Man of Steel. Nolan Superman Reboot.

Y'know, we don't really have to go through this again.

The final straw that made Clark kill Zod was him threatening a nameless family. Clark also took the time to save the soldier falling from the helicopter and as well as the A-10 pilot and Colonel Hardy from Faora. The movie was written as part of the Godzilla Threshold, people are going to die if they didn't focus on the immediate threat and so anything else comes second to that. And it firmly establishes a reality that is rarely touched upon with the Superman mythology, despite being supposedly godlike he can't move fast enough to save everyone. The Christopher Reeve movies made it seem like no one died while the San Andreas fault collapsed, same with Superman Returns and the destruction caused by the Kryptonite island.

I was using The Avengers as a comparison, not criticizing how either movie treated their respective scenarios. All stories in this vein struggle to give sympathy to nameless extras, cause we aren't following their story and A Million Is a Statistic. Audiences are naturally drawn to the struggles of the named, important characters. Note how the girl in The Avengers was a waitress so we got a nametag to associate with her.

>Phone

I second this.

Sorry, I've just grown tired of this "Superman let people die" crap because it's a joke people have started taking seriously.

At the end of the day, seeing people running and screaming for their lives, yet still being mercilessly killed is far more impactful than not seeing any and ending on some reporter going "Oh, and 500,000 people died; we're having funerals and shiz, kthnxbai."

edited 11th Nov '13 9:48:08 PM by Cruherrx

You know, I have to wonder why he didn't do this myself.

Specifically, the Ask Jor-el part. That would have made a lot of sense, though I did like the scene with the priest.

The HISHE plan wouldn't have worked. The whole black hole thing requires the phantom drives in both the baby rocket and Zod's ship to be operating when they collide to trigger it.

Zod's ship is just in orbit around the Earth/Moon or whatever and the phantom drive only engages when the ship goes into warp speed or when the world engine is engaged.

Unfortunately Superman couldn't just fly into it with his baby rocket.

He still could've spoken to Jor El before heading off though.

edited 11th Nov '13 8:59:43 PM by ShadowScythe

The same thing was brought up in the general DC Cinematic Universe thread. Basically no one knew that Zod's ship had a Phantom Drive like the Babyship, Zod said they had to retrofit it after Krypton's destruction. The whole scenario is vague enough that it's possible Clark DID go to Jor-El, was told to figure out some way to get him uploaded and from there he was able to instantly figure out the most viable plan, making it an Unspoken Plan Guarantee and something of a Xanatos Speed Chess.

It doesn't negate the humor of the HISHE video, but it does forget that the characters within the story aren't privy to the later plot developments.

Fair enough. Though it may have been smart to have a scene of Clark going to Jor-el and asking for some advice on it, then being told that they can't learn or do anything more until they get on the ship, leaving Clark to choose whether to give himself up or not, and leading to the Priest scene.

But that's hindsight truthfully.

My own suspicion is that MoS purposely ignored the casualties as a statement. This is not the post-Crisis "I'm more human than alien, Clark is who I really am" Superman. I got the impression that no matter much he strives, he will never relate to humans and their deaths, while shocking when presented up-front, don't faze him when it's in the hundreds. He's a god, remote and scary, and it's just blind luck that his patrol beat is Earth.

I don't see why they'd need to dwell on it at the end. Plenty of movies have a bunch of widespread damage and offscreen deaths happen, but still have an upbeat ending without being majorly criticized for it.

because it's Superman, and if there's one superhero people love deconstructing, it's Superman.

They were busy trying to reconstruct him this time around. The problem is he hadn't been really reduced to his base parts for most audiences so it didn't work quite right.

I will admit, just ONE shot showing people trying to clean up the damage and have Clark walk by with a solemn expression would probably ebb all the complaints and probably be a better movie for it, because it shows that he has been forever changed. But the movie was focused on Clark's personal journey and so the ending was what he was going to do about being known as Superman rather than trying to follow through with answering plot questions.

The time has come for HONESTY.

And starring, Fallout box art!

...oomph.

'Tis honest.

Now that it's out on DVD, I finally got the chance to see this, and honestly, I'm impressed. I really bought into Clark's character drama, Zod was simultaneously dangerous enough to make him a threatening villain while also having believable motivations and a personality I could believe in, and the story was very effectively and competently told. This is the first rendition of Superman I've actually liked, and I applaud the filmmakers for it.

I might actually have to see Batman/Superman in theaters after this.

EDIT: I also want to mention that my biggest problem with the Transformers franchise is the fact that the entire planet Earth is a MacGuffin. It's thoroughly meaningless to the franchise, there solely to provide setting and collateral damage for the giant robot smashups.

The reason I mention this is because when I first saw in the trailers that the primary conflict would be Superman v. Zod, that was completely what I was expecting out of Man of Steel. Two Kryptonian Titans battling each other while the rest of us worthless, pitiful humans stand around gaping in awe, our fate completely at the mercy of this clash of Almighty Gods. Much like the first Transformers film, Man of Steel really surprised me by not doing this, and instead giving the human military an active role in the conflict and a meaningful role in the climax. So, props to this movie for remembering that the population of Earth are an active plot element, and not just background scenery.

edited 13th Nov '13 7:09:20 PM by TobiasDrake

THIS FILM IS FUCKING AWESOME.

WHO DARES COMPLAIN ABOUT SUPERMAN WHINING? KAL EL DOES NO WHINING! HE KEEPS HIS CHIN UP! HE DOES THE RIGHT THING! HE'S AN ALL-AROUND AWESOME DUDE!

You. I like you.

as do i.

One thing we can all agree on: this film is a Base Breaker.

And we know that the people on the other side are wrong...

Said someone on the "other side".

if there's one thing i would change about the movie, it would be the costume. bright colors are not your enemy, people, especially if the guy wearing them is freaking Superman.

But don't you know? It has to be gritty. Even though that's encroaching on Batman's territory.