Movie Review: Man of Steel (English)

Man of Steel

For someone who's never taken the trouble to acquaint himself with Superman, be it as a motion picture or as a comic, this fresh reboot by Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan is more than a godsend. With great power comes great responsibility, so goes the saying. But as a school kid if you were to realize you had some strange powers deep within, it would probably freak you out. To be honest I was watching the first half with rapt attention. The opening segments, which go into the origins, detail the demise of a distant planet Krypton and the subsequent rocket flight of baby Kal-El (aka Superman) to Earth.

It's when General Zod's devious plans to take over the planet become apparent that the film begins to show its cracks, degenerating to a pedestrian B-movie flick by resorting to mind-numbing action sequences that drag on and on and on. And as Earth becomes the inevitable battlefield, the level of destruction in the protracted climactic fight between Zod and Superman leaves huge swathes of cities in rubble, indirectly raising questions about how power needs to dealt with responsibly. But accompanied by Hans Zimmer's ear-deafening music score, all I wanted was to leave the movie hall without suffering from a headache. But props to the makers for showing the human, morally-conflicted side of Superman!