3. Edginess
Remember all those pre-production interviews with Zack Snyder where he described his take on the film as edgy? I wondered what that meant at the time. Was it a darker interpretation or was he attempting to bring outdated qualities of the character to the 21st century? A common complaint about Superman Returns was that Superman never got to punch someone. In Man of Steel, Superman went toe-to-toe with badass Kryptonians, causing carnage on a breath-taking scale. In addition, Superman was forced to break the neck of General Zod so as to avert further disaster. Was this edgy? You bet! However, this interpretation of our beloved character is so alien to the one weve all grown up with. Everybody knows: Superman does not kill. If they can make Superman do something so drastic, what would prevent them from taking such liberties with other beloved characters? Are we to expect Batman to kill the next bad guys that threaten Gotham? The fact that most of the DC characters were created in the 30s, 40s and 50s, simply means that certain aspects need to be updated. The filmmakers have the challenge of creating a compelling story while staying true to the DNA of the character. Slight changes are inevitable and even acceptable. When extreme liberties are taken, this negatively affects the whole experience.