Film Review: Man of Steel

When I was a kid, my favorite story was the story of Madhushudhandada. My father told me this tale once during a weekend break at Ashoka Lodge in Hazaribagh, and then had to tell me the story a few thousand times over. I knew the story backwards, but I never tired of asking him to tell it to me again. And every time he did, he would throw in new tidbits, a new character here, a twist in the tale there, and I listened with the intentness of a seeker of truth. It wasn�t till I grew up to where my father had been, that I realized that in my seeking that telling of the story over and over again, I was creating my own understanding of the rules that life deals by, learning to comprehend the playbook, and to improve my own game.

It is the same with Bhagavad Gita, the book of Genesis, Pagla Dashu or the story of Superman. Each reading reveals new contexts, new meaning and leaves you with new insights. Depending on where you are in life, you learn new ways to apply the lessons. We love these tales because they assure us that we are all paired with another end of our spectrum that is flawless and unlimited, that good will eventually triumph since that is the nature of the universe, and that the mess that we are in is there for us precisely because we can overcome it and prove that the spirit of man is indomitable. And some other things too, which I am perhaps too old to look kindly upon.

Chris Nolan set the reboot expectations high with Batman, and it is difficult to leave them aside as one takes a look at Zack Snyder�s Man of Steel. Like many of my generation, it was not a movie that could wait for next week, and so there we were on a weekday evening, our 3D glasses on, delving into a retelling of a story we all know too well with the same excitement with which we watch election specials on television.

I am not big on reviews, especially for new releases that I look forward to, but it was hard to escape the overall sense of disappointment that critics were voicing. But then, that is why they are called critics. As a matter of fact, it wasn�t till I started watching the film that I began oohing and aahing at the cast. The story begins with an in-depth look at the conflict that led to the downfall of Krypton, the enmity between Superman�s father and the rebel leader Zod, and the arrival of Superman on earth. The visual depiction is gorgeous. For those who have been cribbing about the overdose of CGI, well, this is a celluloid-on-steroid comic book hero, not exactly Citizen Kane. And yes, it is shot on celluloid. Henry Cavill looks like he has walked out of a men's grooming product ad and it is not till well into the film that you start taking to him. By the end of it, regardless of gender, you will admit that he is kind of hot.

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