That’s all fair, and to each their own. Sorry to mischaracterize your preferences 
For the record, I dont actually hate the original movies and I do enjoy Star Wars, I just feel they are truncated by audience expectations.
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@Zombedy, it is too easy to misunderstand people when talking by text. It is the challenge, and the fun, and the nightmare, of communicating this way. Also, I do come across as rather intense, sorry about that, and tend to forget to soften things down, and better explain myself and my thoughts. So not all misunderstandings are other peoples fault, by my fault. And today, my typing is rather sloppy, that is not helping matters.
@Behemoth.Ravenlord, yes, she lives in Houston. Not in one of the worst areas, but near enough to many very racist white communities.
MACJR
@MACJR, yeah, calling it racist might be a bit of a stretch. You are spot on about it being a 2d caricature though, I think that explains my problems better, honestly. Lex Luthor is a caricature of a “comic book villain”. Superman sometimes feels like a caricature of “comic book hero”. Lois doesn’t come off as an investigative reporter. The movie feels like a caricature of comic books, if that makes any sense. The world seems barely effected by Superman as a result, that pulls it away from reality, for me, and brings it closer to a cartoon. Not a cool Max Fleischer cartoon, more like a Superfriends episode with a really strong climax. Again, I can enjoy it for what it is, I dont hate fun or anything.
I know all that humor got big laughs back then, but can you think of a modern movie that employs that humor AND gets critical acclaim with big box office numbers?
(Suddenly remembers Transformers franchise exists…) er, nevermind.
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I suppose it is highly possible, that my familiarity of the Superman comic books allowed me to fill in all the missing details from the Superman: The Movie, that would have given the movie more depth, so I was able to enjoy the movie with more depth than was really there.
I do remember several scenes I thought could have been better, and mentally cringing at times. That was definitely not the Lex Luther from the comics, for example.
And yes. the Superman flying around the planet, faster than light, to reverse times, left a big as unexplained hole in the movie. Just how many people did he let die to save Lois, or how did he find a way to save everyone, and Lois, that is not explained at all.
But returning to the Man of Steel movie, the things I did like about that movie is that it was a beefier, stronger, version of Superman. It was an interesting movie. Massive action, and was worth watching. I was not fond of Superman Killing Zod, but blast it, what else could he do in that situation?
MACJR
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To mimic the “Nah!” guy from STM:
Michael Bay is in his kitchen, counting the latest dump truck of cash to pull up to his pad when he hears the word Transformers from elsewhere in the home. He then contemplates directing another ATM deposit. He ponders if he needs a new yacht or not and says “Nah!”. Then he resumes counting his chips while whistling “Robots in Disguise!”.
The Transformers movies make bread, but they and critical acclaim mesh together like gas and a match.
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Just to try and be a little less biased, here are my criticisms of Man of Steel.
-Jor-El is waaay too convenient of a plot device.
-Tornado scene probably would have worked with a younger Clark. Everyone knows Superman could handle that situation no problem. So when we see Cavill, a full grown man, everyone presumes he’s Super. Maybe he would have found out if he tried. It would have still worked of he had saved him and gone unnoticed by the crowd seeing as Pa just sacrificed himself for others. Clark would see his father willing to die for a life form that couldnt fend for itself. Pa would in turn recognize Clark’s need to help others and see more of what he’s capable of. If he was younger we could easier assume a lack of confidence. He and Pa wouldnt know if he could withstand a Tornado, just like they wouldnt know he was bulletproof until someone shot at Clark. A father tries to protect his children from these things.
-the end battle does go a bit long, it didnt bother me but I can see why it would other people.
-The Zod death could have been a less graphic shot sequence. Maybe if they didnt cut to a full shot of the twist it would have sat better with people unfamiliar with the comic book lore. It’s another thing that doesnt bother me, but it clearly bothered alot of people.
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Love the action, music and cast. Hate the dialogue and the Superman as a Jesus symbol got tiresome so the movie is a mixed bag for me.
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I think it is beautifully shot, Zod et al are far more menacing than their Superman II versions, Krypton more interesting and believable, LL a better character in short a much better movie than Supes II. I also like it better than 75% of the MCU offerings.
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@
msgtv, now if we are comparing Superman II to Man of Steel, there is no contest at all.
I personally thought Superman II was more than a little disapointing, Superman III even worse, and Superman IV was utter trash.
Man of Steel beats all of those hands down.
MACJR
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I worked at the movie theater when Superman returns came out, the one with Brandon Routh, quite a few people coming out of that movie really seamed to like it compared to all the sequals of “The Superman”. Some people said that it was like WB was trying to wipe the slate clean and just have “The Superman” then skip to “Superman Returns”. (I really like that movie too)
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I hated it personally. I hated the neck snap, I hated Jonathan telling him that he should probably just let a bus full of kids die, I hated the gloomyness, I hated almost everything about it except the actors themselves who did the best with what they were given. I quite liked Cavill in Justice League.
