Zack Snyder fails to recreate the wonder of Superman for the modern audiences...

Rating: 6/10 (2 November 2016)

In Man of Steel, director Zack Snyder and screenwriters David Goyer and Christopher Nolan reinvent the character of Superman for modern audiences. In earlier on-screen iterations, Superman had been largely the "heroic character who saves the cat stuck in the tree" and serves as mankind's "guardian". But in the modern retelling Superman is a grey character, occupying the space between black and white. The movie opens with an action set-piece on the planet Krypton. The opponents, Jor-El (Superman's biological father) & General Zod are polar opposites in regard to the approaches to save their home planet Krypton. This sets up the central conflict in the film – Superman vs. Zod, Alien vs. Native, Superman representing Earth vs. Zod representing Krypton. The script, pitched as a 'first contact' story, lead to Superman being characterized as an alien on Earth. His origin is spun into interesting directions for the character. Henry Cavill displays promise in his debut as a superhero on the silver screen, though one wishes he had been given more character work. Kevin Costner is a human character with whom Clark Kent/Superman has a touching father son relationship. However, Jonathan Kent imparts some dangerously misanthropic ideas indicating the world's cynicism and their unwillingness to trust in a hero. His outlook on humanity is grim and distrusting. His actions hint that an alien would likely be persecuted by inhabitants of the planet. As a result Clark Kent/Superman is instructed to keep his origins and powers as a secret at all costs. Superman is not exactly sure how to deal with humankind due to his "differences". Should he be a Savior? Or a normal human being? Superman's first flight scene is suitably grand and triumphant, well accompanied by percussion and drums by Hans Zimmer, who provides excellent emotional musical cues. But he faces challenges in connecting with the human race, finding his place in the world. There are several Jesus metaphors throughout the film. This is the way that internal conflict is set up for Superman. This is questioned when Zod arrives with an army threatening the human race forces the God-like Superman to take a stand as a protector of the human race. Thus Superman becomes a surrogate for his father Jor-El in continuing the fight against the General. Instead of taking this promising set-up further to exciting possibilities, Zack Snyder goes for the bombastic and chooses to blow everything up in the interests of a grand opera of senseless action set pieces. Cranking up the spectacle has bad results when the third act is made up of non-stop exhausting action. Amy Adams is a brilliant actress but is miscast here or at least mis- characterized. Her curious reporter arc morphs into someone who merely has to be present – amidst the action. While this decision ensures that she be an active part of the narrative, the choice to reveal Superman's identity to Lois in the second act takes out most of the classical tension in the relationship. This is not the mistake, though, as they fail to replace it with something compelling. Tone is a huge problem as serious, funny critical instances are jumbled/ badly presented. Character depth is sorely lacking in General Zod, played by Michael Shannon. All of his actions are motivated by his need to protect the people of Krypton, at the expense of everything, which makes his character rather monotonous. The film has a misanthropic tone which plays against the conventional humanism of Superman. Towards the end, a decision by Superman may alienate a lot of fans. The cinematography in the first act, composed of settings like lush farms, small towns, snow-laden mountains etc. is beautiful. However it is indistinguishable from the Transformers films in it's chaotic and confusing action pieces. The music accompanying drama scenes is emotional and soul stirring while the action set-pieces are dominated by noise and contribute to their ineffectiveness. The editing is disjointed and chaotic. Several scene transitions defy logic. The non-linear approach to tell Superman's origins serves little purpose. The movie would have worked much better as a linear timeline. Better editing would have made scenes more fluid and natural. The fight scenes are often hard to follow. The "Batman" like treatment does not work for Superman. He is not a grim character. At his core Superman is a hero who imparts hope and cherishes his role as the guardian of the human race. For better or for worse, this sets the tone for the character for upcoming films – Batman V. Superman, Justice League et al.