Introduction:
Before you read the blog
I highly suggest you read my original introductory post even though this is
much delayed. I can not change your subjective tastes and views, though I admit
I sometimes secretly desire too. What I can do is make an argument as to the
irrationality of claims about this movie.
If you will like to view
this in good faith, I ask that you drop your assumptions about the movie for
the moment. I will seek to prove that this movie is incredibly well-written and
beautiful, full of subtle nuances, and that it’s actually quite a bright movie
similar in heart to the DC Rebirth. I ask you to accept nothing in faith, but
simply to hear my arguments in good faith. I can do nothing else.
At the very least, perhaps
you will be able to see why I so passionately defend it.
Part 1: Krypton:
We begin our film with
Kal-El’s birth. Immediately what we see is a mixture of the universal and the
alien. Alien technology is shown along with people we have never seen before
piquing interest, but it starts with one of the most universal experiences in
our history, childbirth, something that every human woman must become aware of
at some point in her life, and many of us will experience.
Thinking about this scene
in retrospect and the admiration just increases for Lara Lor-Van. This is
Krypton’s first natural birth in generations. She doesn’t know what it will be,
she doesn’t know how it will go, and she has to experience unaided unmedicated
childbirth, the first Kryptonian woman to do so for generations.
2:00: We cut to the
outsides of Krypton with strange flora and fauna. Their design calls back to
comic Kryptonian lore but also to other vintage science-fiction in design,
things like John Carter of Mars. And the depiction of the landscape backdropped
by the setting sun is so pretty.
Immediately after we are
brought to our first dialog of the movie, Jor-El speaking to the Kryptonian
Council. And what I immediately like about this is how no one is being an idiot
and outright denying reality. The Kryptonian council’s response to Jor-El
saying that utilizing the core has accelerated the implosion is to say, “Our
energy reserves were low, what would you have us do?” which is a real,
pragmatic question that parallels certain conflicts we have today.
Jor-El is interestingly
cast both as the futurist making dramatic demands for the good of the species
and also a reverent watcher of the past as he says in response “look to the
stars…like our ancestors did” before telling the Kryptonian Council that they
must colonize one of the nearby planets that can be used as outposts. Often
enough our future and our past do mirror each other, in such a way I wish
others could see more often.
2:50 Jor-El says “There
is still Hope, I have held it in my hands”. And this is why someone from the
scientist caste of Krypton is also someone born to the House of El, The House
of Hope. For while he analyzes reality and sees the tragic doom approaching, he
is truly the only one who sees a possible hope past it.
Then Zod’s forces break
in with his attempted military coup. This is to me at least so engaging a plot
right for the beginning. Less then 3 minutes in and we are seeing a dying
tyrannical but democratic regime grappling with the long-term survival of their
race and a military branch attempting an overthrow of the government to secure
their species…it’s so classical, so elegant in design….it’s something that is
specific and yet understandable to any culture, a tiny micro-political drama to
start off this Superhero Film.
There’s a beautifully
subtle, realistic line that also holds such a sinister connotation which is
when Zod tells the Council “The rest of you will be tried…and punished
accordingly”. Zod’s domain is one that has order in a sense, but no justice. He
holds mock trials before punishing the victims, and this is made evident by how
he simply shoots one of them without trial purely for speaking against his
wishes.
3:30: Zod encompasses so
much of the political strife between the lawmaking and military castes of
Krypton in a single sentence “These lawmakers with their ENDLESS DEBATES have
led Krypton to ruin!” In any civil democratic society, the lawmakers are
expected to with extreme caution and debate out all ideas extensively so as to
protect the society from harmful laws. But this obviously DOES lead to lethargy
and slowness to react. It reminds me very much of the switch from the Roman
Republic to the Roman Empire. It’s a brilliant portrayal of the strife between
two castes in desperate times, the castle of civil society that exists
cerebrally in a world where there is no imminent destruction and the caste
designed purely for the protection from imminent destruction.
In this, we see so much
of why Jor-El created his son naturally, and not the way the other Kryptonians
had done so. These people have been bred to be living machines, such in the
thinking purely of the caste, unable to empathize with those who are
differently minded, unable to change their viewpoint to better suit their
surroundings, doing the one thing they know how to do with such efficiency that
nothing else CAN be done.
Zod offers Jor-El to join
him and though I’ve seen this offer a million times in fiction, this one
strikes me as surprisingly poignant, perhaps purely in retrospect knowing of
their past interactions.
However, Zod expresses
his dark intent “We’ll sever the degenerate bloodlines that led us to this
state.” It’s a villainous thing and yet in the short term view it actually
seems surprisingly logical. The Kryptonians have built people to be biological
machines and so how to create a more efficient society is to simply turn off
the machine types that are not malfunctioning. It is horrendous to us because
we understand these as people and not machines. A truly frightening glimpse
into this alien mindset. Jor-El does not correct him on human ethical grounds,
that they have say a right to live (or in more dramatic terms, that murdering
people he disagrees with is wrong), but on a more interesting philosophical
ground:
“And who will decide
which bloodlines survive, Zod? … You?”
Jor-El is posing it in
terms of how one man will obviously choose for things to say similar to
himself, as Zod just demonstrated. Zod frames everything he does as being for
the good of Krypton, yet Jor-El knows that to Zod the good of Krypton, means
the good of Zod and vice versa.
Zod and Jor-El’s little
conversation here stings of such betrayal on both ends as Zod appeals on an
emotional ground to their old friendship, and Jor-El speaks on behalf of the
binding principles of Krypton.
4:30: Jor-El proceeds to
defeat three Kryptonian Soldiers after cleverly blinding them with the help of
his AI. It’s really cool seeing Jor-El doing all this stuff, when usually his
role is so limited. This is going to tie into what the central theme of the
DCEU, and the DC Universe as a whole which as I understand is:
“Normal people are
awesome. Everyone has a hero inside of them.”
Jor-El being an awesome
fighter is just really cool.
5:00 Jor-El runs out and
sees the battleground Krypton has become during the military coup. It’s a
beautiful shot and it reminds me of what Jor-El is fighting for. He’s trying to
free his son from this very thing.
So, then Jor-El calls in
his space griffon H’raka to fly him. …. What?
I kid, I do actually like
H’raka design, and the design of a lot of the creatures on Krypton as I
mentioned before.
Also, I just want to
quickly say the music is amazing. I’m not very knowledgeable about music, so I
can’t say what I like about it, but I greatly enjoy the music.
6:15: Jor-El gets to the
place where the Kryptonian infants are grown for their respective roles and
it’s everything you could want it to be. Strangely natural yet strangely
artificial. Cold, slightly disturbing yet still somehow containing the promise
of new life. Familiar, yet alien. It is a perfect representation of Krypton
itself.
8:30: Jor-El talks to
Lara about the place where they are sending their son Kal-El. Lara expresses
the concerns any mother would “He’ll be an outcast…a freak….they’ll kill
him…..What if the ship doesn’t make it” Jor-El does his best to reassure her
though she starts protesting that she can’t do it. Jor-El tells her in a way
both logical and empathetic that Krypton is doomed and that it’s his only
chance, that he is their people’s only hope.
Makes me tear up a little
every time, the thought of having to send your children into a great uncaring
cosmos, and knowing you have to, that you have to overcome your own fear if it
will give them even a chance that they may live.
There’s also again that
emphasis of Kal-El being hope. Hope is a major theme in this film. What is hope?
Hope is a type of faith. Hope is a faith that regardless of how dark the
situation seems now, that the brightness will always return, that any sadness
that strikes you is a passing mood no matter how intense it feels. To have hope
is to see a world worth going on for just past the horizon.
Lara expresses some
concerns that make the tears fully come “We’ll never get to see him walk…never
hear him say our names.” And Jor-El says quietly “But out there…amongst the
stars…he will live.”
I am filled with such
emotion. I am convinced there is no love stronger than parents’ for their
child. It overwhelms me now, and I empathize with their quiet contemplation for
all that they will miss of him, and all that he can be.
Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van
say goodbye to their son, concluding with Jor-El saying “Goodbye, my son. Our
hopes and dreams travel with you.”
If you don’t include the
opening sequence, this has been the first 10 minutes of the movie. These 10 minutes alone I enjoyed more then anything superhero movie I had seen before it
and it would stand as a short film as being one of the greatest films I had
seen since. Themes of a parent’s love and hope, a uniquely stylized view of
Krypton and its people, as a realistic dying civilization that had tried to
engineer themselves, wrapped in a tiny political drama.
So, let’s continue then.
11:15 Jor-El dons his
battle armor and I really like the design of it. Despite its bulk, it’s still
relatively sleek in design and I like bears the symbol of the House of El on
it. I also like how Jor-El knew that Zod’s forces would arrive to stop him.
12:10 It’s really
chilling to see Zod and his soldiers enter the area where the baby Kal-El is.
12:35-12:45 Jor-El speaks
to Zod saying “We’ve had a child, Zod. A boy child. Krypton’s first natural
birth in centuries. And he will be free. Free to forge his own destiny.”
This is SUCH an important
line. It is the description of what Superman stands for. He was made naturally,
not engineered to perform a specific role, and so he was given symbolically his
free will. He was not made like a machine to perform a role, but as a person to
determine his own fate. The Kryptonians tried to strip free will away, to undue
the thing the Presence strove to give all the DC Universes.
And so, when Zod decries
that statement as “Heresy!” You can feel the weight of Jor-El’s statement, for
it a statement of religious grandeur and extent.
Jor-El and Zod begin
their fight and it’s so intensive and cool. They both have on their cool
looking powered suits giving the fight a real feeling of a duel between two
champions, and despite Jor-El being a scientist and Zod being the general of
the Kryptonian Armies, Jor-El, impassioned by his love for his son manages to
fight against Zod.
