When this movie came out, one thing I kept seeing was "This isn't Superman. Superman wouldn't kill people and level buildings to win a fight." Your absolutely right, he wouldn't....and he didn't. It's as though all that destruction is being blamed on Superman, when people forget that, that decimated area that Zod and Superman are standing in right before their FINAL fight. Yeah...that was all done by the World Engine. Where was Superman you ask? On the opposite side of the world trying to shut it down battling against its defense systems and the Kryptonian Atmosphere that was hurting him the entire time. By the time he got back, the damage was done. From there Superman and Zod had a little confrontation and this is one point where I actually agree with people. Superman didn't feel too "Superman-ish" in this movie but I'm chocking that up to the fact that a character such as Superman won't be fully developed by the end of the first movie. Although I wish they had shown him taking Metropolis' destruction to heart a bit more. For example, when Zod gives his little speech about how "He now has no people and he has no purpose so now he's going to destroy what Superman cares about", and Superman's response is "Your a monster Zod, and I will stop you.". I was kind of hoping for something a little more.."Superman-ish". For example, time for a little self-promotion, I rewrote Superman's one line into this.:
"Look at all of this Zod. All of this ash your stepping in could have been a building, a car, a father, a mother...a child. All of this to try and bring back Krypton, Zod, this is not what our ancestors would have wanted, this is not the legacy they would want us to create for them.You were once a General protecting his people, now your a monster slaughtering others. This isn't the way to bring back Krypton. Killing...destruction...that isn't who we are, who we were meant to be. You made it clear you won't stop until you destroy everyone and everything. So let me make THIS clear. I won't stop defending everyone and everything. This is where the madness ends Zod. I WILL stop you."
Just a little change I would have made...that's all..back to the post. From there they fight and yeah Superman takes down a building, goes through two, but not by choice, Superman just fought Faora, Nam-Ek, The World Engine, meanwhile Zod was just chillaxing in his little space ship until the end. Zod would definitely have the upper hand at this point even by a little, so when Zod throws him through a building at full strength, it may not be so easy to stop himself.
Another issue I have is "The Avengers managed to stop an invasion with minimal damage, but Superman couldn't". Well..The Avengers are made up of a super soldier, assassins, a tech genius, a god, and a monster. Superman is one man who just got his powers. Not to mention Avengers was all in the city, In Man of Steel this was in Smallville, Metropolis, wherever the hell the World Engine was, hell even in freaking space, and that's kind of the point isn't it? People always complained Superman wasn't relatable because he could do everything and now that he can't people hate him for that? I think it was a pretty interesting move, making it that the one man who has all this power can't save everyone. If anything that could help his character grow even more. Speaking of that, let's address one of the bigger things. Superman killing Zod. So many people had serious issues with it but I get it. I mean Zod made it very clear that he would not stop, and a friend of mine even said "Why not fly up with him?" Well I mean if he did there were too many variables. If he didn't turn off his heat vision he could hit the structuring behind the walls and take the place down faster. If he did being him up, where would he take him? If he lost his hold he would have to go through the whole thing all over again, and let's say he did bring him somewhere that would hold him, how long would it last, and my greatest defense of this move is that, Superman is known for never killing, and this probably set it in his mind "I can never do this again.". The look on his face once he did it, the scream, showed that this is something he would never forget, and would never do again.
Finally, some minor issues. One, Lois knowing Superman is Clark. Now I understand why they did it, if they made it where she went through all of that with Superman and Clark shows up at the Planet and she just went "You look familiar" because of a pair of glasses, all realism they wanted to achieve had just flew out the window. So in a way I'm glad she knows, though it will take away the dynamic of him having to hide from her and that always made for a funny scene. That brings me to my next thing. I wish this movie had a bit more humor. Granted there was humor there, but I think it could have used a bit more. Lastly, one thing that I feel would have been amazing was a montage type thing at the end showing Superman help rebuild the city, and maybe while he's helping rebuild and helping individual people, have no sound save for a soft melodic score like from the flashback scene where Pa Kent sees him as a kid with the cape, and have the Jor-El narration of "You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.". That would have been, in my opinion a really grounded moment, and is something that I would have loved to have seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment