3. City Destroying And Neck Snapping For Fun And Profit
If I'm reading the Internet correctly, Superman doesn't kill. I knew that was Batman's thing (*) - but I'm guessing if the comic book version of Batman doesn't kill, then Superman doesn't either. If he did, that would lead to some very awkward water cooler conversations between the two at the Justice League Watchtower. I don't have a problem with Superman killing Zod - or even the way he kills Zod - but it's a complex plot point that doesn't work as filmed. And its failure to work leads to one of the most troubling aspects of Man Of Steel: the off-screen death of countless innocents... and how little we are supposed to think or care about it. Superman lands some pretty cool-looking punches on Zod, and no one involved in the film seems to care that each punch that hurtles Zod through another building adds to the body count. I'm not troubled by Superman breaking Zod's neck to save an innocent family, but the movie only cares about Superman making this choice once we've had our disaster cake and ate it, too. I'm not against disaster porn. In fact, I'm counting the days to Pacific Rim. Watching cities get blown up is probably a tasteless way to entertain yourself, when you get down to it, but it works as you long as you make it clear that the good guys are trying to stop the destruction, not add to it. Superheros and super-villains get into big fights, and these fights usually take place in a city - but movies like Superman II, Spider-Man 2, and The Avengers did a good job of showing the heroes saving lives and minimizing the damage. It's something that Man Of Steel sorely needed for us to embrace this Superman and his decisions. That being said, Zack Snyder is no Michael Bay. The end of Man Of Steel is nothing like Bay's absolutely wretched decision in Transformers 3 to have Optimus Prime shoot Leonard Nimoy in the face after he surrendered. I don't think Snyder had any bad intentions with this final fight, but a simple lack of thought on such matters can be equally damning. (*) By the way, we liberals here in America have gone in the wrong direction with our rhetoric for stricter gun laws. You know who should be our spokesman for tighter gun control/enforcement? Batman. Seriously, it doesn't get more awesome or bipartisan than The Caped Crusader.
Jeremy Wickett
Contributor
Jeremy Wickett was raised from an early age in one of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's classier opium dens. A graduate of The University of Oklahoma, he now resides in Phoenix, Arizona - where the desert heat is oppressive enough to make him hallucinate that he's a character in Star Wars.
And of course he can speak Bocce - it's like a second language to him.
His so-called musings can be found here: http://geekemporium.blogspot.com/
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