This is the Superman we've been waiting for....

Rating: 10/10 (17 June 2013)

Hope. It was all that the DC Comics and its fans had after it held the lantern for its challenge against the Marvel world. While Darkness prevailed alternatively, it all seemed bleak until the producers summoned the main character. He was the one that added the 'super' to hero and his revival is set to define the fortunes of the enormous Justice League's making. Hope finally left Krypton to arrive in Kansas, to give our planet and audiences, the one hero we have been waiting for in a new iconic form. The powers of our superhero are not just those derived from our Sun or his alien molecular structure. His belief in his Earth father's ideals and those ideals he learnt from his Kryptonian father about becoming greater than the society's intent and to realize his true potential, made him the righteous hero. From the discovery of these ideals, Zack Snyder ('300', 'Watchmen') elevates Clark Kent to become the Man of Steel; the symbol of Hope. What follows thereafter, is epic cinema that is exhilarating in its delivery of high powered action and the display of Godly powers. This is The Superman we have all been waiting for.
Krypton was soon going to face annihilation owing to its unstable core. Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara give natural birth to a son, Kal-El against the norms of their world, imprinting Krypton's genetic codex into him and setting him off in a capsule that is Earth-bound in a bid to save their dying planet's legacy. General Zod (Michael Shannon), a rebel warrior, seeks the codex to recreate Krypton but his angst leads to Jor-El's murder and thereby his group's incarceration by the Science Council into the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Kal-El's childhood years as Clark Kent have led to awkward discoveries of his powers and knowing this, his father Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) urges him to keep them secret as the world wasn't ready for him. Thus, he exists in anonymity, traveling all over the country to find suitable jobs but always wanting to find out what the reason for his being on Earth was. He ends up being a guardian angel for some whose lives he saved with his powers and that attracts the attention of Daily Planet's reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams). While discovering a Kryptonian scout ship, Clark is introduced to Jor-El's hologram that educates him about Krypton, General Zod and the purpose of him being on Earth. Clark is thus introduced to his costume and the power of flight. What follows is General Zod's escape from the Phantom Zone, and his subsequent arrival upon Earth in search of the codex and Kal-El. He demands Clark's surrender while preparing the terraforming of Earth for Kryptonian revival. The Man of Steel duly obliges to stand between Zod and Earth.
Snyder spends no time in further development and no mercy onto the buildings in Kansas and Metropolis. As he gets down to business, we witness the fury of their flight, the power of their impact onto each other as well as their surroundings and a raw portrayal of each character's stand on his individual belief. Amy Adams is a departure from the lois Lane from earlier films as she is on the hunt for the guardian angel right from the beginning and directly confronts Clark about his true identity. Russell Crowe as Jor-El is very good at being a guide to Kal-El. His conviction in his son's powers and his dissuasion of Zod's plans gives the film a soulful being that furthers the individual motivations of both characters. In their brief roles as Clark's parents, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner leave a lasting impact as they influence the humaneness in their super-son through righteous beliefs and cautious exposure of his existence to the world. Michael Shannon turned out to be a worthy adversary as Zod with his aggressive tone and menacing apathy for humanity.
The biggest revelation has been Henry Cavill who is as good at being the serious Clark Kent as he is being the powerful Man of Steel. His delineation of Clark's conflicted childhood and youth as he comes to terms with his powers and the transition into a self-aware Kal-El is quite brilliant.
The jaw-dropping visual effects, (Weta Digital- yet again!) Amir Mokri's Cinematography and Hans Zimmer's epic score make each sequence an astounding work of cinema. While the initial flight may look like a video game, the flights during the action scenes are unbelievably executed. The sheer pace of their movement and the scale of their fury form the basis of compelling action sequences which are among the best ever.
Zack Snyder, David Goyer and Christopher Nolan's to-the-point, serious approach to re- introducing Superman will disappoint the fans of the light-hearted, romantic and campy hero of the 80s. The action is fast and destructive, offering little time to even munch on popcorn. In fact, there are several scenes where the action is so relentless that you need a second viewing just to digest the scale of devastation that Snyder's visualization has caused. He excels at building up the audience engagement by crescendoing the sequences one after another for a very long time.
The gifted and powerful Kal-El, together with the nurtured and humane Clark Kent form a protagonist whose strengths are incorporated from the guidance of the Krypton father and the ideologies of the human father. These attributes make a formidable force to reckon with even for Zod. When given a chance to discover himself, the child who grows up to become a hero for the greater good stands as an ideal for humans to strive towards, a symbol of hope against all odds, a protector, a moral shield, a Man of Steel.

9.488 on a scale of 1-10.