Man of Steel (SPOILERS)

[jedijim3002]

Well I agree with this. The film is very, very flawed but I think Superman did all that he could to save people.

I'm more asking this to the people who specifically claim that he just watched people die and didn't bother trying to help random civilians.

I might be remembering wrong, but it seems like he didn't have time to go around and save every random person he saw, what with the giant terraforming machine killing thousands by the minute. Then there's Zod and his crew rampaging everywhere.

If he went around saving every random person whose foot was stuck under rubble, that's just time wasted that he could spend getting rid of the real threat.

A lot of people act like he just stood by and did absolutely nothing while everyone died.

See, this is the kind of tone I wanted. The problem is that there was never any payoff.

I wanted the film to be very dark, gritty and dreadful, but with the glimmer of hope that is Superman.

There was never a time I felt inspired. I never wanted to cheer Superman on as he persevered through this seemingly hopeless battle.

There was just no real emotion. Every attempt to make you "feel" just ended up backfiring. Like Jon Kent's death. I was shocked at how stupid and forced that was. It didn't give the characters any depth, it only made them look like fools.

I agree. When your a doctor trying to save a life you don't stop to clean up every drop of blood that spills. You take the bullet out that's killing the whole person then stitch him up to stop the bleeding. Same thing for supes. He had to get rid of the threat before he could help anyone.
Step 1. Destroy terraforming machine.
Step 2. Send badies back to phantom zone.
Step 3. Oops forgot one. Try to stop head bad guy by stomping him into the ground and space.
Step 4. Nothing is working. He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear. And he absolutely will not stop until you and every human on the planet is dead.
Step 5. Kill the bad guy.

Sorry but if I was in that situation I think I'd do what dupes did. I think that's what the movie was trying to portray. A more approachable humanly flawed superman. Not the Boy Scout who let's innocents die because he can't kill.

 

[occulum]

watched it the other day. Enjoyed it WAY more than I was expecting to. Great reboot IMO..... ...

 

[smitty]

I agree. When your a doctor trying to save a life you don't stop to clean up every drop of blood that spills. You take the bullet out that's killing the whole person then stitch him up to stop the bleeding. Same thing for supes. He had to get rid of the threat before he could help anyone.
Step 1. Destroy terraforming machine.
Step 2. Send badies back to phantom zone.
Step 3. Oops forgot one. Try to stop head bad guy by stomping him into the ground and space.
Step 4. Nothing is working. He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear. And he absolutely will not stop until you and every human on the planet is dead.
Step 5. Kill the bad guy.

Sorry but if I was in that situation I think I'd do what dupes did. I think that's what the movie was trying to portray. A more approachable humanly flawed superman. Not the Boy Scout who let's innocents die because he can't kill.

 

[ActionJackson83]

The only thing I didn't like was the lack of exposition, I think if they had expanded the movie another 5-10 min to show the positive reaction of the people of Metropolis like in the end of Avengers then the movie would've been bumped up to a home run for me. All his life Clark has been fighting with the thoughts from his dad that the human race would reject him if they found out who he was, the positive reaction could've reaffirmed his belief that the people really do need his help and that he could use his powers for good and the benefit of the human race.

 

[Snadinator]

I came out from watching this on the big screen and felt very underwhelmed and unimpressed.

Strangely, after re-watching it at home, I enjoyed it a lot more this time around.

 

[DGTWoodward]

I came out from watching this on the big screen and felt very underwhelmed and unimpressed.

Strangely, after re-watching it at home, I enjoyed it a lot more this time around.

I have found this with many films, most noticeably Kick-*** and Watchmen, and most comparatively SUPERMAN RETURNS. They do improve with more than one viewing, very much so. I am going to hopefully put MoS in that category too.

Who knows, I might actually get a chance to see it this weekend!

 

[thenammagazine]

Just watching it again there is a big difference in watching the destruction in NY in the Avengers where Humans are saved time and time again by our Hero's and watching MOS which felt like a disaster film half the time. I understand that Superman was up against great odds and he could not always save the day but that is part of the films problem IMO. Having that terraforming ship destroy half of Metropolis was overkill and the film would have been better served without it. The scene of Superman looking at the destruction of Metropolis is a real downer. Just too much IMO and not fitting for a Superman film.... Or any Superhero film. There was always a sense of fun in the Avengers. MOS was sorely lacking that.