Lara initiates the
launch, and a maddened Zod takes advantage of Jor-El’s temporary distraction
and stabs him. Lara weeps over her fallen husband. Zod demands Lara tell him
where her son is and she, tears in her eyes but defiant, delivers a line I
absolutely love:
“His name… is Kal…son of
El. And he is beyond your reach.”
I love how Zod clearly
doesn’t understand, how no one on this planet can understand except Jor and
Lara what a child means to their parents, what love for one’s child means.
Zod leaves and commands
his forces to shoot Kal’s ship down but his forces are blasted out of the sky
by the official Kryptonian Government who promptly arrest him.
I have to say this was a
plot twist I didn’t see coming. This big military coup by a major character of
the film...fails. I mean it’s true to history. We remember military coups that
worked because they’re such historical moments but more often these things
don’t actually work.
We cut to the Kryptonian
Council sentencing Zod to three hundred cycles of Somatic Reconditioning. I
like how the movie drops in these little worldbuilding tidbits without trying
to explain them, because really any attempt to do so would just be that cliché
of characters stating what they all know for the audience benefit and the movie
trusts us to be able to get the idea. 300 cycles are a lot of cycles and
Somatic Reconditing is so kind of mental reprogramming. It does make me wonder
if all of Zod’s forces are being sentenced to the same thing, or if they got
separate sentences and are going to be released earlier then him.
Zod’s final words begin:
“You won’t kill us yourself! You wouldn’t sully your hands! But you’ll damn us
to a black hole…for eternity!”
I love how this is part
giving us a little bit of an explanation of what their punishment is, part a
character moment for Zod showing his frustration at what the council is in his
eyes (a bunch of hypocrites too afraid to do the dirty work), part a plot point
explaining where they were during Krypton’s destruction, and part just a really
cool memorable line.
He continues and it’s
almost touching how despite everything that happened between them Zod clearly
still has some level of respect for Jor-El. “Jor-El was right! You’re a pack of
fools, every last one of you!” It’s really interesting to imagine that Jor-El,
this guy from the scientist caste was considered so respectable to Zod, the
leader of their army that even after committing a heresy against Krypton’s
ways, Jor-El being right is still something Zod feels he must assert.
And then we get Zod’s
character motivation for much of the movie. As he is being dragged away he
speaks to Lara. “You believe your son is safe? I will find him! I will reclaim
what you have taken from us! I will find him. I will find him Lara. I WILL FIND
HIM!!!”
That famous line. I
really like the General Zod vs Waldo meme with Zod holding a where’s waldo book
and saying, “I will find him!”
18:15 Lara gently touches
her husband’s armor, a little touch that says so much so softly, before going
to look at the destruction of Krypton. She watches the world sadly noting to
the AI that there is no refuge. And as she stands there she says “Make a better
world than ours, Kal”
I feel so strongly for
her here, it’s what every parent wishes for their child, that they might make a
world better then the one they see around them, and it is so impactful coming
from her who had to sacrifice so much for him, whose world, which she had to
fight to overcome her fears to send him away from, is now dying all around her.
The Planet Krypton
explodes.
The first large chunk of
this movie, centered around Krypton is so beautiful that it’s incredible the
movie doesn’t just go downhill from here. Everything you could want from a
movie is exemplified in this first large bit, and it’s only the act 1 of the story.
A little bit of a
side-note, but one complaint I have heard about this movie is “Why does
everyone seem so calm in death? No one seems to run away or cry or be scared.”
I don’t get it, at all. Like, really at all. When did trying to be composed in
death start being a bad thing? I would hope that on my deathbed, I can accept
what is going to happen with grace and dignity. To spend your last moments
composed and without breaking down is I feel something that we should all
strive for, and that the movie is showing us these characters’ best sides in
showing their grace in the face of death.
I also have to say I
really love the Kryptonian Technology in this movie. It’s so cool-looking and
stylized.
Around Saturn Kal-El’s
space pod emerges and heads towards that tiny blue marble we call Earth, and
it’s crash there begins the next part of our story.
Part 2: Earth
Pre-Contact:
20:00 We cut too Adult
Clark working on a boat. A large metal crate looks like it’s going to fall on
him. Obviously, it wouldn’t actually hurt him, but the guys don’t know that,
and the one who sees this risk his life to push Clark out of the way. Another
example of how this central theme that humans are amazing.
Also, I really like how
this movie perfectly integrates being both an origin movie and being a
standalone film, delivering Clark’s childhood through flashback sequences while
also delivering on the plot of Zod and the other Kryptonians threat to Earth.
The crew gets a distress
signal of a nearby oil rig that is going to explode and head for it. They are
told to forget about the people inside, they’re already dead yet Clark leaves
to go help them. I really like seeing Clark as just a mysterious face in the
crowd that still goes around helping people in secrecy. It highlights another
sub-theme that I really love, the theme that you shouldn’t judge people by what
they appear because you don’t know what their life is like on the inside. You
don’t know what people really struggle with, you can only support them the best
you can. Some people might secretly be aliens, or angels, or gods, or mentally
broken, or depressed, or a secret figure of power. People have their own secret
stories and you should try your best to be a positive force in their story,
even if you never hear it.
The crew on the oil rig
are running out of oxygen when there is metal door is stripped away and a man
on fire but without any pain or harm come in. What a miraculous site that must
be!
Clark manages to the
people out on the last helicopter evacuate before a metal tower falls over
threatening to crush them.
There’s a brief moment
where the helicopter doesn’t take off and shout for Clark to get in, despite it
hurting all their chances of survival and yet it’s another tiny example of
people being heroes in the face of danger.
Clark instead does what
he does and proceeds to hold the metal tower up himself. You can see the
visible strain on his face and it’s remarkable seeing Superman begin to form.
This has been a central point of the Superman mythos since the very beginning.
He’s not fully powered yet but that doesn’t matter, because Superman is not
defined by his powers but by his conviction to do the right thing, that it
doesn’t matter where you were born or what your life is like, that ANYONE can
be Superman if they are willing to stand up for the right thing.
22:45 After the
excitement Superman lays in the water, unconscious, and as he lays there his
mind returns to his childhood, to the first flashback sequence. And I love this
scene so, SOOO much. This is one of my favorite scenes. The fact that this is
not my favorite scene in the movie, should tell you how much I love this movie.
Young Clark is in class,
and the teacher is looking at him, presuming he’s just daydreaming since he
doesn’t seem to be answering her questions. Young Clark meanwhile is looking
around and everything is going crazy, his x-ray vision and super-hearing
overloading him.
Clark Kent is a very
specific person, he’s was raised in Kansas with middle American Values. He’s a
person I don’t intrinsically have that much in common with. But Superman is an
amalgam of multiple identities. He is Clark Kent and he is also Kal-El.
Kal-El is different.
Kal-El is very easy to relate to. In fact, I think Kal-El is easy for most of
us to relate to. We all under the experience of being alienated, of being
different and not quite fitting into a scene. I relate to Kal-El even more then
this and on a very personal level.
I have a condition where
the part of the brain responsible for empathy and sociability is very sensitive
for me. It’s especially the opposite of Autism, where one views things in terms
of logical impersonal systems. Being, an “empath” or whatever term is used for
it today means that I view everything as overtly personal and that I am more
sensitive to emotions including suffering.
I remember in class
several times being shown disturbing imagery and it several times caused me to
faint or have a seizure because it was too overwhelming. The worst part about
seizures is the part just when you come back, when your senses haven’t
re-emerged yet and it just feels like you are in a giant dark empty void,
completely alone. I hate the feeling of being alone.
I know what Young Clark
feels as his brain is overwhelmed by the intensity of all the phenomena,
because while it was a different phenomena for me, the intensity of all the
emotions that overwhelmed my brain, I know the anxiety, the want to just have
everything stop and be calm, the want for the world to stop swirling in a giant
rainbow puddle everywhere.
Young Clark clutches his
hands to his ears runs off, unable to take it all in, locking himself inside a
small closet. In there he can hear the other kids call him a freak (which if
you recall is exactly what Lara feared would happen to him), and the fear of
social ostracization rushes back to me. This is going to sound….perhaps silly
or perhaps disturbed, or something but I remember that despite being told if I
felt light-headed that I should say so and get escorted to the nurses’ office,
I didn’t because I didn’t want to disturb anyone else, that I had to handle it
and not cause anyone else any trouble. I know what it’s like to want to be like
other people.
My favorite depictions of
Superman are the ones where he sees us better then we do, where he sees how
wonderful we are even if we don’t. I adore that scene from All-Star Superman
where Lex sees the world as Superman does and completely breaks down realizing
why he does what he does. I understand that feeling. The world seems populated
by these incredible amazing beings called humans, that I love everything about.
Their strength, their confidence, their dignity. I, like Superman, wish I could
show people what I see about them.
Clark’s mother shows up
and comforts Young Clark in the closet. Clark confusedly tells his mother that
the world is too big, and Martha tells him to make it small, to just focus on
her voice. It makes me cry every time, I did that same thing. This scene is so
powerful to me, it moves me on such a level. It ends with Clark asking his
mother what’s wrong with him and you don’t hear her answer but the look on her
face and how she says “Clark” shows that she sees him with all the love a
mother feels for her child.
Clark wakes up underwater
and surfaces. He sort of stumbles through town in a daze, one of those dazes
you have after an intense memory, you know? He comes across a bus which
triggers another memory of his.
