Before even starting anything, I think I should say that I have never picked up a Superman comic in my life. And those who know me know that I’m not really a Superman fan. (Sandy: Heathen!) I find him to be too perfect, too indestructible, and too predictable. I’m usually a fan of the underdogs with tortured pasts and people problems.

So no one was more surprised than I when I watched this and ended up really liking it. We see the Man of Steel like we’ve never seen him before – beatable. His ass is kicked big time by the almost unbreakable Doomsday. For those who don’t know, Doomsday is this war machine made by aliens that turned out to be too much of a threat to both friend and foe. He is this rock-like creature who’ll destroy any living thing in his path whether it be a deer, dog, or little child.

In the end, Superman does beat him. But it ends up costing him his life. And as the world mourns the loss, Lex Luthor is already planning his next move. He’s disappointed in the fact that he wasn’t the one to defeat Superman. So he opts to use his genius on another diabolical plan, cloning Supes himself.

He succeeds and has the clone do his bidding. Except the clone develops a mind of its own and goes against Lex’s wishes and decides he’ll protect Metropolis in his own twisted way. The world believes him to be the real Superman and the world starts to fear him.

But of course, Superman isn’t really dead. He’s healing in his little fortress of solitude. He does manage to gain back most of his strength, but is it good enough to beat his clone? Of course it is! Though don’t get me wrong, he gets his ass whooped here too. But with a little help from a kryptonite gun and Lois Lane, all is well again. And it takes the world barely a second to trust him again.

The movie’s animation is pretty sound and well drawn, though I am a little bothered by the weird lines on Supes’ face which fail to make him look chiseled and strong but instead make him look old. The voice work is pretty good, with Adam Baldwin (Superman), Anne Heche (Loise Lane), James Marsters (Lex Luthor) and more. Though the dialogue isn’t really well written it does serve to make its messages clear and direct.

The whole movie is an hour and fifteen minutes, packed with action mostly throughout and is definitely watchable by die hard comic lovers and by the casual superhero fans as well. Certainly an interesting take on the world of Superman.