5. Relatable Action
When Clark Kent, beginning to learn how to fly, smashes through a mountain I laughed out loud (both times). It was a moment of overblown ridiculousness in a film that had kept its Earth elements small scale thus far. By the end of the film (both times) I felt a bit sickened at my chuckle. Rather than a one off joke this ended up setting the tone for the next two hours; every following action scene had Kryptonians being thrown through buildings of all description as if it were rocks and paper. But not only is it repetitive to have the same gimmick relentlessly trotted out, when it goes out of the constraint of an uninhabited tundra things become messy. Theres something symbolic about trashing Smallville after how much of an effect the TV show has had on modern audiences view of Clark Kent, but theres a niggling voice question the probable high numbers of civilian casualties. This is only accentuated in the final Metropolis fight, where skyscrapers housing hundreds are brushed aside. The film made a big point about how Superman would kill if there was no other way to save innocents, but its hard to take that seriously when hes been a cause of likely millions of deaths. Why is Begins better than that? Because even though the film has mass gassings, it never forgets to show the human side (and even explains the aftermath); it cares.