Man of Steel

While on the return trip to Cebu from Camotes, the ferry we were on was playing Man of Steel.
The trip was rather "bumpy" since there was a tropical depression, and although I would like to sleep my trip home, the ship was rocking with the strong waves. Instead, I indulged myself in to watching again Man of Steel.

Of all the comic super heroes, Superman was my least favorite, I was never a fan of Superman. What I do not like with Superman, is the fact that he is invincible, impervious to anything, except maybe for Kryptonite, which the creator has to make up in order to make his hero not totally impeccable. Everyone must have a weak spot or some sort of vulnerability. Yet even so, I do not like the fact that he has super powers because he is from another planet. Another thing, while the billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne has an alter ego as Batman or the genius billionaire playboy Tony Stark has the alter ego of Iron Man, Superman on the other hand has the alter ego of Clark Kent. Not Superman being the alter ego of Clark, well simply because, he is Superman by nature, and he has to disguise himself to blend in.

While Peter Parker has to create his web shooter, Bruce has to use his detective skills and gizmos from his utility belt, Stark has to use his armor for protection and technological advantage, Clint Barton (Hawkeye) has to master his archery skills, Superman just has to use his out of this world godlike super powers. He just go out and be the Man of steel he is, no sweat.

Going back to the latest film reboot of Superman, generally I find it overly long and by most parts boring and tiring to watch. While this film reboot was produced and written by Chris Nolan and David Goyer, the same team that brought the Batman reboot, this film was not at par with the Dark Knight trilogy of films. I am a fan of Nolan's works from Insomia, Inception, The Prestige and of course his take on Batman. But I was disappointed with Man of Steel, he may not have directed it but he produced and co wrote the story.


The story of course is a modern retelling of the beginnings of Superman, much like Batman Begins.
I do not have a problem with the story, it is however with the pace of the film and how, towards the end of the movie, Superman and Zod almost flatten a whole city. There is so much destruction than in Independence Day or than Transformers and Avengers combined. By the way, notice how most of these blockbuster films have the same premise or feel at the climax of the movie? Alien invasion and destruction of the city, i.e. Avengers and Transformers? It is the same with Man of Steel, the climax scenes are very similar with Avengers, Transformers and from other movie scenes like Independence Day, War of the Worlds, Deep Impact and others. Man of Steel though has a very long and extended film sequence and has more destruction. Boring!

It did prove wrong with most movie cliché. Usually the leads would kiss at the end of the movie or when the hero comes out triumphant, and it signifies the "happy ending" - hero saves the day and gets his princess, but not with this film. When Superman and Lois kissed surrounded with all the debris, you would think that that was it, the end. Then more movie cliches and end credits roll. But no, Snyder wants more pointless action sequences and violence. Zod is still alive and has developed his godlike powers too, and he and Superman continues to go on and destroy more of what's left of the metropolis.  Sigh, this is really a tiring movie.

Then, finally Zod is cornered, and with his laser like rays coming out his eyes threatening to kill innocent bystanders, Superman has no choice, and against his will and moral conscience, resorts to kill Zod. In order to save the lives of innocent civilians, snap, he breaks Zods neck and that is it. He killed Zod with one snap, just break his neck. Geez, that wasn't so hard Clark, if you only did that earlier, there might be more buildings standing.

All those flying around, kicking and punching each other with super human strength, dodging with lightning speeds, it is as if you are watching Son Goku and Vegeta on live action film. With each punch or kick will have them flying through concrete destroying multiple buildings, not even bruised, throwing at each other with whatever they can grab on, and not even scratching a bit. Yet, all this time Superman never intended to kill Zod. What was the point of all those Dragon ball fight sequences? Zod was dangerous and a threat to Earth, yet he did not have intention of killing him. He was just playing around, showing off his skills and powers, boasting their egos as who was the more powerful Kryptonian. And just when Zod was about to toast a few innocent bystanders, Superman has to rethink deeply and act against his moral conscience and kills Zod. It has to take about 4 or 5 cornered innocent civilians before Clark finally decides to end all this stupid and pointless fighting by snapping Zod's neck. How many do you think would have already died or were injured with all those buildings destroyed?

That is why I find the movie boring and overly tiring. The first half of the film was entertaining and interesting, until you get to the second half of the movie. What made it more tiring to watch were the last scenes and action sequences. It was just pointless, and it did not add anything substantial or made an impact to the overall plot of the film.

This was nothing compared to what Nolan did with Batman. With Batman, it was very refreshing. The plot, pacing, the action sequences and pacing of the film, was just entertaining to watch.
I hope they would do more justice to the upcoming still untitled film of Superman vs Batman. Although I am not really looking forward to it, with the lackluster Man of Steel film and with Christian bailing out of the Batman role, but we will wait and see. Maybe it will be a fun entertaining movie and might just kick off a Justice League film franchise. Until then, I am just not too sure that it will be any good than the recent Batman trilogy.