Just My Opinion of course

Your opinion is absolutely correct! MoS only confirmed what most of us knew with TDKR, that WB just doesn't understand their heroes. Nor, it would seem, do they care to.

 

[occulum]

I guess Im on board the boat that enjoys the dark realism DC has put into the Batman / Superman movies. Although I certainly understand many wanting them keep the light-hearted comicbook kid feel as well.
Have to say Im enjoying getting both from different films .... ....

 

[a-dev]

I don't even know if viewers would have paid that much attention to what was going on in Metropolis, except that the whole mood of the movie was so depressing and joyless to begin with that it highlighted the fact that the destruction was causing real pain, and Superman was either unable or unwilling to assist at some level (either explanation would fit in given the mood of the film). That same gut response wasn't felt in Avengers, where the heroes and situations did seem genuinely fun and hopeful on some level, as most comic book characters were meant to be. Here you've got sad sack Pa Kent giving bizarre speeches and committing suicide, you've got brutal, self-hating enemies, you've got a grim, desaturated Superman essentially threatening the U.S. government and killing his enemies, you've got destruction and death on a massive scale, it all feeds into an overall mood that highlights the suffering and pain that really shouldn't have been the focal point of the first Superman reboot movie IMO.

Because Superman Returns was bereft of much action they felt they had to go big with this one. Unfortunately going big like this in Superman's origin film means that the audience and the people of earth in the movie don't have much of any time to learn about and love Superman. He's never unique because Zod and co. actually make themselves known before Superman does if memory serves. (I've still only seen it once despite having had opportunity to watch it again) Its like ''Holy $h!t a bunch of superpowered aliens have invaded and they're gonna destroy our city and take over the world annnnnd one of them happens to be rebelling against the others and might be helping us it seems''

Sigh. They shoulda kept the Donner universe going. One of those films with this kind of action would have been far more effecting. And I feel it would have better played host to the extended DC universe than this 'gritty, Nolanesque' world of MOS.

 

[Sachiel]

Sigh. They shoulda kept the Donner universe going. One of those films with this kind of action would have been far more effecting. And I feel it would have better played host to the extended DC universe than this 'gritty, Nolanesque' world of MOS.

They should have kept the Schumacher universe going too.

 

[Merle's Right Hand]

All I got was "this is the best superman ever!" "This is the best movie I've ever seen!" Or "best movie of 2013." But no one could tell me why they liked it. Others there said they did not like it and could say why. No one could tell my what about it they liked though.

I can't say I truly liked it, but the story was good and it was well-acted. My only reason gripe is all of the CGI fights - how many times do I need to see someone thrown through a bunch of buildings? Had the fight scenes been shorter it would have been a much better movie.

 

[Khev]

I guess Im on board the boat that enjoys the dark realism DC has put into the Batman / Superman movies. Although I certainly understand many wanting them keep the light-hearted comicbook kid feel as well.
Have to say Im enjoying getting both from different films .... ....

^^ This.

Donner's fine for what it is, and so is the reboot. It's not like it must be "dismissed" because it craps on the original movies, MoS is its own universe. And in the context of this universe, I believe I "get," and even appreciate, what they were going for.

They're asking "what would happen if a guy, a good guy, had insane superpowers? Would he instantly know what to do with them? Would his parents have any clue as to how to instruct him?" And MoS tries to present that question in one possible scenario.

Jor-El's line "You can save her, you can save them all," I believe was meant to be taken as *true,* and Kal-El just didn't know how to make that happen so soon. He had all these powers that he was only just beginning to utilize, and half a city was destroyed as a result of his inexperience. Not that it was his fault, but I see his scream after killing Zod as encompassing all of his frustration at how "messy" a victory it was that he attained.

He won, and saved billions, but didn't "save them all." He's got a long road ahead. He was capable of dispatching Zod without any loss of life but he largely blew it. And that, IMO, is what we've always needed in a Superman movie. If it played out exactly as many people seem to want, then we'd have that "boring" version of the character that people get turned off to because nothing is ever a threat for him.

