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I guess I just like liking things

Please welcome Daniel to the zwolanerd family! He and I go way back – he gave me my first writing job and I owe him a bunch. Glad to have him aboard and am looking forward to seeing what he brings. Be sure to check out his main blog! – Mark

 

I missed out on watching Man Of Steel in theaters, and now that I have seen it, I’m kind of glad I waited to see it on home video. Amazon had a great deal on the Blu-ray so I picked it up and watched the movie at home.

What follows is a spoiler-filled list of my thoughts as the film played. I somehow lost the time stamping on these. If you’re familiar with the movie, then you’ll know roughly where I am in the film as my thoughts become clear. If you haven’t seen Man Of Steel much of this won’t make a lot of sense. Also, as I said – spoilers.

 

Why is Jor-El the only other person in the room? Kryptonians don’t have midwives or doulas?

Who is this prominent older woman on the council and why isn’t it Dame Judy Dench?

What the heck? A flying dog? And it’s not named Krypto? For shame.

What? First natural childbirth in centuries? This seems unnecessary.

I wonder if Russell Crowe took the role of Jor-El so long as he could be an action star.

I like the flashbacks as a way of telling the early story of Clark. There’s not enough of them though.

At this point I’m about 40 minutes into the film. Lois Lane has been introduced and we’re getting into some of the mythology of the universe being created. It’s a bit of a departure from what I grew up with. I’m not sure how I like it, and not because it’s different but because it feels like it is different for the sake of being different.

I’m pretty sure the societal subtext of Kryptonian society and childbirth could (and should) have been cut.

More of those flashbacks should have been used at the beginning of the film.

The moment where Superman saves Lois was much more effective in Superman: The Movie.

I like the over-militaristic bent the story takes, both with the humans and Kryptonians.

There’s a scene when the military is attacking Zod’s ship and there’s so many people still on the streets of Metropolis. One has to wonder at that point why these people are there if the time has elapsed that is implied.

Supposedly Wayne Enterprises has a building in Metropolis but I haven’t seen it yet. This is disappointing.

It seems a lot of people know that Clark Kent is Superman.

Zod lives? Really? Alright, I get that, and I can see where this is leading to, but it should have led to a reappearance of Zod in a sequel.

There’s STILL people in the streets? At least there’s a Lex Luthor reference finally.

Oh, the satellite… there’s the Wayne reference.

And he did it. Wow. That feels so anti-Superman.

Wait a minute. If Zod has Kal-El’s strength then how was Superman able to snap his neck? Did he “hulk out”?

Well, at least it was better than Superman 3 or Batman & Robin.

 

What was the most disappointing for me, more so than the unnecessary changes and additions to the Superman mythos, was the lack of a sense of wonder. In general it was a downer of a film, and Superman has always been a light, as counterpoint to Batman’s darkness.

I’m sure some of the questions or misgivings I came up with as I watched Man Of Steel would be answered or addressed in the special features. Thing is, I shouldn’t have to watch the special features in order to “get” a film.

Man Of Steel wasn’t a bad film, but it certainly wasn’t as good as it should have been. Warner Brothers has a sequel in the works as well as a couple of other projects in the pipeline, such as a Wonder Woman and Justice League film. Given the studio’s track record I have little faith in these projects. I will, of course withhold final judgment until I see them.

 

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