5. How Did Perry White Outrun A Falling Skyscraper?
As Metropolis falls to pieces, Perry White eventually looks for safety when he notices that a giant skyscraper is about to fall on his head and smush him. After a frustrating delayed start, he runs to safety, in apparent slow motion since he is not the most athletic of men, and yet he manages to escape the crumbly grave that should probably have claimed him under a pile of steel and concrete. How did he manage that? Let's be honest, we all know the answer to this: Laurence Fishburne is inspired casting as Perry White, and will be great in the sequel when we see more of Clark Kent the journalist. He has great presence in that sort of authoritarian role, and he is now old enough and established enough to offer that patriarchal poise that the character will need. But, he didn't need to be in Man Of Steel quite as much as he was. The only really necessary function he fulfills is the early scene in which he squashes Lois Lane's story of the mystery man and the alien ship. So to justify Fishburne's presence on the bill, Goyer and Snyder gave him a little bit of action of his own, letting him improbably escape the building collapse, and then, even worse, attempting to save Jenny (a character we don't care about, but who we're told we should by the sledgehammer story-telling) and showing off his humanity. It's all very silly, since it's clearly just designed to give a big actor something to do that isn't at all necessary, and it feels as forced as that sounds.