The family and I just got back from the 12:45am showing of Man of Steel. Of all of the summer movies, this is the movie I have most wanted to see. This was especially true after the new Star Trek turned out to be such a disappointment. But while Man of Steel wasn’t perfect, and I had major issues with a number of the plot lines, I did enjoy the film.
However I now fully understand why some of critics hated it while others loved it. Let’s just say that I have a mixed opinion on the film. Without saying too much and spoiling it for those that haven’t seen it yet, this movie is reminiscent of how I personally view religion. At times it makes some really good points and offers you a strong guide for viewing the world, and then, at other times it goes totally off the rails and leaves you shaking your head and saying “that makes no damn sense”. Now before you go writing me off as a typical liberal professor, let me state my point with more clarity. If you don’t want to hear any spoilers I suggest that you stop here. Otherwise let’s get to the meat of the story…………
Visually Man of Steel, which will be referred to from this point on as MoS, was stunning. The special effects were so seamless that I found myself recounting the old marketing line from the original Richard Donner Superman film, “you will believe a man can fly”. I don’t believe that there has ever been a movie where having superpowers looked so real. The visuals blew away any other comic or superhero film in recent memory. The Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Hancock, Chronicle, Spider-man, Watchmen, Hellboy, Blade, and all other films you might name, looked like absolute crap compared to this version of Superman. The two hour plus film was action packed from start to finish and provided tons of ocular candy for even the most jaded VFX enthusiast. However, the problem with the film is not the action or the visual effects; it is the script and the tone of the movie.
One of the initial selling points for MoS is that Christopher Nolan, the architect behind the Dark Knights and Batman Begins films, was also heavily involved with this new take on Superman. And from the very beginning of the film you can tell Nolan had his hands all over this movie. The film is very dark and there were moments where you see vulnerabilities in Superman/Clark that you might have seen only if you followed some of the more obscure graphic novels or were a dedicated fan of the flawed Smallville television series. But the Nolan-esk interpretation of the Superman universe is one of my main problems with MoS. This was especially heightened by Nolan’s last film, Dark Knight Rises, where he fundamentally displays his lack of understanding of what makes Batman a hero. I was scared that he would do the exactly same with Superman, and in the end my fears were justified.
In one scene Clark, as he is struggling to define himself, says something incredibly callous and hurtful to his adopted parents. It is here that viewers start to understand that this is not the perfect and morally evolved Superman that we saw in the Christopher Reeve years. This Superman is not above the occasional lapse. Some long term fans will find this disturbing. I found it made the character of Superman far easier to relate to on an emotional level. Now this scene would have been far more effective and palatable if a teenaged Clark had delivered the line instead of the visibly adult Henry Cavill. This is one reason why when Peter Parker does the exact same thing to Uncle Ben in the recent Spider-man reboot we are able to let it slide. However this lapse also helps to set the stage for a much more profound turn of events at the end of the film.
But before I get to that, it is important to understand that MoS is a different type of Superman story than told in previous movie incarnations. For one, there are no constant and overwhelming religious overtones which compare Superman to Jesus Christ like in “Superman Returns”. Thankfully, MoS only hints at this in one brief visual shot and then quickly takes another path. Here Superman is shown not as a Christ-like deity but more like an alien being struggling to fit in a world not his own. He is in pain and acuity aware that he is different from everyone around him. This knowledge troubles him throughout the film and enables the viewer to connect and feel some empathy for the otherwise most powerful being on the planet. You start to like him and admire the strength of character it would take to not simply squash the jerks and bullies that he encounters. But while he is essentially a good person, the Nolan and Goyers script also lets you see that he is not perfect.
This brings us to the crux of my problem with the film, this Superman isn’t truly a SUPER HERO. It seems that Nolan and Goyers don’t comprehend that the very thing that worked for the Batman trilogies, basing the characters in the real world, will not work for Superman. For example, at various points in the film they want you to ignore the consequences of what having beings like Superman and the other Kryptonians would be like in the real world. The city of Metropolis, or at least a substantial part of it, is essentially destroyed during the battle between Superman and the followers of Zod. At this point I started wondering that unless the next movie takes place in New York there is no way there can there be a sequel to this film. Buildings are knocked over, soldiers are viciously killed, thousands of people must be dead, and Superman seems almost oblivious to the horror. I say horror because the carnage of the final confrontation was unimaginable. He seems either unwilling or unable to put the needs of the people first and continues the fighting in the midst of a populated city.
Think back to the scene in Superman II when Christopher Reeve’s version of Superman decides to flee the fight with Zod and his crew when he realizes that he is going to get people killed if he continues. Henry Cavill’s Superman doesn’t have any similar concerns. It is here that I start wishing that any previous incarnations of Superman (Reeves/Alyn/Reeve/Cain/Routh/Welling) would show up. The Cavill Superman’s lack of concern is more disturbing to me than when he goes on to break Zod’s neck in one of the final scenes in order to stop him from killing an innocent family. At least there is some justification in this act, and is a direct reference to John Byrne’s classic Superman #22 (volume 2) when Superman murders Zod and his followers, thus crossing a line that had never been crossed in the 75 years of the character’s existence.
For me, the Avengers was the greatest comic book movie in recent years. It had gaping plot holes and tons of citywide destruction. However the reason that it worked for Avengers and utterly failed in MoS is that people came out of the Avengers wishing that superheroes really did exist in the real world. That isn’t the case with MoS. Ultimately, the “hope” this Superman’s crest is supposed to embody is the very thing that is kind of missing. This was not a fun or joyful film. It was dark. The darkest film of any of the Superman movies. And while that is not always a bad thing, when the subject matter of a Superman film is darker than a Batman film you might want to tweak the script a bit.
I guess I can keep hoping that Warner Brothers and DC Comics will finally get around to resurrecting the Justice League Unlimited cartoon series. It seems that is the only show DC has created in the last few years that represented Superman and Batman in a uplifting and inspiring way.