MAN OF STEEL SPOILERS AHEAD






I liked Man Of Steel, but it seems more action driven rather than character driven. Clark's character development was kinda disappointing. We mostly see him complete tasks like a video game character... discover powers, obtain Cosmic MacGuffin^Codex key, find scout ship, access Jor El avatar, defeat Kryptonians, kiss Lois... but what do we know about who Clark Kent really is as a person? (o_O) Is the audience made to empathise with him as a character, or are we rooting for him or are we rooting for the survival of the human race?

Ironically I found Zod was a better developed character than Clark! And a story really shouldn't have its antagonist drawing greater audience empathy than the protagonist! Zod in Superman II was a far more petty and shallow villain. He was completely egotistical (demanding that everyone kneel and worship him, and address him as "General" in veneration, whereas in Man of Steel Zod actually defends Kal-El for not following social protocol in addressing him as General) and driven by his personal vendetta against Jor-El, and thus wanting to kill Kal-El as an extension of that hate. In Man of Steel Zod highly regarded Jor-El, but killed him because he was an obstruction to completing his mission objective. It was never anything personal. And he fights Kal-El for the same reason. Zod would most likely gladly accept Kal-El as a comrade if Kal-El were to willingly surrender the Codex and work with him. And one could even argue that Zod's working from the perspective that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. A few Councillors and a single scientist can be sacrificed if it means saving the remaining population of Krypton. A single Kryptonian (Kal-El) and the entire population of "inferior" aliens can also be sacrificed for the sake of saving his own species for extinction.

Another thing that bugs me about Superman is the beard. He walks into the scout ship bearded, walks out with the suit and is clean shaven. Huh? Also... if he CAN grow a beard, why doesn't he also have really long hippie hair? Hair cut? HOW??? His hair's like freakin' indestructible... unless he somehow managed to get his hand on a pair of Kryptonite scissors, but then that'd freakin' kill him! I remember reading somewhere as a kid that in the comics, Earth's yellow Sun prevented Kal-El's hair and nails from growing (presumably he arrived on Earth as an infant already with a full head of hair, as opposed to being a newborn baby - as we saw in the Donner film).

So what did I like about the movie? (apart from Zod and the Dragonball Zed-esque fights? ) I did like the new take on Krypton and Kryptonian civilisation, and also providing a reason as to why Jor-El and Lara opted not to flee with Kal-El. I also liked this version of Zod; one who truly sees himself as a hero and performing his duty to his people, and from his POV Kal-El is the villain because he's betrayed Krypton and stripped Zod of his purpose and identity. Zod isn't actually "evil" in a more traditional or orthodox super villain sense... rather he simply subscribes to the belief that the ends justify the means. I liked how this film delved more into the characters having opposing sets of moral values rather than just being blanket good and evil.

I also liked how this film explained the differences between the effects of Earth and Krypton's Suns as being related to the age of the Suns rather than the colour. I did notice in the first scene that the Kryptonian Sun was rather yellow. I don't necessarily think this explanation is better or worse than the traditional one, but I do appreciate that they were going for something different. I also liked how Zod's message was beamed worldwide in every language. Although... how did the Kryptonians themselves learn how to SPEAK English? I could understand maybe Zod speaking in Kryptonian and their computer translating it for broadcast. Also terribly convenient that Jor-El's avatar could speak English too... unless it can somehow tap into Kal-El's mind and just speak to him in whatever language he can understand. Maybe the other Kryptonians also have some kind of technology like that... but the film never explains it. We also see the Kryptonians speaking to each other in English, even on Krypton... though I suppose one would argue that they're meant to be speaking Kryptonian but the audience is meant to suspend disbelief when hearing English. Meh... I prefer Avatar and Tolkien where non-human languages were constructed and used where they weren't supposed to be speaking English. Or heck, just use obscure existing languages, like they did for some languages in Star Wars (e.g. Ewokese = Kalmyk (the official language of the Republic of Kalmykia)) and Tolkien (e.g. Rohirrim = Old English).

I also liked how the movie ended with Clark joining the Daily Planet and being introduced to Lois, and the audience is left wondering if the disguise works on Lois or if she recognised him but was playing along.