MAN OF STEEL - Grading & Discussion

I'm...over 50, and this is now my favorite superhero movie.

 

Is it me or is it bad direction that Superman saves the family by snapping Zod's neck, we never see the family again, not even in any of the medium or wide shots of the the set.

 

It's you.

 

What? Where do you get this from? Ok, pretty clearly no husband, but where do you draw the conclusion she's never had a boyfriend or serious relationship?

 

In fact, if they go ahead with a JLA movie, I half-expect them to drudge up the old "she dated Bruce in college" gag.

 

Actually, according to Mark Rosenthal's commentary for Superman IV, the special effects people screwed up those scenes, and Lacy was supposed to be carried only as far as the skies of Metropolis. But a mistake was made somewhere along the line, and the background was shown as outer space instead. The writers had nothing to do with it.

 

I saw it and thought it was ok. I loved the beginning and the parts when he reflected back on his life. I thought the fight scenes went on way too long but then again I'm old and like a good story in lieu of all action.

I gave it a B-

 

I only used "his people" to refer to Zod and his solders. I personally don't blame Clark for the lost lives, but when he broke into the Kryptonian scout shit, it resulted in the sent distress call, which led Zod to Earth. His actions indirectly led the the battle.

But there will those in the public that always blame him no matter what, even if they don't know all the facts. It's only natural.

It's like the senator at the end of the Avengers blaming the team for the damages from the alien invasion.

 

I didn't say she's never had them. But what I meant was that she wasn't IN one.

 

I have to agree with the first. It's true that the audience is only supposed to enjoy Superman killing, provided he feels terrible for a few seconds, but the manifest content of the scene says that he (and we) do care. Which would dictate some sort of visual closure. It's a minor flaw I think, not enough to prevent your enjoyment of the good things about the movie. But how does liking the movie mean you think it's perfect?

 

Is there a reason she should be?

 

Honestly this is one of the things that really bothered me about the movie. They both fell from space, crashed through numerous buildings, had major fist fights and then Superman simply snaps his neck. Didn't ring true to me. Why didn't he do that at the beginning of Zodd's arrival and save Metropolis from destruction. It was a very weak resolve; very weak.

 

A lot of real people place other things above dating or romantic relationships. Education, career, hobbies, what have you. That a character in a movie did the same thing is not at all unbelievable.

 

Because he didn't want to. It went against how he was raised and what he believes in. It was a last ditched desperate move.

 

I don't think there's any mystery that they lived. Superman saving them, and everybody else on Earth, was the whole point of the scene.

There are plenty of ways in which showing the family still alive would have ruined the scene. "Aw, gee, thanks for saving us," in the style of earlier Superman films, and anything even suggesting that, would be among the more obvious ways to ruin the scene.

Is the way it was most ideal? Possibly not. But is it actually "bad"? I don't think so.

 

Exactly. There's plenty of possible reasons for her not to be that aren't relevant.

Indeed.

 

Well I don't think he ever had the opportunity until then. And as had been established pretty well by that point, Clark had been raised by his parents to avoid confrontation and violence, so snapping a guy's neck was probably the LAST thing he could ever see himself doing.

Agreed. I think the focus at the end of that scene needed to be on Superman and the anguish he felt over killing Zod.