Man Of Steel- Review

What happens when someone tries to blindly replicate something without even thinking how loosely the formula gels, given the situation it has been applied to? You get Man of Steel, a flawed vision marred not only due to the utter discontinuities in the pace of how the action unfolds on screen, but also by its absolute reverence towards the Nolan's Batman trilogy. Essentially in reference to the aforementioned discontinuities, the film can essentially be separated into two parts, the one before the kryptonians decide to wreak havoc on earth and the one after it, oddly enough with an absence of any comprehendible third act, partly because of Snyder's-'Always start off the action at 11 and never know when to slow down' attitude.

The movie starts off on a very vividly imagined krypton facing a military coup with Jor-El(Russel Crowe) and Lara, Superman’s biological parents trying to resist it, ultimately culminating into utter wastage of time and effort as krypton is already doomed, owing to its unstable core. Sensing the end of krypton as they know it, they infuse the genetic data of a million people into baby supe's ship and let it sail into the arms of welcoming mother earth.

Meanwhile the menacing  Gen. Zod(Michael Shannon)  and his minions, headed by the purely evil Faora(Antje Traue) are apprehended and banished to the phantom zone. While Krypton reduces to ashes, Zod frees up and lets loose to search for the baby Kal-El, who is the key to building krypton yet again. The following sequences, where a grown up, toughened Clark played by a charismatic Henry Cavill is introduces are very beautifully filmed in a cinema verite style, while often suspending logic as to to how he learns to forge documents so well that he manages to hitch hike all the way into a military base. The moments featuring the excellent Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, shaping up Clark's principles are astounding. That is the only reason why the man part of superman is super and the super part is not.

Soon, when the kryptonians arrive , with their necessarily complex world machine(so that no one asks any more questions), which threatens to terraform earth into an artificial krypton, that is where the proceeding plunge downhill, with transformer esque action set pieces filling up the screen for the better part of the second half. Leaving the audience pondering over how the outspoken and all knowing Lois Lane(played very stiffly by Amy Adams), refuses to die every time, even when being sucked by a black hole. Every time you think the action has finally consummated for the better, it only starts off again leaving behind vast city scapes destroyed, with our beloved superhero not even trying once to prevent any of this wanton destruction, leaving us to question our hero's morality.

The story and screenplay by David S. Goyer leaves a lot to be desired, when you have come to expect better efforts from him. The plot holes are so big you could get those mighty kryptonian ships through them.

Technically, the film is very sound. It is shot on film and looks spectacular, cinematography is top notch barring Snyder's little obsession with those gimmicky sudden zooms. CGI is absolutely gorgeous to the point of overkill and it makes even the post converted 3d a satisfying experience. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is strictly situational and is not very memorable, as John William's iconic score was.

Overall Man of Steel might very well go on to gross more than 800 Million dollars, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth, and so would it to you too, if you choose not to look past the string of problems and the superficial sense of depth this film has. On an ending note, Hollywood's new found love of overtly serious origin stories need to find closure because it is not rewarding enough to sit through a 2 and half hour movie with a pall of dread hanging over your head every second and more so when there is not a source material strong enough to justify it

A 3/5 from me.

Verdict- A great but ultimately unfulfilling job.