Kal-El is Back!!

By the time I publish this, Kulfi would've watched the movie and the tabsaras can safely commence. If you haven't watched the movie, I'd recommend against proceeding any further!

The wait has been long and painful. To be exact, it's been 7 years since the last Superman movie was released. Supes has been given a completely new look with the underwear being knocked off of him similar to DC's New 52 Superman, and I'm definitely not complaining; if I had cent for the number of times people have japed about that! Besides the undies, the weavy texture given to the suit looks pretty amazing, and the cape (minus the S) doesn't look too shabby as well. Overall, a pretty amazing job's been done with the costume. 

'Superman's March' is one of the best musical pieces ever created, and is possibly the sole element which anyone anywhere in the entire world can associate directly back to Superman. When Zack Snyder announced that a new score would be developed for Man of Steel (MoS), he literally took away Superman's on-screen identity. The job was given to Hans Zimmer, a crazily talented composer. However, the biggest difference, much to my annoyance, between John Williams and Zimmer is that the former has made a name in the industry for creating thematic tunes (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman) whereas the latter has mostly worked on composing ambient and scene-based music. I highly doubt ever coming across Zimmer's take on Superman played out on classical style guitar. Anyway, I think the character specific themes' era is past us. Hans Zimmer has done a fantastic job with MoS's title track, 'What Are You Going To Do When You Are Not Saving The World?' by not drifting too far from the original Superman's March. Besides the title track, the OST blends in really well with the mood of the movie. 

I don't think I've ever been as excited as I was before MoS's release. Partly because of the team that was working on it and mainly because of it being well..Superman's return to the big screen and possibly reclaiming the throne that has been stolen by the likes of Iron Man and Batman of late. The sole reason why there are superheroes is because Superman was created in 1933! Anyway, we've had these discussions a zillion times so lets stick to the release at hand - MoS. 

I'll get right to the matter which I'm pretty sure has created a massive divide within Supes followers - HE KILLS ZOD. Superman KILLS...I mean KILLS...actually takes a freaking life! Now that is definitely not the Superman I've grown up with, the Superman that almost every single fan loves - no matter what, SUPERMAN DOES NOT KILL. But before writing him off completely, lets look at the bigger picture. In MoS, Superman has just found the answer to who he is. The truth is so recent that he doesn't even know that he can actually defy gravity and soar among the clouds. Among all the hubbub in his life already at a chaotic extreme, Earth is invaded by General Zod - a military trained genius tactician suddenly given powers equivalent to that of Superman. And not to forget, he's not alone. At this stage, I don't really expect Superman to be mature enough to foresee the repercussions of his actions and the path he eventually takes to defeat Zod and co. In Snyder's universe, this is Superman's first ever fight. But this is not the reason why I forgive Superman for the kill - that is because of his reaction after he's forced to do the act. The way he screams shows the pain and regret he feels at breaking Zod's neck; Superman understands what he's done. Based on the amount of experience he's had facing bad guys, poor Supes was not given any other option and mostly by Zod himself. Hence looking at the bright side, Snyder has an excellent plot to build-up Superman's personality on. I really hope for the sake of this reboot that Snyder and the writers have the sense to address this incident in one way or the other. If they don't, then this reboot is definitely not for me. 

The other part which I found to be a tad bit more disturbing was the extremely obvious nod to Jesus. No, I do not refer to the post-destruction of the rig but to the part where Jor-El tells him in the ship that he's the savior to which Superman glides out in to space very reminiscent of Jesus crucified. I really wish they hadn't associated the savior angle to Supes. Nevertheless, I'm willing to let this go as well since this image will most probably just go away the minute the sequel is released. Superman is past the first hurdle of breaking in to the scene by going up against the newly formed superheroes with people drooling over how beautifully they strip instead of having the cojones to criticize the absolutely crappy story lines being put forward. 

Apart from the aforementioned part, Snyder and team have nailed Supes, and MoS is beautifully poised to go down in history as the film to have finally done justice to Superman. Kudos to the writers for taking cue for the story line from one of the best comics I read a few years back - Superman Birthright. I really hope they keep going back to the comics for future projects as well. 

I will not go into the positives of the movie since, according to me, they are just too many to talk about! All in all, I'm content with Man of Steel and am intently looking forward to the sequel. Considering this to be a reboot after 7 years and potentially a much stronger one, I'm willing to forgo any resentments I might have against it. But I shall remain skeptical until the issue of Superman killing Zod isn't addressed. Please, please, please don't do this Snyder! Whether we like it or not, Man of Steel is here to stay and by next year we'll have a sequel as well. Might as well get on the band wagon and see how everything rolls out. 

To the person to whom this movie meant as much as it did to me - YESSSSSSSSSS!

Adieu!

P.S. For the record, Christopher Reeve was, is and, unless they clone him, will always be Superman personified. Period.