Just imagine if he hadn't naively told Zod the secret about honing his senses on Earth. He made some pretty big mistakes. And the world will most likely hold him accountable (he did attract the alien invaders after all.) And that's interesting to me. And very cool.

The movie made some missteps at pretty key points (Pa Kent being the biggest) but I'm not ready to dismiss the film on account of them. I just liked too much of it.

 

[a-dev]

They should have kept the Schumacher universe going too.

The Donner universe as it was 'updated' in Superman Returns. Not exactly as it was in the campiest parts of the Reeve movies.

 

[karamazov80]

I'm OK with a dark and gritty comic movie. But just not for Superman. I know a lot of this is bias, since I grew up being influenced by the pre-Crisis comics, Donner films, and the Super Friends. But really, he's one guy who I don't want to see examined this way.

4) Faora's fighting style

The one thing I did really like about this movie, and that I sorta figured Snyder would do well, was the action scenes. They were visceral, exciting, and pretty bad-***. I didn't care about anyone involved in those fights, but they were enjoyable in their fantastic over-the-topness IMO. If these guys' primary objective was to overcome the biggest deficiency from Superman Returns--the lack of action and fighting--then I would say that they succeeded on that measure.

 

[Khev]

I'm OK with a dark and gritty comic movie. But just not for Superman. I know a lot of this is bias, since I grew up being influenced by the pre-Crisis comics, Donner films, and the Super Friends. But really, he's one guy who I don't want to see examined this way.

Its funny that you say that because that's how I am with Captain America. Didn't you say you really loved Brubaker's run? Every time I picked up one of his Winter Soldier/Death of Cap issues in a store and flipped through it I just couldn't bring myself to purchase it because it always looked like he was going for some sort of hardcore washed out color Saving Private Ryan thing. Which actually *makes sense* for a modern day super soldier story but just wasn't the vibe I ever associated, or wanted, for Cap.

He was always more of a "Indiana Jones" type Nazi killer to me, not Captain John Miller. So for that reason I can see why MoS just doesn't click tonally for many of you.

 

[karamazov80]

Yeah, I did really enjoy the Brubaker run. But the "classic" Cap comics I really love were more edgy than your typical Silver Age Superman yarn. The stuff that DeMatteis was responsible for specifically had dark undertones, partly influenced by the post-Watergate period that Cap had to adjust to. But the Cap stuff from the early-mid '60s certainly did portray him as a more traditional, and idealistic soldier-type.

 

[thenammagazine]

What I don't get is the extremes. It shouldn't be a matter of "either or." A competent director/writer should've been able to give us a "realistic" Superman displaying both his powers AND compassion. Discounting something that should've already been instilled in the hero before leaving Kansas as a "learning curve" is apologistic at best.

 

[Khev]

Yeah, I did really enjoy the Brubaker run. But the "classic" Cap comics I really love were more edgy than your typical Silver Age Superman yarn. The stuff that DeMatteis was responsible for specifically had dark undertones, partly influenced by the post-Watergate period that Cap had to adjust to. But the Cap stuff from the early-mid '60s certainly did portray him as a more traditional, and idealistic soldier-type.

Yeah, I like 60's Cap and late 70's Roger McKenzie/80's Mark Gruenwald the most. Gruenwald had the world changing around him with the government demanding that he resume his duties as a soldier that fights where they tell him to fight and Steve rejected his duties in favor of more standard goody two shoes superhero fare (until Reagan reinstated him anyway.)

Brubaker just didn't fit with that. Luckily Johnston and company have portrayed the nature of Cap onscreen that I most wanted to see but I get how MoS is sort of the polarizing "Brubaker" approach for Superman.

 

[occulum]

this has probably been discussed already, but isn't his lack of compassion and the act of trashing the city potentially done to set up conflict between him and Batman in the upcoming film??

 

[thenammagazine]

this has probably been discussed already, but isn't his lack of compassion and the act of trashing the city potentially done to set up conflict between him and Batman in the upcoming film??

Batman's inclusion in the sequel wasn't even on the radar as this was being developed. The fact that it was supposed to be a straight-up sequel before a "World's Finest" supports that.