Young but not quite as
Young Clark is sitting on the bus, minding his own business. One of the bullies
starts to pick on him when one of the girls (Lana) nearby tells him to leave
him alone, another small example of how humans are good and seek to protect each
other in general. One of the buses tires breaks and the bus careens off a
bridge into the water below. Everyone’s drowning but then…
The camera cuts to the
top of the lake where the bus surfaces, pushed by Clark onto land, saving
everyone. Lana sees that he was pushing it and sees him swim off after doing
so. Clark re-emerges with Pete, the bully dragging him onto land.
The flashback cuts to
Pete’s parents talking to Ma and Pa Kent about how Pete saw what Clark did (and
presumably what some of the other kids did). They talk about it as an act of
God, as Clark’s parents sort of helplessly try and protect his true nature.
Pa Kent goes out to
comfort his son. And then a rather famous line exchange.
29:15: Clark asks “What
was I supposed to do? Just let them die?” and Pa Kent responds “Maybe.”
It’s strange to me that
people don’t get this, even if they don’t see the deeper connection. The
Kryptonians essentially forced people to grow into the role they wanted them to
be. They were this caste and so they would do this thing, that was what they
were designed for. Kal-El was born differently, born with free will to
determine his own fate and here as Clark this is reinforced, that Pa Kent is
the opposite of what a Kryptonian is, he’s not demanding Clark be who he wants
him to be, even if what he wants, like any parent, is to do anything in his
power to protect his child. He’s giving him the chance to determine who he is.
Clark acts very realistic
for a young teenager thrust into the situation. When told that people, like
Pete’s mom, fear what they don’t understand he asks “Is she right? Did God do
this to me? Tell me.” And you can feel the fear in his voice. He doesn’t know
what’s going on, he doesn’t know what his powers mean or why he is the way he
is. Maybe it wasn’t as extreme for everyone, but surely everything can
understand that feeling, of not knowing why you are the way you are.
Pa Kent makes a big leap
of trust and brings Clark to the spaceship he arrived in.
31:10 Pa Kent says to
Clark “You’re the answer, son. You’re the answer to are we alone in the
universe.”
That line is so full of
gravitas. We know the DC Universe from it’s latest comics where aliens are so
common there is alien tourism departments. But to actually find out about it
for the first time. The mind-shaking implications are huge, and it makes it all
the more impressive that Ma and Pa Kent were able to hold in this great secret
for the sake of their adopted son, a son they probably worried about whether
every little thing of their planet could hurt him somehow.
Clark express that he
doesn’t want to be, and Pa Kent is completely empathetic saying that it would
be a huge burden for anyone to bear, but that he has to believe Clark was sent
for a reason.
This religiosity is both
in-character for Pa Kent and really does reflect the more spiritual aspects of
the Superman mythos.
Pa Kent says “All these
changes that you’re going through, one day…. One day you’re going to think of
them as a blessing and when that day comes…you’re gonna have to make a choice.
A choice on whether to stand proud in front of the human race or not.”
This is a really
beautiful sentiment explaining what I said above about Clark’s free will. Pa
Kent probably wants to tell Clark that humanity is wonderful, that he should
humanity with his amazing gifts, that he should be their savior but instead he
tells Clark that it’s his choice because he loves him enough to give him free
will, the free will that the Presence bestowed on all creation.
31:45
Clark: “Can’t I just keep
pretending I’m your son?”
Pa Kent: “You are my son”
The tearful way they say
that…. it’s so emotion-packed. I’m not adopted, but can you imagine the impact
on someone who was?
Back in the present Clark
walks into a bar where he hears about something strange going on around
Ellesmere before seeing some jerk Ludlow sexually harass the waitress Chrissy.
Clarks walks up to him and asks him gently to leave her alone.
It doesn’t go very well.
Ludlow throws his drink on Clark before attempting to push him, only to get
knocked back by his own efforts. The humor of it vaguely reminds me of the
Golden Age Superman Comics where the humor would sometimes be “He’s super
strong….but they don’t know it! Lol”
Ludlow then throws a can
at Clark while Clark’s leaving only to find later that his truck was
mysteriously impaled on a telephone poll.
I have to say, that while
I love this movie to bits this is one of the very few things I wasn’t fond of,
as I felt like Clark should have a bit more restraint then that, but he’s new, so
I don’t think it’s that big a deal.
Clark makes his way to
Ellesmere to check out the strange situation he overhead while in the bar,
under the false identity of “Joe”. There’s an amusing sight gag you might miss
first time where “Joe” is ordered to take Lois’ bags, and Lois tells him
careful they’re heavy while he’s not clearly not straining at all carrying all
of them.
35:30: Lois begins her
investigation of the area and it’s revealed that the people who set up the base
did everything to keep her away and that she is already a heavily awarded
Journalist who went into dangerous ground with the first division.
I gotta say Lois Lane has
never been a huge draw to me of the Superman Mythos. I like her just fine, but
it’s not one of my favorite parts. This movie, while it would be lying to say I
adore this version of Lois Lane I do like her more then average since she
reminds me of my favorite versions of Lois Lane, one who is more proactive
without being a naïve idiot who gets into dangerous situations purely because
she knows Superman will save her if she does.
35:45 We get to see Emil
Hamilton, one of the countless small references to the Superman Mythos in this
movie. Emil Hamilton is a supporting character in the Superman mythos, a
friendly Earth scientist until he got turned into the villainous Ruin.
36:45 Lois goes outside
to take pictures and sees the mysterious Joe figure moving out into the ice,
and though it’s blurry it’s clear he’s not wearing very much despite the -40
degree weather. Intrigued Lois takes a big gamble and follows him.
Lois comes across the
cave “Joe” entered and it cuts to him using his heat vision, clueing people who
hadn’t gotten a good enough look at him to realize he’s Clark on his identity.
Clark looks perplexed at the crashed Kryptonian ship, unsure of it’s nature,
which makes sense given he doesn’t know anything about the Kryptonians yet.
Clark runs across the
ship’s main computer system and inserts his key, the little insignia he’s been
carrying around and miraculously it works! The Kryptonians really were a highly
advanced race that their machines can still work fine after being frozen for
millennia. You could say that it’s unrealistic that an alien species that far
advanced would not be even more advanced and have even more crazy technology
and while that complaint is true as far as I’m concerned, it’s also something
that’s true of like all of fiction that involves advanced aliens. Like this is
something the main DC Universe, as well as some of my other favorite verses,
do. An advanced civilization will basically just have a “futuristic-looking”
version of whatever we have now. Either that or they are magical deity-like
entities.
Clark only inserts his
key part of the way and the computer apparently interprets that as some kind of
attack on the system and a robotic droid attacks Clark, and what’s notable is
that for a brief second, it’s actually able to restrain him. One of the things
I wondered watching this was how come these things weren’t used as soldier AI
by the Kryptonians however my guess is that the Military Caste of Krypton was
so intertwined with their political and social dealings that they did not want
to even partially replace them.
Clark gets his key all
the way in and the droid stops attacking him and leaves. Clark sees a ghost of
his father Jor-El (later releveled to be an AI hologram), though right now he
doesn’t know who that is. I find it interesting on a psychological level that
Clark, as revealed later and implied early, is searching for where he comes
from and when he comes into contact with his own birth culture, it’s one of the
first things he finds.
Lois makes her way onto
the ship and finds the Droid AI that attacked Clark previously while Clark
looking around the ship finds that one of the pods has a skeleton inside it,
making the whole place seem more macabre with one of the pods open. This is a
reference to something that happens in the DCEU comics. Yes, Comics got a movie
adaptation which then got their own comics. Can’t wait till those get adapted
to the big screen.
Lois attempts to get a
picture of the droid, which interprets the flash of light from her camera as an
attack. This is actually a really subtle reference to how the Kryptonian
weapons we saw on Krypton flash brightly when they’re firing. The Droid attacks
Lois sending her flying back against the wall. Also, this Kryptonian Droid that
briefly restrained Clark is not able to immediately kill Lois. Just another
moment where this movie that shows how awesome humanity is.
You could try and argue
that it’s unrealistic she’d survive that, but in the DC Universe all humans
have latent superpowers and do unrealistic stuff since near the beginning. This
is because the Godwave which created all powers left latent metahuman capacity
in everyone, hence why the Karate Kid is only a normal human and yet can fight
Kryptonians evenly. And yes the DCEU is part of the DC Omniverse as is
everything published by DC.
Clark hears Lois in
danger and goes to help her, wrestling briefly with the droid before crushing
it in his hands. Clark goes to comfort the clearly panicked and injured Lois
and repeating “it’s alright!” to her comfortingly and she quickly calms herself
in her hands. He then starts to unbutton her clothing…
I’m sorry I must have put
the XXX version in by mistake Kappa
Nah, he’s really
revealing the wounded area. He tells Lois she’s hemorrhaging internally, and he
needs to cauterize the bleed. Lois confusingly asks how he can before Clark
says
41:20: Clark: I can do
things other people can’t.
Might be a really small
thing but I really like how he phrases it here, in a very humble way. He
doesn’t say he has powers, he just describes it as being able to do things
others can’t. Because again him having powers is not what makes him Superman,
it’s purely the conviction to do the right thing. We can all do things other
people can’t, but it’s in our will that we reveal who we are.
Clark asks Lois to hold
his hand because it’s going to hurt and through the whole thing he’s been such
a calm reassuring person, the kind of person that real life heroes are made
off.
At the base alarms go off
as major seismic activity is noted. Everyone leaves to find that the ancient
frozen craft start flying off.
