Man of Steel

Who doesn’t know Superman. All of us know Superman. To revisit his origins and repackage them in a riveting storyline 35 years after the first Superman movie came out requires plenty of courage.

Zack Snyder does a class act. And with Christopher Nolan and David Goyer on board as writers, this is story telling taken to new heights. The movie has all the usual characters playing their usual roles – the caring Kents, the hyperactive Lois Lane, the ever pushy Perry White, Zod, Lana Lang, Pete Ross and the rest.

The story goes back and forth in time without bordering on the tedium. The movie also pays tribute to/seems inspired by various events both fictional and real:

·         Julian Assange makes an appearance as Glen Woodburn

·         The pod carrying Lois Lance crashes into a cornfield and creates a crop circle

·         There is a Wayne Enterprises satellite hovering in outer space into which Superman and Zod collide

·         Jor El appears as a dynamic hologram compared to the iterative Princess Lea

·         The age old Kryptonian spacecraft exiting the Arctic atmosphere appears to be inspired from X Files/ Predator series.

·         The duel between Superman and Zod resembles the duel with Doomsday in the comic book

·         Perry White is coloured and not white

·         Unmanned surveillance drones trying to find the Arctic Fortress – giving the Al Qaeda a break

·         Cloning and depletion of global resources – issues which were not so prevalent when the original movie came out

·         Hints of Wolverine in the bar scene. The Krypton warriors look like minor X Men characters.

The movie carries the dark tones which have begun to be associated with comic film based movies of late (ironic considering Superman was always a sunshine hero not one who prowled in the shadows). Watching the movie on Father’s day made it extra special with Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner graduating to senior citizen roles with perfection, helping mould Kal El/ Clark Kent into what he is and to taken on his demons, internal and external.

Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor are conspicuous by their absence but LexCorp makes an appearance at the end. So Lex Luthor is out there somewhere waiting.  Could Pete Ross become the next Lex Luthor? – Subtle clues here and there.

Disappointed that Lois Lane knows that Clark is Superman. However, waiting for the sequel.