Here in India, whenever a movie becomes successful on a large-scale, atleast a dozen movies pop-up following the same formula hoping to cash in with the vibe created by the former. For example, after the Telugu movie Happy-days’s success, there were atleast a dozen films that followed on the same formula of College, love & friendship. I was always dis-pleased with that fact. And now, it’s so unfortunate to see that even Hollywood has fallen prey of what i choose call a disease.
Just because Christopher Nolan made Dark knight trilogy, not every super-hero movie can be Nolanized. Making your super hero look like a loser in the first-half, subjecting him to wall-to-wall action in the second half has become a fashion in Hollywood. I believe there are a lot of super-hero movies in the queue, which are ready to carry this so-called “realistic” tone of Dark Knight movies. Yes it worked with Dark knight trilogy, but all this intentional Dark & gritty sophistication when appilied for certain super-heroes looks so Fake. Not every super here is real. Why should every super-hero go through this typical phase of self-realisation, childhood trauma & question himself about his “ Mis-placed sense of self-righteousness (in joker’s own words)” every now & then, only to fight his ass-off in the climax, a chance to show-off the budget put behind this movie. Why can’t Hollywood invest more effort in Characters as much as they do on CGI. And that CGI goes in vain like a paneer in a cow dung when they label it with 3-D just for some extra money. Why cant the superhero & us the audience, just have some pure awesome funs?
Well anyways, About the man of steel,
What i liked...
There is no doubt about the sincerity of the director Zack schnider put behind this movie. He has a very good eye for comic-book-movies & with all the fancy tools of today’s film-making; he can be a sure master of this Genre. This movie is made with the best-of-intensions, loyal to the fans of super-man. Superman, his motives & the reasons of his super abilities are more relatable & Schnider brings the “Today’s world” authenticity to the movie. The flash-back moments of Clark Kent’s are very well-potrayed, and one can feel the anger of a guy who had to never use his super-power no matter how much humiliation he faced. One of the bright aspects of this movie is a good cast. Russell Crowe as Jor-EL is perfect, i especially loved his voice. Back in the trailer itself, his voice brings a God-fatherly feeling to his character. Henry Cavil is a bulky & handsomely-chilsed superman, an image that always reflected in my childhood drawings. He is perfect in his cape & cowl, and quiet a sincere performance too as a Clark Kent. He may not have the Comic-like-charm & innocence of Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent-the-reporter, but of-course it’s the fault of the writers since he dint become a reporter yet. Johnathan & Martha Kent’s characters bring additional Warmth to the flash back scenes, though ample time wasn’t devoted to explore the relationship between them & Clark. Given the length of this movie, It was reduced to few lines exchanged between the characters.
I still laugh on the ending of 1978s superman & the fact that it worked with the audience in those days. But this one is no less over-the-top-story, yet quiet logical to accept. The eye-popping CGI is treat to the VFX ehthusiasts as they would spend weeks dissecting it’s making secrets. Krypton is a planet full of Metal and Avatar like creatures & much of it created with a very meticulous detail. I really wish this movie was in IMAX format provided the scale of the set pieces in this movie. And no matter how grown up we are, the scenes of super man’s flight still excite us. This time, the flight is more realistic thanks to the fancy-CGI-tools of 2013, unlike those cables & rigs used in 1978 which made the flight look more like a hanging than flying.
What i hated & missed
Now this would make a very long list, given the amount of expectations i had on this movie. My friends have told me on my face that this movie “Sucks”. But i couldn’t dare to tell that to myself & others, because i love Superman soo much. I have grown-up with super-man & superman has grown up on me. Everybody loves superman. I post-poned my stay in Bangalore, just to catch this movie. No Kidding, I saw a cute kid in the theatre, whose parents, apparently superman fans, dressed their little son in a full-size Superman outfit (Including the Red under-wear outside, And the cowl) and am sure he had a blast of whatever he could makeout of the movie. I saw fans come with their own T-shirts and other merchandise to cheer their super-hero. But honestly, there are no stand-up-and-cheer events for these loyal fans in this movie. Because i never felt a sense of victory & inspiration of whatever super-man achieved in this movie. Take out superman from it, The movie itself is like transformers 3, your usual Aliens-want-earth science fiction adventure and shifts its gear in that direction in the final 40 minutes both in terms of endless destruction & zero character involvement. The action scenes are filled with Destruction porn, So loud and mindless, they guarantee you a head-ache. They become even less enjoyable because, they don’t have enough humour in it, which exactly makes Avengers, a treat to watch. Even though Henry Cavhill’s superman destroys so many buildings, surrenders to Zod for the “ Sake of earth “, am sure Christopher Reeve’s superman won more hearts by just saving a cat from the tree. And how much today’s super-man cares about the people who died in all those buildings he destroyed while fighting for the “Sake of Earth” is a different matter entirely. The prologue and the dramatic parts of the movie rush in a hurry one after the other, while the numb action scenes are stretched like a chewing gum, only to get back all the investment of the producers.
And as the Joker says it, “ Why so serous” ??? How could a little humour, possibly hurt this movie? The main reason why i enjoyed 1978’s superman is it old-school humour, wit and charm. It was so cute & romantic, this pair of Superman & Lois Lane. How can we forget the scene were super-man takes his girl to a flying date, holding hands and almost touching the moon & stars. The funny interview scene of Superman with Lois Lane is the most enjoyable scene of that movie. I loved the way Richard Doner’s superman dint take itself seriously, yet successfull installs the image of our hero as both a saviour & protector. How do you expect me to believe that, when superman openly destroys countless number of buildings ignoring all the people who are in it ? I really missed that in this movie. And i missed a lot of other things. The flight scenes were awesome, but i missed this excitement i feel when a guy who slowly realises what he can do. My favourite part of any super hero movie is the process of becoming the super-hero itself. A guy accidently realises is power, tests himself, fails, realises, attempts again, he improves & finally, BINGOO !!! I missed all that in this movie because of this non-linear treatment of his story & our hero straight-away dons the suit and goes flying. I missed the nerdy Clark Kent of Chris Reeve, the funny Lois Lane & their instant chemistry. I missed all the fun Clark secretly has in his childhood with his super powers, like having a running race with a train. Here we get a serious kid always frustrated with humiliation & restricted to use his super powers for retaliation.
There are certain scenes which i simply cannot dig my teeth into in terms of logic, but i wont mention here to spoil the show. Like Clark kent not using his super powers to save his dad from tornado, just because his dad told him so is utterly dumb. I would never do that to my dad, And the writers hardly give any time for Clark Kent to regret on his act. Though General Zod’s plot is plausible, how was letting a city turn into a Post-apocalyptic playground for Kryptonites a viable plan for Saving the earth is what i never understood. But the end of the movie bought a smile on my face when Clark Kent joins the Daily Planet. That’s exactly what i have seen in cartoons all my life. It gave a hope that the sequels will have ample time to explore their characters with better stories and gripping adventure. So rather than ranting, I simply chose to believe in the S “the symbol of hope ”. Because i love superman & always want whats best for his legacy.