42:40 We cut again to
Lois being rescued from the ice having been healed by helicopter (I imagine
Clark still didn’t want to have his identity revealed and so put her into an
area that would have been easily visible for the people rescuing her). She is
giving her report on what happened for the Daily Planet during this as a
voiceover and then transitions to the Daily Planter afterwards. Her voiceover
ends with her reaching the conclusion that Clark and the spaceship are
extraterrestrial in origin.
Perry White gives his
Perriest answer possible “I can’t print this Lois, you might have hallucinated
half of it.”
The two argue about
whether or not they can print it for a bit, with Perry revealing that the
Pentagon is denying that there even was a ship. This movie came out in 2013 so
I guess it still makes sense to say “Thanks, Obama.”
I do find it slightly
humorous that Lois responds to the point about The Pentagon by saying “Of
course they do, it’s The Pentagon. That’s what they’re supposed to do.”
Lois, being Lois, when
told she can’t print the story and can’t walk leaks it to an online tabloid
site. She’s then asked why’s doing this by the online tabloid guy himself
44:10 Lois: “Because I
want my mystery man to know I know the truth.”
And this will describe
Lois’ motive for the first part of the film. She is being a journalist looking
for the truth. An admirable goal.
Meanwhile, thousands of
miles away at the Kryptonian ship:
Clark finds the hologram
AI of Jor-El again. Jor-El delivers a line that brings me all the warm feelings
of the first part of the movie again
“To see you standing
there having grown into an adult…if only Lara could have witnessed this.”
I get such fuzzies from
warm parent-child relationships in media.
Jor-El tells Kal-El his
Kryptonian name and that he is his father, or at least a shadow of him (which I
love the phrasing of by the way, the imagery in this movie is beautiful), his
disembodied consciousness and says his own name is Jor-El.
45:10 Kal-El says “And
Kal…that’s my name?”
He gets this smile on
this face that makes me heart shine. He hasn’t known himself for his entire
life and now he’s finally being told his name and who he came from and it’s so
sweet to see him finally get the fulfillment of what he’s always wanted.
Jor-El lightly nods and
smiles responding “Kal-El. It is.”
Just makes me feel so
happy.
Kal-El says to his father
that he has so many questions and I love how realistically this is said. This
isn’t said in a wild panic, it’s not said in a quippy way, it’s said as if it’s
been rehearsed a thousand times, as if Kal-El has wanted so badly to ask these
things for his entire life and has repeated what he’d say over and over in his
head.
Kal-El asks where he
comes from and why he was sent here and Jor-El uses the technology of the ship
to show images as he explains which I thought was a fun way of making this
exposition scene a bit of show and tell rather then just tell like exposition
usually is.
Jor-El tells of Krypton
and its Golden Age of Expansion where 1,000 scout ships were sent out into the
void of space to find potentially habitable planets, one of them being the one
they are on at that moment. He tells of how they used great machines to
terraform planets to their benefit and how their civilization flourished for
100,000 years able to create wonders.
I really love this kind
of thing in fiction, these ancient empires with vast powers and its own
culture. Knowing the sense of legacy everything has makes it feel so much more
deep and impactful.
46:25: Kal-El asks what
happened and the first thing Jor-El says is artificial population control was
established.
Looks like someone got
infected by the Space Commies.
No but in all
seriousness, I really do like how that’s the first thing he says, because it is
basically the root of their problems both ethical and pragmatic. They tried to
engineer people for castles leading to massive social stratification and
eventual collapse, as was shown on Krypton. The secret to maintaining a healthy
society is Freedom, it is the Free Will that the Presence gave to all people.
Jor-El says a few other
reasons and that as a result of these things the planet’s core became unstable
leading to General Zod making a coup. And yeah from an overview that is the
downfall that happens to most empires, internal division, government removing
of rights, and lack of expansions/resources is what causes an empire to fall
one way or another. This movie gives a very strong political lesson without
ever being about politics.
47:10 Jor-El outright
spells out what the Kryptonians were doing in case people missed it
“Every child was
determined to fulfill a pre-determined role in our society…as a worker, a warrior,
a leader and so on.”
Oh, there’s that subtle
Plato reference.
Plato imagined talks
about a theoretical idealized society called the Republic (though contrary to
popular belief he was never actually advocating for it, merely using it as a
rhetorical device). In it people based on their early talents are raised
strictly to fulfill one of their roles within the city, the laborers, the
warriors and the philosopher-kings (worker, warrior, and leader) which Plato
made to reflect the three parts of the soul as he saw it; the appetitive part
(the part that is base desires), the spirited part (the passionate part that
seeks virtue) and the rational part (the part that is logical). Krypton in this
movie is essentially a version of Plato’s republic yet it also follows
something else Plato said.
Plato’s Republic only
works on a very small scale and he insisted that the Republic could only
contain up to 10,000 people because after that the society would begin to break
down since people would no longer be familiar with each other anymore, and
while it survives quite a bit longer in the Kryptonian’s case, them growing too
large to maintain and having to retract their empire to Krypton is basically
the consequence of living in a Platonic “Republic”. Also, Clark in a flashback
later on is literally reading Plato’s republic, so it’s kind of evidence that
Plato is in the background of much of this movie, which leads to a very
interesting discussion on Justice and on the psychological nature of some of
these characters. Zod is basically the type of person whom Plato describes as
being ruled entirely by the spirited part of the Soul.
47:20: “Your mother and I
believed Krypton lost something precious. The element of choice, of chance.
What if a child dreamed of becoming something greater then society intended for
him or her?”
Here Jor-El explains
again the problem with what Krypton became, that it removed freedom and
ambition, it locked children into being what society wanted for them. In the
society which dictates what someone can and cannot be, there can be no
Superman, for one’s conviction is dwarfed by societal demands.
I remember watching this
movie the first time and getting to this part and feeling a minor enlightenment
come to me. In general, much of contemporary Japanese ethics might be compared
to the western ethical philosophy of Utilitarianism, that’s something moral
value is derived by it benefitting the most people. And yeah, I still hold some
Utilitarian beliefs and yet this movie changed my worldview as I realized that
society’s demands for the individual should not be paramount, that like a
parent and child, the society must respect the ambitions and rights of the
individual even if it doesn’t like it. A society that demands people do what it
says for it’s own benefits is like a parent that tyrannically demands their
child do what they say and abuses them if not.
47:30: Jor-El: “What if a
child aspired to something greater? You were the embodiment of that belief,
Kal.”
This line may seem like
it’s a uniqueness to the relationship of Jor-El and Kal-El and in a way it is,
but it’s also something every parent feels towards their children, looking at
them, you see the future and all the wonderous things it could hold.
Kal-El asks his father
why he couldn’t come with them, and obviously they pragmatically couldn’t given
the pressures they were under, but Jor-El says something more interesting
giving a philosophical explanation
47:45: “We couldn’t Kal.
No matter how much we wanted too. No matter how much we loved you. Your mother
Lara, and I, were a product of the failures of our world as much as Zod was,
tied to its fate.”
Kal-El is again rendered
special even compared to his parents because he was a natural born being, not
engineered to be what his parents or society wanted to be, but born to freely
make his own destiny, just as his Earthly father Pa Kent said Clark was.
And instead Jor-El
outright expresses this notion when Clark then says he’s alone.
Jor-El: “No. You’re as much
a child of Earth now as you are of Krypton. You can embody the best of both
worlds. A dream your mother and I dedicated our lives to preserve.”
And with that the
Superman suit is revealed, and we are almost to the one scene in this film even
greater than the first flashback.
Jor-El continues “The
People of Earth are different from us, that is true. But, ultimately, I believe
that’s a good thing. They won’t necessarily make the same mistakes we did.”
I sense we’re about to
talk again about how absolutely great humanity is and I am completely on board.
“Not if you guide them
Kal, not if you give them hope.”
Again, Kal is linked with
hope, the symbol on his chest. Superman is the hope of peoples. He is the Sun
we wish to rise in the dead of night when we are afraid. Perhaps you know of
Despair of the Endless, one of the 7 cosmic infinities making up the universe.
But each thing is defined by it’s opposite, and Hope, the belief in something
greater, is of such power itself that it defines the whole of Despair.
Jor-El says that the
symbol of the house of El, the S, means hope.
48:45 Jor-El: “Embodied
within that hope is the fundamental belief in the potential of every person to
be a force for good.”
I’m crying again…I
believe it so much. I love humanity, and I hold that fundamental belief that
every person has the potential to be a force for good if they try, that every
person was in nature given the freedom to choose the right path, that people
can rise above what others tell them to be.
Superman emerges from the
Scout Ship.
As he walks along the
frozen land, Jor-El gives voiceover dialog with him initially explaining
Superman’s power origin.
Just seeing Superman all
noble looking and majestic, oh it’s so heartwarming. But then as Jor-El tells
Superman in voiceover to keep testing his limits, Superman clenches downwards,
and prepares to leap and my soul is ready for the one of the greatest scenes,
not just in cinema, but in all of fiction
Superman leaps through
the mountaintops with great impact each time, each time climbing a little
higher. It cuts to his face and you can see him struggling, trying to push
through the barrier holding him and with a sudden push he continues his ascent
in midair and you see him with the biggest smile of realization, that he doesn’t
have to come down and it’s so amazing, it’s an emotion I have never seen
captured so well, the breakthrough as one realizes one’s own abilities.
Unfortunately, being new
to flying, Superman loses control and crashes to the ground.
This scene since the first
time I saw it brings to mind a very personal memory of mine. As a young child,
I had very poor coordination, my body was frail and prone to the elements.
Walking too me much longer then most children, and I was constantly looking
down as I did, minding each step. I took each step on a staircase one at a time
while gripping tightly to the wall or bannister. I absolutely couldn’t run, or
I’d fall over.
