), I would be promptly sending this item back for a refund. There's a snowball's chance in Hell that I'd pay anything above $40 for this and certainly not the $50 plus asking price Amazon originally had this listed for.So in summary, keep in mind when purchasing this product that it's nothing more than a "S"-shaped lunch box containing the Bluray materials inside that sit atop a plastic stand. It is NOT as nice as one might expect by looking at the picture alone, that's advertised here.However, once again, the movie itself is fantastic and highly recommended, but you are probably better off saving your money and simply purchasing the regular Man of Steel Combo Pack.
