Man of Steel

Ratings: 7.2/10

Film Class: A- 

Genre: Superhero Action

Is this new remake of Superman as good as the reviews say it is? Not for me. Then again, none of the Superman instalments have yet to create that wow factor for me. I'm a huge huge fan of Marvel and DC superheroes, but despite being the ultimate bestest superhero in the DC kingdom, this remake didn't soar. 

Man of Steel is about the origins of Clarke Kent, an "alien" with a great destiny on Earth... oh wait a minute, why am I describing Superman like no one knows about him? Who the Krypton/Earth doesn't know about possibly the most famous superhero ever created? But do you know who General Zod is? Since I'm a self-proclaimed fan who doesn't buy any superhero comics to read, I can only brag about knowing who this supervillain is from my acquaintance with him in the US series Smallville. 

General Zod is in charge of the military forces on Krypton, but when Krypton was on the verge of destruction, he takes the opportunity to lead a rebellion as their new ruler. However, he and his crew were captured and banished to the Phantom Zone (a prison for villains). But it proves to be a 'blessing' in disguise because the destruction of their planet also freed the banished villains, allowing them to seek for the lost "son".

*major spoilers ahead* Because the villains are from the same planet as Superman, don't expect any kryptonite to be used. In terms of superpowers, they are relatively on par. As for the plot development, it was blockishly hasty and the chemistry between Superman and Louis Lane was unconvincingly rushed. Everything happened too conveniently fast, creating the oxymoron of a smooth rocky plot. 

It was too cool, too fast. The director wasted no time in developing Clarke Kent's character, prepared a few scenes of his background story and how he controlled his abilities like teaser trailers, and went straight to the "exciting" part, the fight between his Zod's crew and him. There was a brief scene of Lana Lang, Clark Kent's first love and one on LuthorCorp though Lex Luthor didn't come on screen. We also get acquainted with the "real" meaning of the "S" symbol on Superman but there was no explanation/background on how or why his father created his outfit as we know it to be. I mean, why the cape? (I was silently hoping for an explanation because his cape created more of a liability [villains could hold his untearable cape and fling him around, which General Zod did] than being practically beneficial.

And why did everyone start calling him Superman? How did that term come about? Well, from the movie, it just did. It wasn't like how people called Batman "Batman", there's no obvious reason or a hint of "Super" behind Superman's costume and humans didn't know how Super he was. Was it the "S" on his costume then? Which we all assumed he got his superhero name from before this film? Guess you won't find out in Man of Steel. 

Action was good, though graphic-wise could have been better. A little fak-ish at parts, especially when he started to fly across different continents. 

*major major spoilers ahead* From what I know, General Zod is supposed to be EVIL, but in this movie, he's more like a villain fighting for a different cause, to save his race at the expense of humans. It reminded me of the villain from Star Trek Into The Darkness, which made it for Star Trek, but broke it for Man of Steel. Director Zack Synder should have tweaked it a little as he did with the fate of Zod (which didn't tally with the comics) and just made General Zod the ultimate hated villain without any rationale for destroying Earth. 

Henry Cavill was too bulky to my liking as Superman and was given only a few lines throughout the movie. Not sure why this was so (possibly because he can't really act?), but it made him feel more distant for the audience to connect to. It was "cute" to see Laurence Fishburn being cast as "Perry White", not sure if the pun was intended and both Laurence Fishburn and Amy Adams didn't look as how I had remembered them to be, if you know what I mean. ;p 

Overall, I did enjoy it, but something was lacking... probably cos' I had hoped for a smoother plot flow. I wouldn't have minded a 3hr-long movie with better pacing instead of a jam-packed action-packed superhero film with massive destruction all over.