I remember, trying to
walk by myself when I was alone, practicing, the breakthrough. I was walking,
my legs were very unsteady, and it was very painful. Gravity pulled at my body,
tears from pressure came from my eyes, the world seemed to tilt like a ship in
a turbulent storm. It always happened, my body wanting to stop but I pushed,
and I saw my legs move under me, pushing more and more regular, my breath
become harsh from the effort. I remember pushing that last barrier…
Superman rises and Jor-El
speaks in voiceover some of the beautiful words I have ever heard.
“You will give the people
of Earth an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you.”
I recall the strain as my
legs moved more regularly, I could feel the gravity weigh down on me and yet I
was moving regularly! I wasn’t falling!
“They will stumble. They
will fall.”
I moved my head upwards,
letting my momentum carry me and was moving like one of those blessed humans. I
see through the window, The Sun, the Kami Amaterasu….I could stand and face the
Kami
“But in time they will
join you in the Sun. In time…you will help them accomplish wonders”
Superman lifts off and
it’s so beautiful to see that little smile of finally doing it, and he flies
across the whole world. Everything about this scene makes my heart sing, it’s a
love letter to the primordial desire to fly, to become free of the world’s weight,
to be able to have dominion over the world, and Jor-El’s words assure that this
is our future, to be like Superman, to be free of our worldy pains, it is a
scene that shows the progression of humanity from our ancient first steps to
our eventual future unbounded by the laws of gravity. It’s a scene of all that
is noble about humanity, how we progress and improve ourselves with every step.
It’s glorious in the classical sense. There’s so much adulation in it, the
beauty of flight and all it’s wonders, the ability to conquer and master a
craft that used to be so hard, surely a universal concept to us all.
I become giddy every time
I see this scene, it moves to me to such joy.
When I first watched this
movie, this scene is what moved this movie from being my favorite Comic Book
Movie movie so far to “being on a whole different level to any Comic Book movie
I had ever seen”.
We cut back to Lois Lane
trying to track Superman’s whereabouts. Short montage of different people who
talked about him working with them as a mysterious figure. Lois eventually
finds her way to the Kents’ family home. At the grave of Pa Kent, Lois finds
Clark and says if she kept digging through his whereabouts, eventually he’d
find her.
Lois and Clark talk and
she eventually drops this line that I really like
54:05 Lois: “The only way
you could disappear for good is if you stopped helping people altogether, and I
sense that’s not an option for you.”
Dawww Lois already
realizes Clark will never stop helping people. I think it’s cute personally.
Also, that’s women’s intuition for you hehe
Clark tells Lois that his
father thought if the world knew who he really was they’d reject him out of
fear and tells Lois the story of his father’s death.
Bear in mind, that up
until this point, I have no idea what the DCEU haters really think of this
film. This is because for the most part there is where I start hearing
criticisms. I have no idea what they think of the first almost hour of the film
because I rarely hear them talk about it. This is part of what makes it seem
very heavily to me that people who don’t like Man of Steel literally are only
basing their decision to dislike the film, an experience of around 2 hours and
15 minutes, not including credits and opening logos by 15 minutes of footage, which
seems pretty drastic for their strong views. They’re judging the whole by what
is less than 1/9th of the actual film which seems rather odd given how negative
some of them view it. And it’s not like their actual criticisms are
particularly airtight.
In the flashback, Clark
has a sort of stereotypical “you’re not my dad” scene that’s common in movies
with an adopted child. I’m not a huge fan of this because it seems kind of
cliché. But I do think it’s got it own merit here, namely that this is a bit
more relevant given that Clark is quite literally not the same species, meaning
that asking him to perform the same social role may not truly be what’s best
for him. So yeah this is another part I don’t really like but it lasts all of
30 seconds.
Pa Kent takes a very
reasonable pragmatic viewpoint that is to be expected with him.
54:50: Pa Kent: “He’s
right. Clark’s got a point. We’re not your parents. But we’ve been doing the
best we can. And we have been making this up as we go along, so maybe…maybe our
best isn’t good enough anymore.”
Tearing up again. He’s
reminding me of my dad. This scene is even more relevant to me today because I
now understand what Pa Kent is talking about. Some people have this strange
idea that when you become an adult, or you become a parent that you suddenly
change into a different person who always knows what to do. I don’t, I’m still
the same over-emotional sensitive person I always have been, and I don’t always
know what I’m doing, but I’m just trying to do the best I can for my child.
Clark goes to apologize
but they come to a sudden stop due to a tornado happening along. The three get
out, stunned before Pa Kent takes charge and starts directing people to the
overpass to take cover. Just another example of a regular person, this time his
regular-ness emphasized just before, being a hero. He even goes closer into the
tornado helping to get a woman’s baby unstuck.
Upon realizing their dog
is still in the car, Pa Kent tells Clark to take Ma Kent to safety while he
goes back for him. Pa Kent reaches the car, but the tornado flings a freaking
car at them and he shields Hank, the dog who escapes but in the chaos Pa Kent
injures his foot and can’t get out.
Clark moves to get him
out of there, but Pa Kent raises his hand, telling him not too. I see some
people criticize this scene and I can’t believe it. Pa Kent after being a hero,
saving a bunch of people, nobly sacrifices himself to protect his son because
he loves him, dying with grace and dignity because he didn’t want the world to
scorn Clark.
People are like “Clark
should have run in and saved him” but that would have negated the point of the
free will idea that’s central to the film. Pa Kent is choosing to sacrifice
himself for Clark. Clark forcing him to live in exchange for being scorned
would have been denying his free will. You can’t force people to be what you
want them to be, or to make choices against their nature (presuming they aren’t
harming others) because then you are simple engineering people again. There’s
another aspect to this people aren’t thinking about.
At this point Clark is
not super-fast. This is demonstrated several times. For instance, he didn’t
just zip all the oil rig workers out at super speeds. He had to hitchhike to
Ellesemere instead of just running there. Second, Clark has been hiding the
extent of his powers. For all Pa Kent knows, that tornado could have actually
killed Clark. He’s not going to let his son risk his life for him and that
decision is the natural impulse of all parents.
I also, on rare occasion,
hear Pa Kent was composed upon death as a complaint. I refer you to Lara’s
death on Krypton. People dying with grace and dignity should be celebrated as
noble. If people facing death with a level of composure is unrealistic to you,
then it seems you may be too pessimistic about humanity.
Clark gives a scream in
anguish as Pa Kent is overtaken by the tornado. You know, this is not at all my
favorite scene in the film, this flashback, but jeez the way you hear some DCEU
Haters talk about it, they make it sound like Clark hated Pa Kent and caused
the tornado that killed him. The reality is Pa Kent made a decision to give his
life on the chance it could protect his son and if you think that’s unrealistic
or somehow beyond the pale, then I’d suggest you don’t understand humanity.
Back in the present Clark
spells out why he didn’t run in.
57:25: Clark: “I let my
father die because I trusted him. Because he was convinced that I had to wait.”
Lois Lane is clearly
moved by Clark’s account and drops her story which, based on her
characterization so far, is clearly something that doesn’t come easy to her.
Lois and Perry have a bit
of an exchange where Perry punishes her for leaking it and Lois pretends her
leads went cold. Perry, perceptive as he is, gives this account.
58:35 Perry: “I believe
you saw something Lois. But not for a moment do I believe your leads just went
cold. So, whatever your reasons are for dropping it…I think you’re doing the
right thing.”
And that’s exactly how to
write him. It’s a smart statement that covers all relevant possibilities, it’s
pragmatic, it’s perceptive. It’s not being a clueless idiot like certain
stories do.
We cut to Clark coming
home and both Ma Kent and the doggie are really happy to see him, and it’s a
sweet reunion.
So, we’re about an hour
in. Let’s review so far. What is this movie about?
-Family, specifically
familial love. This is constant throughout the movie, absolutely constant, and
continues in every film of the DCEU to be an important theme, and it’s honestly
one of my favorite themes in fiction.
-Freedom and Free Will vs
Biological Determinism with shades of Platonism. Superman is treated as being
humanly special unlike the Kryptonians because he was born without being
biologically engineered to be one thing and was raised by humans to make his
own destiny
-Society, on how the
individual relates to society and how society shapes the individual. You could
almost, as I did early, see the connection between a society/individual bond
and the parent/child bond
There have been also
shades of themes of Justice, and what it means to be just, compare General
Zod’s version of justice where he decides what bloodlines are worthy versus the
Platonic ideal of Justice where good begets good and evil begets evil which is
practiced by the Humans, as well as the theme of Truth, how much of yourself
can you show other, how much of others can you show to others.
I find the movie so far
at least to be utterly inspiring in it’s brightness and its themes. I don’t see
so far why this is considered “dark”.
Clark tells Ma Kent that
he found his biological people and his origin. Ma Kent is overwhelmed with
emotion and even though she turns away, Clark still senses it and asks what’s
wrong. Ma Kent tells him nothing before launching into a mother’s story.
1:00:35: Ma Kent: “When
you were a baby, I used to lay by your crib at night…listening to you breathe.
It was hard for you. You struggled. And I worried all the time.”
Clark responds, “You were
worried the truth would come out.”
She replies “No. The
truth about you is beautiful. We saw that the moment we laid eyes on you. We
knew that one day the whole world would see that. I’m just…I’m worried they’ll
take you away from me.”
And with that she starts
tearing up and I’ve been tearing up the whole time. What mother doesn’t want to
keep their baby close to them forever, doesn’t want the world to take them away
ever?
Clark puts his arm around
her and responds exactly what every mother wants to hear “I’m not going
anywhere, mom. I promise”
Clark is such a
gentleman, always good to his mother. <3
I have to admit I like
the first parts of the movie best, I don’t like the later parts as much though
I still do really really like them.
