super salad of summer blockbusters

when lois lane (the charming amy adams) asked the man of steel (the gorgeous henry cavill) what the "s" on his superhero suit means, he said it is not an "s" (if i heard it right amid the noisy banter of my fantard seatmates, he said there is no "s" in the planet where he came from), but a symbol that means hope. i was disappointed. i thought the pulitzer prize winning journalist from the daily planet would, by now,  know what it means: super salad of summer blockbuster movies.
didn't she get the memo? chos.

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yes, ladies and gentlemen, you might be disappointed if you are expecting man of steel to be a romantic movie disguising as an action movie. it is not. gone are the cutesy scenes where lois would fly with superman in the not so friendly skies while the now familiar music "can you read my mind...can you..." is playing in the background.
the current incarnation produced by christopher nolan is dark just like his rebooting of the batman franchise, dour, humorless, kick-the-asses-of-those-bad-asses version.
instead of a reporter who hides his being a superhero behind the thick eyeglasses, clean cut look and by acting clumsy and funny -- basically by acting like a nerd -- clark kent is a wanderer sporting a beard who keeps changing jobs: fisherman, bartender, waiter. but he has a good heart. he is willing to save people who are in danger even if it would jeopardize his life.
he is brooding just like the billionaire bruce wayne, longing and looking for answers to his nagging existential questions that his adoptive parents could not give. answers that will unlock the secrets to his superhuman powers: xray vision like bionic man, strength of incredible hulk, the ability to fly and read minds like the vampires lestat and louise, among others.

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but after he learns the truth about himself through his dead father (the real one who is both a fighter and a techie from the far far away planet with advanced civilization, not the farmer from kansas), he came out in full regalia, cape and all, and strutted on the immaculately white snow laden horizon calmly, ready to face the world.
the superhero, who will fight the bad guys from planet krypton who are threatening to destroy earth and annihilate all humans, is born.
and what a superhero he is.
i am not a fan of superheroes except for batman. nor do i appreciate long, special effects laden fight scenes that show the destruction of entire cities, buildings collapsing, cars being blown away, while humans scream, flee, helpless in the face of the invasion by the creatures from another planet; but  surprisingly i love those scenes here. some critics complained they are too long and numbing, but what do these pompous asses  know? oh well, maybe because i have not seen that many summer blockbusters yet, that is why there is still that eagerness in me who marvels and watches in awe at those tall, glass and steel buildings crumbling on the big screen, etc and etc.

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i love the changes that christopher nolan the producer along with the writer, and the director (snyder something) did not just to our summer  hero, his story, but also to his love interest lois. here is a woman who is no longer pretty as a model dressed like a supermodel about to be photographed for vogue or cover an event like the annual met ball gala for the said fashion magazine. here is a lois whom we all can relate to (at least i did), the working reporter: dressed in shirt, jeans, with messy hair and looks like she needs a coffee or two. here is a reporter who is not standing on her five inch heels in the veranda waiting for her superhero boyfriend to give her another scoop. she is out there, looking for stories. she looks the part, too, at least, of an aggressive, pulitzer-prize winning journalist (as if i personally know someone who won a pulitzer for newspapering. chos), not someone seated at the front row of a marc jacobs show. this time, lois kicks asses too. she is as much a heroine as superman is a hero. well, christopher nolan is a feminist. he always has strong women in his movies.
of course, i also like the fact that lois knows right away who superman is. unlike in previous movies (and teevee series) that left you wondering why can't she tell that clark kent the reporter is also superman, the love of her life. can't she tell the resemblance?
the super long introduction -- how krypton was destroyed, why superman's parents sent him to earth -- is also welcome. hell, i like it. it's like watching another movie altogether. russell crowe as superman's real dad is cool, suave, reminding us that once upon a time he played another summer blockbuster hero, killing not just gladiator wannabes but the king who was responsible for his downfall and the death of his love ones. this is, after all, another christopher nolan trademark -- the long exposition.

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some critics (here they are again) complained that the movie is too serious. humourless. but dahlins, this is a christopher nolan project! what do you expect to see a romcom, i mean iron man?
seriously, i am surprised why most people didn't get it. the movie has a sense of humour too. a joke or two. the movie is a homage to past and present blockbuster, mind boggling, totally noisy, destructive, man versus machines or aliens summer movies beginning with independence day, matrix (made even more obvious by the presence of the fat and miscast laurence fishburne and other actors from the franchise including the killing machines), iron man, batman, incredible hulk (remember that scene at the first half of the movie where he is half naked wearing only wet shorts looking for clothes. it's priceless), x-men, and that movie about cars turned into fighting robots.
like lois lane, didn't you get the memo? that's the joke.
double chos.

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of course, even if the critics had a field day lambasting the film for destroying the essence of the superman tradition (some even made a point about superman killing his nemesis. something he never did before. again, this is the new superman, not your romantic, goody-goody in glasses journalist wannabe who is in love with lois lane), i totally dig this one.
henry cavill is of course the perfect choice for the reimagined superhero.
i even like the pairing of henry and amy. they just look kinda good together. there is not much "kilig" factor, but again, this is a christopher nolan version. he is never interested in the love angles.

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i also like the parallelism between christ and superman. hello, he donned the superhero costume at thirty three. if i remember it right, jesus christ started his efforts to save humanity from sin when he was thirty three. i am not totally religious (i am more spiritual), but i really like this part of the movie. i also like that bit about superman as a kid who had a hard time coping and then adjusting to his superpowers (one scene showed him screaming and scared because he could see the skeletons of his teachers and classmates); how he had to suppress them because his farmer adoptive father played so very well by kevin costner (who looks so at home in a field of dreams setting) had asked him to hide them because using those powers might trigger hatred from ordinary humans).

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i think i don't have to state the obvious that i love man of steel. it's worth the long wait since its last incarnation on the big screen. the movie though should come with a warning: this is not your grandfather's or father's superman. this is your generation's superhero. so as not to alienate the audience.
and henry, dark, humourless, brooding, pained superhero is definitely our superman.

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(fotos taken from websites; no copyright infringements intended)