I commented on an article that dissected why the movie was getting such rancor from critics despite being well-regarded by many fans. Its been over a month since Man of Steel came out and people are still debating its quality. Some people really liked/loved it, other loathed it to its very core. Back and forth people have been and still are debating, quite a few of the arguments getting personal and ugly. But the debate shows how prolific and iconic Superman is as a character.
I saw Man of Steel for the second time last week just to make sure the quality held up. Overall I still enjoyed the film. Man of Steel is a welcome revamp of Superman on the big screen. Was it perfect? Absolutely not. Was it entertaining? Very much. And the film got the job done, which was reintroduce Superman into a modern world that was no longer interested in the camp and fluffiness of the late 70s/early 80s.
Now why did so many people hate this film? I can list a few reasons and rebuttals/agreements:
1.) The Christopher Reeves/Richard Donner films: Many people grew up with Superman 1 & 2, viewing that as the quintessential Superman. So many might have already had an auto-hate setting for Man of Steel going in. “Its not my Superman,” they say. I liked the Reeves films, but they’re very dated and that Superman would not have flown with audiences nowadays. We already saw that attempt fail in Superman Returns. In the 1978 Superman he basically got mind-fucked for 12 years by his bio-daddy and came out already fully formed as Superman. There was no real arc to the character, no growth. Him becoming Superman really wasn’t his choice. Another major emphasis in this film was that Superman is an alien. Some people didn’t like how this film was akin to a first contact/alien invasion story. Too bad. Superman is from another planet and nothing will change that. The world is not going to jump up for joy and embrace such a powerful being with open arms just because he can fly.
2.) The disaster porn: Superman’s battles in this film caused massive damage and possibly lots of civilian casualties. I can see the issue people had here, but I also thought the damage was smartly done. We finally see what it was like on the big screen how much damage Superman could so when fighting someone of equal power and superior fighting skill. How many times in the comics and animated series did Superman level parts of Metropolis? Too many to count. This opens the door for Superman really having to work at earning the public’s trust as well as Lex Luthor launching a hate campaign against this destructive being. But many people’s biggest issue was that Superman didn’t pay much mind to this. That did kinda bother me as well. Yet at the same time, this is a Superman at the very beginning of his career, dealing with his alien heritage and fighting beings as powerful as him for the first time. Which leads me to another issue…
3.) Superjerk: Lots of folks complained that this Superman was not saving enough lives all over the world or getting cats out of trees. Plus, another annoyance was how Superman didn’t come off so well against Zod and his soldiers. Really guys? The way I saw it, Superman had to deal with several Kryptonians threatening his adopted mother and trying to kill him. He saved lives when he could, but given the circumstances he did okay for a guy who was barely a few days on the job. This is an origin story as Superman is still learning about the extent of his powers.
4.) Lois knows: Lois Lane knows Superman and Clark Kent are one in the same. So what? If she didn’t know it would look really bad given that she’s an investigative reporter. Her not knowing is a dated concept. Moving on!
5.) Murder Most Foul: This moment in the film turned off lots of folks. Superman killing Zod. I seriously did not see it coming. I was surprised like most. But it didn’t bother man as much as the most fervent. SUPERMAN DOESN’T KILL, many people yelled. Yes, he doesn’t make a habit of killing, but he has killed in extreme cases in the comic books. Besides he has killed on screen before in Superman 2 (and the deleted scenes with the Arctic Police don’t count). But this would make sense as to where his ‘no killing’ policy comes from. Plus, as you saw in the film, its not like Superman enjoyed killing Zod.
6.) Snyder hate: Some people hate Zack Snyder’s filmography. Nothing he does will ever be good enough.
7.) Pa Kent: There were certain aspects of Pa Kent that people did not like. His controversial response to Clark saving the busload of kids to his death via tornado. Jonathan’s response about Clark using his powers openly makes sense. If someone got wind of what Clark was, the government would have been all over Smallville and kept Clark in a lab for the rest of his life. He was scared for his son and did not want to lose him.
As for how he died, that was totally lame. Clark could have saved him and the dog with no one seeing. Preventing his son from saving him and then almost forcing his family to watch him die is no bueno in my book. There were better ways to kill off Pa Kent, and that tornado scene was not one of them.
The fact that this move sparked such a heated debate means that it touched a nerve in the public over a character that is so embedded in the fabric of our culture, lives and upbringings. Can DC build upon their new Superman and craft a successful cinematic universe from there? Only time will tell. Till next time!
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