Part 3: First Contact
Meanwhile at a US
military base, General Swanwick walks into what’s clearly a very important
room. He asks what he’s looking at on-screen suggesting a comet or an asteroid.
Professor Hamilton
humorously responds, “Comets don’t make course corrections, general.”
Professor Hamilton gives
a bit more information on it and General Swanwick asks if there have been any
attempts at communication to which he is informed there has been no response
from it. General Swanwick correctly intuits that they intend to make a dramatic
entrance.
We cut back to the Daily Planet
where everyone is staring as the screen shows the spaceship entering
atmosphere. It’s kind of a tense moment, as one might expect. Back at the Kent
House, Martha calls Clark outside to witness the spaceship itself.
Zod makes his dramatic
entrance in a brilliantly creepy atmosphere way.
Lights go out everywhere
and the screen show an indecipherable static before Zod’s voice comes through
along with accompanying words appear on the screen “You are not alone”
repeating over and over. We can see that around the world it’s being played in
every language.
The dark silhouette of
Zod comes up on the screens and it’s so atmospheric and cool, like can you
imagine if first contact was anything like this.
Zod speaks
1:04:30: “My name is
General Zod. I come from a world far from yours. I have journeyed across an
ocean of stars to reach you. For some time, your world has sheltered one of my
citizens. I request that you return this individual to my custody. For reasons
unknown, he has chosen to keep his existence a secret from you. He will have
made efforts to blend in. He will look like you, but he is NOT one of you. To
those of you who may know of his current location the fate of your planet rests
in your hands.
To Kal-El, I say this: Surrender within 24 hours…or watch this
world suffer the consequences.”
I love this little speech
of Zod’s and how creepily atmospheric it is. It’s a direct but effective
emotional manipulation and it uses language that sound just slightly off like a
different culture translating. It’s as blunt as he would be and yet carries
such impact because of it.
Clark hugs his mother to
comfort her while elsewhere people panic unsure of what to make of the
situation, as might be expected. I just have to say that this is one of the
most realistic first contact I can imagine, certainly in a mainstream movie.
The fact that it’s not directly positive or negative, just sort of creepy, the
fact that people panic but retain some air of control in the face of something
completely beyond understanding. People act logical in the fact of this.
Woodburn on the television, the guy who made the internet leak earlier, uses
sound logic.
1:05:55: Woodburn: “If he
truly means us no harm, then he’ll turn himself into his people and face the
consequences. And if he won’t do that, maybe we should.”
Perry White calls Lois
and asks her if she’s going to reveal the source and she maintains her lie that
she doesn’t know where he is. He says that the fate of the world is at stake
and this is not the time to fallback on journalistic integrity and that the
government has been asking about her. As he says that she sees the FBI outside
of her window and hangs up, running off and sneaking out.
Ok since they’re talking
about the fate of the world and taking thing seriously I guess this is as good
a time as any to talk about this.
Yes, people in this movie
are taking this seriously. They’re not making wisecracks right now. You know
why they are doing this? BECAUSE IT’S THE POTENTIAL END OF THE WORLD.
I don’t get this logic at
all from people. The characters are taking a very serious situation very
seriously. It’s almost like they’re treating the situation…normally. Like their
actions are matching the circumstances. When did having a wisecrack every 3 lines
become necessary for a movie? Why can’t a movie tell a story that has some
gravitas, that doesn’t joke about it’s subject matter, when it’s subject matter
is the potential end of the world?
Anyway…
Lois tries to run for it
but the FBI catch her.
We cut to a church where
the Reverend is listening to the news on the radio and Kal-El is standing in
the doorway.
Hearing this, Kal-El has
another flashback.
Young Clark is peacefully
sitting in a car when he’s dragged out by a bunch of hooligans and knocked back
against a metal fence. He holds “Republic” by Plato in his hands.
Having him read that is
genius. Not only does it give insight into what kind of things he’s thinking
about, at least if you have actually read Republic, but it shows that
Kryptonians and Humans ideals of a perfect society are not so different
initially, that Humans could become like Kryptonians were and Kryptonians, if
they aren’t biologically engineered, could become like humans. That this
yearning for Utopia that can’t exist is a universal desire that drives us both
to better ourselves in the name of good and to do unspeakable cruelties.
The hooligans continue to
try and mess with Clark, trying to force him to fight and Young Clark gets an
angry, almost scary, looking expression on his face. The Hooligans then realize
that two adults are standing nearby and leave. Pete Ross the guy who bullied
Clark on the bus helps him up, and it’s really sweet to see how he changed
because of Clark’s influence. It’s also perhaps a subtle note to the audience
that we shouldn’t judge these hooligans that harshly since they may one day,
with their free will, change.
As Clark gets up you can
clearly see that the metal fence he was holding is bent out of shape by his
young super-strength. Pa Kent and Young Clark have a really touching
conversation about what Clark should do.
“Did they hurt you?”
“You know they can’t.”
“That’s not what I meant.
I meant are you alright?”
Clark with a shakingly
sad voice says “I wanted to hit that kid. I wanted to hit him so bad.”
And Pa Kent responds
reassuringly “I know you did. I mean part of me even wanted you to but then
what? Make you feel any better? … You just have to decide what kind of man you
want to grow up to be Clark.”
And here we see
Superman’s struggle laid so bare. It’s the same feeling expressed in his World
of Cardboard speech in the DCAU. “Never allowing myself to lose control, even
for a moment, or someone COULD DIE!” Clark has to constantly hold himself back
for fear of destroying this tiny fragile human world he lives in. His fear is a
very understandable fear, this his emotions might lead him to doing what he
shouldn’t. It’s why Superman fears, more then anything, himself turning evil.
Pa Kent’s answer so
fitting for him and for this movie. It is essentially that he can’t tell Clark
not to get angry. That he can’t choose for him how to feel, but that he just
has to decide for himself what the right path is.
1:08:45 Pa Kent: “Because
whoever that man is, good character or bad, he’s…he’s gonna change the world.”
It is the nature of
Superman to change the world. When he was created he created a whole new genre,
the superhero genre, the modern mythology. Every version of him, leaves a
massive cultural impact.
Back at the church Clark
speaks to the Reverend, who is absolutely nice and kind to him. Despite all the
chaos of aliens emerging, he is calm and comforting. Just another example of
how great humans are.
Clark tells him that he
is the one the ship is looking for and to the Reverend’s credit he, despite
being clearly nervous, remains calm and asks logical questions.
1:09:25: Clark: “But this
General Zod…even if I turn myself in, there’s no guarantee he’ll keep his word
but if there’s a chance I can save Earth by turning myself in, shouldn’t I take
it?”
That’s Clark for you,
willing to make any sacrifice for the good of the Earth.
Also, there’s a picture
of Jesus in the background. I hear on rare occasion hear “oh this movie has so
much Jesus symbolism that’s so obvious.” As far as I can tell this is a
retconned attempt to say negative things about parts of the movie besides the
three scenes that DCEU haters seem to be obsessed with. I say this because this
“criticism” despite about how it’s “obvious” didn’t start appearing until
months after this film’s release. Also, I saw this movie twice in theatres,
didn’t catch it either time, though obviously Christianity isn’t exactly very
common in Japan.
That said there’s like
two (maybe) scenes where with any real Jesus symbolism, this and another scene
where it looks like Superman is in the Cross position which seems…..like a
stretch to me not gonna lie.
The Reverend asks Clark
what his gut tells him, and Clark says that it says Zod can’t be trusted but
he’s not sure the people of Earth can either. Clark gets up to leave but the
Reverend says to him
1:10:00: Father Leone:
“Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. The trust part comes later.”
I love this line because
it’s advice that’s pragmatically true about his situation, that he may not know
if they can be trusted but at some point, he has to take a leap of faith that
he can or live in shadow his whole life, and it’s true about life in general.
It’s the prisoner’s dilemma, you have to trust others to do the right thing or
you will both suffer as a consequence. You have to believe that there is the
potential for good in people.
Superman appears before
the military and says he’ll surrender in exchange for Lois’ freedom.
Superman is led into the
base in handcuffs and in a private room speaks to Lois who asks why he’s
surrendering to Zod and Superman responds that’s he surrendering to mankind and
there is a difference. There really is a difference. It’s not Zod Superman
cares about, it the will of mankind who he is obeying as a leap of faith.
We come to one of the
more famous lines of the movie. Lois asks what S stands for and Superman says
it’s not an S, but that on his world it means his hope. I have some people try
and claim Action Comics 1,000 made fun of this scene. It didn’t. It just made a
reference to it asking why people would ask that if he’s super well known. Of
course, here he’s not super well known. It’s a reference and then an in-joke
about the reference. Stop pretending that everyone shares your hatred of the
DCEU.
Hamilton shows up and
wants to question Superman although Superman kind of embarrass them by
revealing how much he can see of their intentions both figuratively and
literally with his x-ray vision. He then breaks the handcuffs they had on him
without effort, showing it really was just to make them feel safer and how he
isn’t resisting.
Superman tells them that
while they can’t control him, he isn’t their enemy.
General Swanwick replies
that though that may be true, he has direct orders to hand him over to Zod and
Superman nods and calmly tells him to do what he has to do. It’s a very polite
exchange and really shows how Superman is completely willing to work with
humanity. There’s also a really cute image where the screen behind which
Professor Hamilton and General Swanwick goes reflective as he is saying “do
what you have to do” making it seem like he’s talking to himself and telling
himself to do what he has to do before being sent to Zod.
Out in the desert with
military over watching Superman is preparing to face capture by Zod.
