4. Fake Dramatic Tension
Nothing bothers me more than suspense without purpose. Moments that try to build tension while having zero dramatic weight behind them. There are plenty of moments like this in Man of Steel. If I wanted to be nitpicky the first one I'd mention is when Superman battles Zod's phantom drill machine. The battle drags on endlessly, taxing Superman to the point where you're supposed to fear he might not make it. But of COURSE he's going to make it. No one REALLY thought Superman would be killed. Of course, if I complain about that, I'm going to have to complain about the climaxes of virtually every action film in existence. No, that's not the sort of fake tension I'm talking about. I'm talking about scenes like Zod's fight with Jor-El. After being defeated, Zod says to Lara "Don't do it" with regards to sending baby Kal in to space. Then, ridiculously, Lara hesitates! She pauses for a dramatic second, her hand hovering over the launch button as though she's ACTUALLY considering leaving Kal to die on Krypton. COME ON! You can't possibly try to build dramatic tension with this moment. Every one who knows Superman's origin story knows that Kal's parents send him from Krypton. So why beat around the bush by trying to build some kind of preposterous will-she wont-she tension? Not to mention the person telling her to stop is ZOD. Why the heck would she consider letting her son die? Because of the prompting of a maniacal general who just tried to kill them? It makes no sense. How about when Lois is on Zod's ship? Jor-El gives her the instructions to defeat Zod and save the earth, and Jor asks "Will you help me?" Then the camera shows a dramatic close-up of her face and cuts away before she answers. What the hell is that? Do the filmmakers really expect us to believe Lois wouldn't immediately say yes to saving the Earth? What's the need to cut away dramatically like this? Does she have some kind of good reason to NOT want to save the earth? Was I supposed to worry that her response would be, "No, I'd like to let the earth burn from alien death rays, thanks." UGH. Then of course there's the infamous ending where Zod-ever-so-slowly tries to laser-beam an Earth family to death while Superman restrains him. Even though they have about five feet of room in front of them to escape. But no. They're just going to sit there screaming for their lives while a laser beam inches towards them at a snail's pace. And Superman REALLY wasn't gonna find a way to save them, right? Puh-leaze. Maybe I've seen too many super hero movies, but moments like this just make me despise genre conventions.