Wednesday, July 3, 2013

"It's never as bad as it seems. You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me." - from All-Star Superman

If you haven't seen the recent "Man of Steel" movie, the following ***Contains Spoilers***. You've been warned.


I've never been a big Superman fan.  The older movies aren't really that great (yeah, I said it), and the character always seemed to be to perfect and "goody two shoes".  I like my superheroes flawed and prone to making mistakes.  That's why I found the newest Superman movie, "Man of Steel" to be a pleasant surprise. Its not a perfect movie by any means, by I went back and watched it a second time, and wouldn't mind owning it when it comes out on DVD.

The movie isn't going to win any awards.  But it did some things pretty dang good.  Like  how they characterized Clark during the movie.  I enjoyed how they used flashbacks opf him growing up so we didn't have to spend to much time on a young Clark Kent (plus I've never been a fan of child actors, because they usually suck). Also, Michael Shannon did a hell of a job bring General Zod to life.  It was one of the best portrayals of a comic book villain I've ever seen. Because of all this, I thought the end of the movie was fan-freaking-tastic.

But I think Im in the minority in this.  I know of a few friends that didnt like it. And it seems some people on the internet are in some sort of nerd rage over it.  Because no one thinks that Superman snapping Zods neck at the end of the movie is, well, very "Superman" like.  But let me try and explain why its important.

The Superman we get in this movie isn't your Boyscout, a standup citizen of America. Someone that doesnt kill.  Instead of the confident, in front of the camera do gooder that everyone is use to, we now have an awkward, shy and somewhat of a loner Supes.  And he doesnt know his place in the world quit yet. But that comes to a resolution by the end of the movie.  In killing Zod, Clark firmly casts himself into the corner of the Humans. I think in that act he finds his place here in Earth.  But since he did have to kill Zod, I think you'll be seeing more in the other movies (if they DO more) that he wont be killing anyone.  Because Zods death is still going to be weighing on him, and he'll turn from any such acts in the future.

For future movies, I'd like to see the following.  Sadly, we're not going to have a Superman Trilogy without having Lex Luthor in at least one of the movies.  I think they can do the character right if they step away from the damn "wringing hands and a evil maniacal laughter" type of villain they generally type cast Luthor with.  They need to portray him as the super intelligent, arrogant egotist that he is.  Since he has a harder time standing up physically to Superman, it would be very easy to bring Luthors power armor into the picture.  He could've got his hands on the armor that Zod drops when he starts to fly, and Bam! Basis for Luthors power armor.

And for a third movie, Id like to see them bring in Doomsday.  Since he was genetically engineered, (I know this deviates from Superman Cannon), have Lex escape from jail ('cause he does that), and have him start tinkering with another "Acquired" alien tech, the Genesis chamber that got wrecked. Have Lex be the one that makes Doomsday. But that's just my rambling.  Im sure they're going to do something completely different, but one can wish, right?  Either way, Im looking towards more...