For me Man of Steel is a really entertaining and thought-provoking movie. Let me make it clear that it’s not the greatest comic-book movie (like many might be expecting). Great comic-book movies for me are V For Vendetta, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Dark Knight Returns - Part 1, Batman: The Dark Knight etc.
So I’ll try to analyze the story and break it down.
We know the Superman Story far too well already but in Man of Steel we are given a story in microscopic detail about what happened to Kal’s parents and how Krypton was destructed.
I came across an an article about Man of Steel’s screenplay in WhatCulture. One thing I found interesting was this-
"It’s a well-known screenwriting trope that you should try to set up your story and introduce your protagonist as soon as possible – lots of screenwriting gurus will tell you that it’s best to do that within the first 10 pages, too, because that’s the point at which most people decide whether or not they like the movie that they’re watching (adhering to the fact that 10 pages roughly translates as 10 minutes of screen-time . So although the prologue in Man Of Steel is a necessary part of the Superman story, it’s still a prologue, and in this case, it’s far too long."
My thoughts exactly. I wan’t able to connect deeply to the story. Maybe it was the length but I’m not sure. Nevertheless it’s a really good detailing of the events before Krypton’s destruction and adds great depth to the Superman Mythos. These events prove to be important later in the movie as they form the character arc of the villain.
The best part about Man of Steel is Clark Kent’s angst and his troubled childhood. Its great to see how Clark suffered as a child because of his “Gold-like” powers. Here, Johnathan Kent (Clark’s Dad) clearly plays a huge role in shaping Clark’s ethical and moral values which help him to decide the kind of person he wants to grow up to become.
Coming to the action, its HUGE and EPIC! Set to Hans Zimmer’s score, the CGI action is simply astounding. The Superman Vs. Faora fight scene is killer! But the way Superman fights makes me wonder if he actually cares about humans, because the amount of destruction is frankly not necessary in my opinion.
Of course, there’s also the clearly visible symbolism about Superman being shown as a certain God-Like figure (insert Jesus). This is too obvious but not an issue for me. The creators of Superman are from America which has a majority of Christians. So the influence cannot be ignored.
So that’s all I have to say basically. There are plot-holes and “a few weird plot conveniences” but the strong emotional moments and the grand action sequences cover the negatives to a certain extent (although not completely).
It’s supposed to be a summer blockbuster for Gods-sake!! Don’t expect deep ideologies or complex Inception-like story line!!
Finally, it was worth my money and time, and I liked it. 1000 times better than watching any recent or upcoming high-budget Tollywood/Bollywood trash.
No comments:
Post a Comment