To me, Superman is a symbol of hope. You can do different interpretations and that’s fine, I loved Smallville, but this was not a character that I recognized as Superman. This felt to me like an attempt to make him “cool”. It was a Superman movie made for those people that say that Superman is too old fashioned to work today, even though Captain America is doing just fine.
No disrespect meant to anyone that does like it. It just wasn’t for me.
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I loved it. It’s tied as my favorite super hero movie. I grew up on the Donner one and don’t feel the need to knock it. Man of Steel was perfect characterization in my book. Did he gloom? Absolutely but in 80 years the guy has gloomed a lot. Did he kill? Yep, yet in 1992 no one complained about him neck snapping Doomsday.
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@shanty51.96774, Superman has killed before that Doomsday story as well. Although we learn later that Doomsday did not stay dead, the others he killed, as far as I know, stayed dead, but I am more than ten years behind on many story arcs.
MACJR
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Man of Steel is such a good action packed film. I love the soundtrack score. I never get bored watching it so many times. I really wanted warner bros to make a sequel to this film. The costumes were amazing .
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I don’t hate Man of Steel but I have some major reservations with it. First and foremost, Jonathan Kent was portrayed out of character. Clark: “What was I supposed to do–let them die?” Jonathan: “Maybe.” Really, that’s the wise man that raised earth’s greatest protector. Ah, no. Also, Jonathan’s death was poorly executed. Clark could have whisked his dad to safety during the twister with nary a notice from the panicked crowd. (Who, it’s made clear later in the film “knew” about Clark’s specialness.) And those action sequences, which ravaged Metropolis, were a bit too much and bordered on the feel of a Road Runner cartoon. To paraphrase Captain Kirk in The Trouble With Tribbles, “Too much of a thing–even DESTRUCTION–is not necessarily a good thing Lieutenant.”
The best thing about Man of Steel was Henry Cavill. I hope he returns with a more rounded script.
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See, I think people overreact to Jonathan Kent saying “maybe” because he is clearly trying to teach Clark that he needs to consider consequences. That IS wisdom, it’s the very definition of wise. Pa Kent cares about Clark, not that school bus full of kids. He doesn’t know the extent of Clark’s power and neither does Clark. He has every reason to be worried about some sort of hostile government intervention after ofter exposure. He didnt say “you should have let them die”. When people get upset about this, it looks like a knee-jerk overreaction.
Again, with the tornado scene. There is nothing in the context of the film that tells us Clark could pull that off. We know from 75 years of Superman media, but that is supposed to be a teenage Clark and nothing in the film shows us how far he has explored his powers. It’s not really a fair complaint in my book. As for the crowd, it doesn’t matter if some of them know Clark has abilities, it wouldn’t have an effect on that scene. It’s never said that every person in Smallville knows Clark has powers and the depth of those powers.
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I loved it as do I love all the DC films since MoS. What gets me is why does every critic bash DC films in general? I honestly dont see them as bad movies. Sure there might be some flaws in the plots or acting but seriously this is the first time in my life Ive been able to see movies like this one, ss, bvs, wonder woman ect in live action! Shoot, Im watching the green lantern film right now from 2011 and I still love this movie.
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Really missed the red trunks.
I had 2 scenes that really bug me. The death of Johnathan Kent being 1 of them. I love my dog but nobody allows their Father to face danger for dog. The second is the drone scene at the end. He doesn’t want them knowing where he lives but then tells them he grew up in Kansas? Hey, didn’t the military just fight Superman and the other Kryptonians in Smallville, Kansas? Even the General could put 2 and 2 together.
Then I felt you could re-edit the third act, taking away a lot of the destruction. It was a bit much.
I will say, from what I heard, it all would’ve payed iff in the 3 Justice League films we will never see.
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@Mark.Churay, you might as well be complaining about the lack of red underwear, to be honest.
First, a father is a grown ass man, he doesnt need permission or compliance from his family. Play that scene in your head “I wont allow you to try to save our dog, Jonathan.” On top of that, Superman values ALL life, it wouldnt make sense if his father was saying that lesser beings arent worth the risk. Where would Clark get his sense of compassion and his conviction from? He values life and is willing to risk his life for others because that’s how he is raised and it’s what his father would have done. Jonathan is displaying incredible strength of character in that scene and it imprints onto Clark. Jonathan is teaching Clark how to be a man in that scene, more specifically a Super-man. I think it’s safe to say Jonathan wasnt planning on dying at that moment and wasnt going to let a poor defenseless dog die when he knows he COULD save him.
As for the end, he has reason to trust General Swanwick by the that time and I’m pretty sure the government already connected the dots on Kansas seeing as that’s where the Kryptonians started their search for the Codex after announcing that they’re looking for an alien that has been hiding on Earth. Clark is merely confirming what Swanwick should already have figured out. That confirmation gives the General even more reason to trust Superman. He is strengthening their already growing personal relationship of mutual repect.
The destruction ran a bit long, I guess. It never bothered me personally, nor did the original Independence Day. At the same time, I dont think it would have hurt the movie if the destruction was cut a bit shorter.
I get your reactions and opinions, but keep these things in mind if you ever watch it again and maybe you’ll enjoy it more🙂 Maybe, maybe not.
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