1. The Man Of Steel Is Not The Dark Knight
As a comic book geek myself, I certainly appreciate the impulse to ground superheroes in more reality. It works beautifully when its done as well as Nolan did with Batman, but Batman is a tragic hero, a man forever tormented by his past. Grim and gritty suits the man in black. However, Superman, in all his bright colors, has always been the opposite of that, and while this is not to say a Superman film cant embrace more verisimilitude, (as he did in the much more successful Superman II where one of Supermans biggest challenges was how to cope with being powerless), it does mean if theres one thing Superman is not at least not logically - its haunted. And thats exactly what the Man of Steel creative team makes him. Until the one scene much later in the film where Superman realizes he can fly, theres not a moment that Clark doesnt spend living as glum and gloomy a life as possible. Remember the joy Tobey Maguire felt when he swung from the rooftops in the first Spiderman? How about the moment-by-moment pleasures we felt watching Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in the first Iron Man as he gleefully learned to operate his armored suit? Theres none of that undistilled excitement thats so naturally a part of being a superhero especially one as powerful as Superman in The Man of Steel. In this version, Supes childhood is one of being the eternal loner and repressing himself. While on one level that makes perfect sense, it also leaves out everything thats fun about being Superman, about realizing no one can hurt you and you have powers and abilities far beyond that of mortal men. The original Richard Donner film showed us how Clark had to watch himself too, but he wasnt also taught to fear humanity the way this version of Clark is. While its true humanity tends to fear what we dont understand, its also true that we appreciate the hell out of super-powered saviors and its why the film quickly cuts away from a moment where a Smallville mother confronts the Kents about what she believes his son can do. She seems angry, but what exactly is she angry at? That Clark saved her sons life? That Clark saved a busload of Smallville children from tragedy? It doesnt make sense and the film knows it, which is why it never follows up on that conversation, but are just repeatedly told by Kevin Costner that its better for Superman to not save lives than risk discovery by humanity. Huh? What kind of life lesson is that from a man were supposed to admire? Clark is taught to fear humanity so relentlessly its a wonder that he doesnt more easily fall in line with Zods requests to do away with them given that hes spent his life running and hiding from them. While Donners film also showed that being Superman wasnt all about glory and fun, it contained plenty of joy too and it spawned three sequels. I dont expect this one to do the same.