Superman
and Lois have a cute shipping momen before a smaller transport of Zod’s forces
shows up.
Faora emerges to collect
Kal-El and the humans are visibly disturbed, as if they can sense the evil of
Faora.
Faora introduces herself
to Kal-El and extends Zod’s greetings. Faora walks over to the military forces
and says that Zod wants Lois to come with them as well. Despite the threat of
imminent annihilation, the military forces point blank refuse to hand Lois over
to Faora. Humans are so amazing moment.
Antje Traue really does
an amazing job acting as Faora, just her movements are so beautifully precisely
cold that it’s like watching the movements of a fine blade through the air and
I’m not usually the kind of the person who notices acting abilities or lack of
them but Antje in particular really impresses me.
That said Lois freely
goes of her own volition, despite the incredible immediate danger it poses
either to know the truth or to protect the Earth or both. Normal humans are so
noble and good.
Aboard the ship Superman
slips Lois his Kryptonian Key for later and Faora puts a breather on Lois since
she can’t survive the Native Kryptonian Atmosphere.
Back on the ship Zod
starts trying to act all chummy with Kal, and it’s easy to see why. Given the
low number of Kryptonians, and because Kal is the only entity as physically
powerful as his Kryptonians and can threaten their lives, Zod would absolutely
think Kal joining his side would be a major positive event. One might think Zod
is trying to honor his old friendship with Jor-El, and while I like that
sentiment in theory, but I find this unlikely given how Zod specifically said
to Lara “You think your son is safe?” although that might be considered a heat
of the moment yell. It’s also possible he thinks he still needs or at least
it’s advantageous to get Kal to get the codex.
1:17:15 Clark falls to
the floor, his body heaving and coughs up blood, having not adapted to
Kryptonian Atmosphere. I’ve always taken this as a symbolic point, that he’s
initially refusing his Kryptonian Heritage. Lois runs over to him concerned and
implores Zod to help him, who says he can’t.
Lois more desperately
pleads against for them to help him and Clark loses counciousness and goes into
a dream state where Zod actually appears. And this isn’t a dream, this is the
real Zod. I think it’s cool. It reminds me a bit of Galaxia attacking Usagi in
her dream in the final arc of Sailor Moon.
1:17:45 Zod: Hello Kal…or
do you prefer Clark?”
This line is such a
chilling line as Zod demonstrates his knowledge of Clark/Kal-El’s human name
and his history (they are standing at his mother’s house) as a form of
intimidation.
1:17:50: Zod: “That’s the
name THEY gave you, isn’t it?”
The way Zod phrases this,
in such a complete them and us way is on one level a clever rhetorical
strategy, dividing people into two groups and them implicitly putting yourself
in the same group as the person you are talking too, and also just how he would
think. Biogenetically created to be nothing but a soldier, Zod has no capacity
for understanding or empathy, all he knows is how to destroy that which is not
them, to destroy anything he views as threat.
Zod recounts the end of
Krypton from his perspective to Kal. There’s a really small moment at 1:18:23
where Faora, Little Miss “your emotions are an evolutionary disadvantage”
Faora, is shown tearing at the destruction of Krypton, the destruction of one’s
home being such a powerful emotion force that it moves even her. Zod goes over
and comforts her by placing his hand on her shoulder, a silent gesture without
emphasis and that doesn’t display weakness for either, and this little bit of
camaraderie is honestly more characterization then a lot of supervillain groups
get.
Kal asks Zod how they got
to Earth, and he says that they retrofitted their phantom projector into a
hyperdrive and says symbolically that the instrument of their damnation became
the instrument of their salvation. Zod tells Kal that they looked for the
Kryptonian outposts which had all died, cut off from Krypton and scavenged what
resources they could including a world engine. Plot Point.
Zod then shows Kal the
terraforming of Earth, although by his tone and question “what happens to the
Earth” it’s clear Kal wants to protect the Earth and will not go along with
Zod’s scheme and so Zod dismissively tells him the foundations had to be built
on something, and even Jor-El knew that before Kal gets sucked into ground of
bones. I like how understated their conversation at first, and how Kal doesn’t
just answer with such a big exclamation but Zod simply actually intuits Kal’s
feelings from his expression and choice of question, something heavily really
realistic that doesn’t happen much in fiction.
Clark wakes up and is
tied down. Hearing Zod talk of his father, he comes to a realization and says,
“you killed him (Jor-El)?”
Zod responds:
1:21:25 Zod: “I did. And
not a day goes by where it doesn’t haunt me. But if I had to do it again…I
would. I have a duty to my people. And I will not allow ANYONE to prevent me
from carrying it out.”
And here we see both what
makes Zod emotionally complex and also a complete villain laid so simple. I am
fascinated by this bond that Zod and Jor-El apparently had. Zod is haunted by
having to kill Jor-El, whom was once his friend it seems, yet would never
deviate from his “programming” his engineered desire to kill anything in the
way of Krypton.
The “duty” line is such a
subtly strong line as he condemns Clark as abandoning his duty to his people in
exchange for someone, namely the Humans, THEM as Zod thinks of them.
Part 4: Invasion
Zod’s ship releases two
ships, the World Engine, and the Phantom Drive to opposite sides of the planet
and the American military has an immediate response including a plan for this,
showing that they were prepared for some kind of conflict.
Jax-Ur, Zod’s scientist
tells Clark that aboard the ship’s Krypton like atmosphere, he is as weak as a
human (showing that they don’t understand humanity’s greatness) and injects him
with a needle.
Meanwhile one of Zod’s
soldiers, Car-Vex takes Lois into a holding pod. While in there, Lois notices a
small hole the shape of Clark’s command key and quickly intuits that it goes
inside. I’d say this is another moment of humans being great but honestly it
doesn’t seem that complex. This is more of a common-sense win then a humanity
win.
Lois inserts the key and
the AI Ghost of Jor-El appears on the script. Jor-El introduces himself to Lois
and Lois asks if he can help them, and he says he designed the ship, and that
he can modify it to make it have human atmospheric conditions.
In somewhat humorous
fashion, several Kryptonian Soldiers try to attack Lois but Jor-El just slams
the doors of the ship on them, sealing them out.
With the atmospheric
shift, Superman breaks his restraints.
Lois wielding Kryptonian
Firearm manages to kill two Kryptonian soldiers trained and engineered for
warfare, who are granted not superpowerful at the moment but still. This seems
to be yet another moment where normal humans are presented as being amazing. It
also helps that Supergenius Jor-El tells her when and where to fire.
This brings up a personal
irk of mine. I don’t like fodder, like the idea of just a large group of
enemies for the heroes to plow through. Narratively speaking fodder don’t carry
any weight at all because they’re designed to be as much of a threat as the
plot them needs to be. This movie does have a little bit of the fodder problem,
but it’s hard for me to really say that’s a “problem” when it’s SOOOO endemic
to fiction as a whole, and honestly this movie is pretty light on the fodder
problem. Even like 3 of the 5 current DCEU films have large amounts of fodder
in them for the heroes to just bash and most movies that have a superhero have
fodder. I don’t like fodder because there’s no narrative stake with fodder
since they don’t have their own personal story and it really ties in to the
whole “1 death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic” problem.
Lois manages to escape
but in the escape her pod is damaged causing it to start careening out of
control as it falls back to Earth.
Jor-El appears before the
escaping Kal. Kal asks if what Zod said was true. Jor-El responds:
1:26:15: Jor-El: “We
wanted you to learn what it meant to be human first, so that one day when the
time was right, you could be the bridge between two peoples.”
Jor-El had such an
idealistic hope for his child, that he could integrate the Human and
Kryptonian, and only we as the audience knows that dream will come to pass with
the Superman.
Superman leaves in a
cross position. Apparently, this is the other time that he is supposed to be
super explicitly Jesus or something? I am not from a Christian Culture, so I
certainly didn’t notice. It seemed to me just a bit of cool imagery. Also, I
really don’t see the problem regardless, it lasts seconds and is just a
religious reference. A lot of these people are the same types of people where
if I said an anime character’s pose or words are meant to parallel a famous
Shinto Legend would be like “oh that’s really cool/deep”.
Superman darts after
Lois’ out of control escape pod. He punches his way into it, grabs Lois and at
the last second before they are engulfed by the flames of its crash turns
around protecting her body with his and bringing her safety to ground. The
action sequences in this movie are really well made! I was hooked the whole
time.
Meanwhile at the Kents
House, Ma Kent comes outside to see an alien craft landing.
Superman hears the
landing near his Ma’s house and quickly flies over.
Zod in full battle armor
with some troops also in full battle armor approach Ma Kent and says
1:28:40: Zod: “The Craft
he arrived in…where is it?”
To which she responds
1:28:45: Ma Kent: “Go to
Hell.”
This is a Kryptonian
General, a super powerful force at it’s most intimidating but Ma Kent refuses
to help anyone who’s after her boy even with such an imminent threat. Another
example of a normal human being amazing.
Zod, tells Faora to look
in the barn, presumably with x-ray vision and she superleaps into it, finding
the craft only to find that it’s empty. She reports this to Zod, who takes it
characteristically well.
And then throws a truck
angrily into the Kent House.
Zod yells at Ma Kent
before a sonic boom and Superman crashes into Zod sending them rocketing
through massive stone pillars. Enraged Superman plows Zod into the ground and
begins punching him in the face
1:29:50: Superman: You
think you can threaten my mother!?”
It’s so sweet seeing
Superman defending his mom like that. Clark’s such a gentleman.
The two crashes into a
gas station causing it to explode on them
We are now 1.5 hours into
this film. This is where the supposed “massive” destruction of the film starts.
