As a superhero movie Man of Steel succeeded to draw my attention undivided by sweetly combining the drama elements with the massive thrilling actions throughout the movie. Unlike other superhero movies, this one is focusing on the humanity side of the superhero himself when he has to choose between having his stance with his own people of Krypton or to defend earth, the place that he calls home for the past 33 years.

To Kal-El, the Man of Steel, there is no such thing as win-win solution. He has been trying for so long to solve the puzzle of his early life and his origin. But when the facts are finally revealed his happiness is short-lived because in the end he must chose to fight his own people in order to save the earth.

The Movie

The scene where Krypton is on the verge of doom’s day opens the movie. Jor-El, father of Man of Steel, advises the guardians to stop the massive use of core energy, as it will destroy the planet faster, and suggests them to start evacuating the planet to seek a new one to live in. But before the conversation is through, Zod barges in with his own troop and announce his coup de ta.

In between the fight, Jor-El manages to escape, runs back to his home to proceed with his plan to evacuate his newborn out of Krypton using a launcher heading to a new planet (the earth) his wife, Lara, has found. On the way to his home, Jor-El steals the Codex, an artifact that decodes the genetic makeups of the Kryptonian babies, and uses it in the process of the evacuation. His baby is the first Kryptonian baby that is conceived and born naturally without being artificially incubated by the Codex.

Zod, who chases him to the house, fails to abort the launching and instead being arrested by the official Krypton troops who at the last minutes manage to take the control back. Zod and his troop are sent to incarceration in the Phantom Zone.

However although the coup de ta has been handled Krypton can’t afford to avoid apocalypse. The irony is that the explosion of the planet sets Zod and his troop free and alive.

The scene then moves to the earth some years later where the baby whose Kryptonian’s name is Kal-El, now Clark Kent, is all grown up and venturing the life trying to find the secret of his origin. He knows about his power, he knows that he is not from the earth but he is still in the dark of where he has come from.

As facts are unfolding before his eyes he is soon found by Zod who is looking for the codex in order to create new Krypton.

To know where the codex is, the reason why Zod attacks the earth and how the Man of Steel tackles this intruder you need to go to the cinema, get the ticket and watch the movie yourself

About the Movie

Apart from the A M A Z I N G effects that are all over the movie, I was touched by the scene when Lara kissed her baby one last time before putting him inside the capsule that will bring him on the survival journey to the earth. She knows she will never see her son again and I think any mother who watches this particular scene will feel her pain and sorrow too. I was also touched when Kal-El puts a very high respect to his on-earth father and always listens to what he tells him and when that respect has eventually cost him his father’s life. He is indeed a good boy, isn’t he?

But my overall view of the movie is that it moves very quickly. I can sense that the director wants to tell as much story as possible within that limited time frame. The flashbacks are neatly inserted within the scenes but sometimes I feel those are like kangaroo that bounces its ways forward.

I am not impressed with Amy Adams who plays as Lois Lane. I can’t catch a loving chemistry between her and Henry Cavill. I also think that Henry Cavill is too much a resemblance of John Travolta.

One thing I am glad of is that there is no curly strain of hair forming letter S falling down on Cavill’s forehead (thank God!).

This movie also provides more make-sense-idea about Kryptonite. All this time we know that Superman’s weakness is the kryptonite, which is always pictured as a green-glowing-stone. Matter of fact here the explanation has more clarity. When Kal-El as a baby enters the earth atmosphere his body absorbed the radiation and then adapts to the earth environment. Because of this, he can no longer live in Krypton atmosphere and becomes weak if he is ever around things that carry Krypton atmosphere.

One more thing that is explained in Man of Steel is that the symbol on his superhero costume is not an S but it’s Kryptonian symbol of hope.

A good message I extract from the movie is that we should not misuse our natural resources because excessive use can lead to draining out. Instead we need to find a way to create a sustainable living not only for the present but also for our future generation.

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By the way, do you know that Man of Steel is only called Superman once in the movie and no one calls him Man of Steel?