First off, the
destruction is often heavily exaggerated but even if it was massive I have to
say, the people who fixate on that point have very warped standards.
Have you read any massive
DC event since….IDK Crisis on Infinite Earths? Have you seen how much
destruction those caused? Have you seen any other Superhero Movie of characters
that have comparable power levels? Have you seen the DC Animated Universe where
Superman’s struggles regularly destroy buildings? Man of Steel is only an
outlier on the level of destruction if you view nothing else that contains
superpower entities on that level that have been made within the last 30 years.
Also, this is Superman’s
first day as a superhero, why are you holding him to some impossible standard
where he can somehow prevent all collateral damage? And don’t say “Because he’s
Superman”. Superman is not and has never been a mythical godlike entity capable
of never causing collateral damage. I love the world of cardboard scene from
the DCAU much because it really shows what it must be like to be Superman, to
be surrounded by an infinitely fragile world.
Zod attempts to approach
the prone Superman but his helmet rupture causes him to be overwhelmed as
Superman was as a child. A little thing but I really love these looks into a
sort of alien psychology and experience informed by actually different
capacities.
Superman takes pride in
how his parents taught him how to hone his senses, how to be human in a sense,
and now Zod is getting everything as he once did. And there’s a very small but
very interesting glee in Superman’s voice when he says:
“And now you’re getting
everything…and it hurts….doesn’t it?”
As if finally, finally
his experience is not isolated, and it actually is proving useful.
Zod’s ship arrives and
shoots Superman while Zod’s soldiers quickly come down and collect the
disoriented Zod.
Faora and Nam (real name
Nam-Ek…. somebody’s a Dragon Ball Z fan it seems :P) show up to fight Kal as
Zod’s ship is leaving. Superman walks in their direction as they walk in his,
in one of those dramatic showdown moments. Superman tells the nearby civilians
to get inside because it’s not safe.
The Military show up and
machine gun at all 3 Kryptonians, this ragdolls Nam but he’s fine while Faora
and Superman escape the fire.
Nam’s fine from the
machine gun fire and angrily superleaps up to one of the military vehicles to
punch it, causing the thing to crash down.
The fight scenes in this
film are absolutely incredibly well-made. I’m not usually one to even notice
something like that but the super-powerful characters all actually feel
superhuman and have believable momentum and force transference and it’s super
cool just to watch them move at superspeeds and punch at each other.
Faora launches herself at
another military craft but Superman intercepts her mid-flight sending them
careening far away into a local diner. Superman attempts to fight Faora but she
easily dips and dodges around him and knocks him around.
Faora does like the
classic anime villain thing where she’s like, paraphrasing, “Your morality
makes you weak. Our amorality is evolutionarily advantageous, and evolution
always wins.”
I think we can all agree
Faora is top 10 anime villains.
Faora throws Superman
across town. Superman gets angry and charges her, knocking her through
buildings but as he’s starting to gain momentum Nam shows up and knocks him
back down.
Faora and Nam start
beating down Superman together. The military shows up again. Superman does his
best to hold off Faora and Nam and does admirably well given this is like his
first day of fighting ever, managing to at least hold them off a bit. I
especially like when Superman carries Faora into the air and Nam jumps on him
knocking them all down to Earth.
The Two Kryptonians
manage to lock Superman down but Superman uses his heat vision to send the two
flailing away in pain. Gee it’s almost like Kryptonian Heat Vision…burns
Kryptonians. That’s gonna make one argument that DCEU haters try and make later
sound really really stupid.
I do like how Superman
uses his few advantages, namely flight and heat vision which Faora and Nam
haven’t learned to use at this point, to get small advantages over the other
two.
The Military riddles the
Kryptonians with Machine Gun fire which proceeds to do absolutely nothing to do
them.
Nam throws a truck at one
of the helicopters, taking down it’s back end and causing the guy inside to
fall but Superman saves him. Nam then sucker punches Superman. Faora tanks the
military’s gunfire on her and proceeds to actually speedblitz them, and omg
people are actually using their superspeed in combat…like it actually looks
like super speed. And it’s looks soooo cool. I don’t get why people seem to
think watching people blip at around at high speeds somehow makes fights less
fun to watch, this is amazing.
Meanwhile Superman and
Nam are brawling, gunfire blazing all around them, as Nam uses his super bulk
on Superman to throw him around while Superman actually demonstrates basic
cognitive learning (a sad rarity in fiction) to, after his first direct assault
didn’t work, to avoid a second direct assault.
Colonel Nathan Hardy, who
has been serving under General Swanwick was in the crash and watches Faora on
ground approach. Colonel Nathan basically tells the airships nearby not to risk
themselves for him, making a noble sacrifice for his men. Normal people are so
amazing.
He attempts to shoot
Faora but obviously it doesn’t work, and he runs out of bullets. Meanwhile
Superman takes Nam up into the sky and manages to seemingly get the better of
him by throwing into a train causing it to explode on Nam.
Colonel Nathan pulls
out…I’m not very good at bladed weapons, it’s some kind of blade and Faora
pulls out some kind of bladed weapon herself. Faora says
Faora: 1:37:20: “A good
death is its own reward”
A little nitpick; I don’t
know why Faora would say that to him unless she’s taunting him, but it really
is a cool line and reflects Kryptonian Military Psychology.
Before they can actually
clash with Faora presumably going to kill him with her super powers Superman
comes in and slams into her knocking her several meters away and into the
ground.
Colonel Nathan does not
take this opportunity to flee for his life but instead helps escort a wounded
fellow soldier because this movie absolutely adores normal people and shows
them as heroic at every possible opportunity.
Faora who got her helmet
messed up in the collision suffer the sensory problem that Kal and Zod did
early. The army fire a missile at Faora but before it can hit, Superman is hit
with a locomotive and sent through buildings by Nam. Faora looks in that direct
and gets hit-head on with a missile only for the Kryptonian spacecraft to blast
down the ship that launched the missile.
Side Note: People get
blasted a lot in this movie.
Faora’s unconscious from
some combination of her helmet breaking and the missile that got fired in her
face. Nam takes her body and brings her onto the Kryptonian ship.
The Military is
investigating the area and Superman emerges from the wreckage. Superman walks
among them and Colonel Nathan, who Superman saved minutes ago, says
1:39:30: Colonel Nathan:
This man is not our enemy.
AWWWWWWW, this moment
makes me feel so happy, the moment when he calls him a man, not an alien, and
that Superman is finally accepted despite his differences. And his little
“Thank you colonel” just cements it.
Superman flies off to
make sure his mom is ok.
Ma Kent is gathering
memories from the wreckage when Superman arrives. Superman tells her he is so
sorry referring to the destruction and Ma Kent says
1:40:15 Ma Kent: “It’s
only stuff Clark, it can always be replaced.”
It’s a noble and stoic
sentiment that we should try and aspire to and I have to admit I am terrible
at. I get way too emotional about simple material things.
And Superman replies “But
you can’t be”
Dawwwww <3
Lois arrives in police
transport and tells Clark that she knows how to stop them. Something that
doesn’t get mentioned I have noticed about this film and a surprisingly large
amount of the DCEU is the amount of female presence in these movies. I am not
trying to make a statement about that, just something I noticed.
Back on Zod’s ship Zod
talks to Jax-Ur who reveals that the Codex’s genetics for bringing about more
Kryptonians was imprinted onto Kal’s cells. Zod asks if Kal needs to be alive
to extract them and Jax-Ur responds no.
Ok I need to get this out
of the way while we are on Zod’s ship. This movie is not very dark
lighting-wise. I’ve seen some people try to claim the movie is shot darkly. I’m
a film amateur but even I can see that’s really not true. There are a lot of
orbital shots of the Earth with like the sun in the background making things
bright. There is a lot of shots of sunlight and shadow creating heavy light and
dark contrast. Most of the scenes of this movie take place outside or in space
and during the day, meaning there are a lot of sunny or cloudy day shots
outside. This movie is not very dark lighting wise. I say it because right now
(1:41:35) there is a shot of Zod looking out onto the Earth and this is his
decision to kill Superman and release the world engine, an ominous moment that
you would expect to be shot darkly and the Sun is facing him because of his
ship’s position in relation to the Earth making him brightly shot. This is
almost the perfect metaphor for this movie. People claim it’s dark despite
having so much brightness that things that are NORMALLY dark are made bright.
Anyway, Zod tells Jax-Ur
to release the World Engine, the Kryptonian Terraforming Device mentioned in
Jor-El’s history of Krypton to Kal-El earlier.
The Phantom Drive and The
World Engine descend upon the Earth preparing to terraform it in a genuinely
impressive scene showing their massive size.
There is now 30 minutes
left in this movie not including credits. How is this movie very dark? It’s
been nearly 1 hour 45 minutes. Outside of the tornado scene which is not very
dark in actual context and lasts a few minutes, how is this movie very dark?
People have been constantly acting like heroes, this movie adores the ordinary
person as I do. Like if you asked me to name a song that this movie is like, or
is like so far, I would say appropriately enough “Superheroes” by the Script.
It is an adoration, a veneration of what makes humanity great, of the divine
free will that allows to become the person want to be.
The World Engine and the
Phantom Drive initiate their terraforming in intense fashion with the World
Engine causing a massive tidal wave a storm to appear in it’s area while the
Phantom puts a massive concussive force on the area.
A lot of people say that
Metropolis got destroyed in this movie but like….there’s a shot at 1:44:30 that
shows how absolutely miniscule that Phantom Drive’s area of impact compared to
Metropolis. Honestly, I would have expected it to be larger.
Professor Hamilton
helpfully explains to the assembled military personal, and by that, I mean the
audience, how the Kryptonians are terraforming the planet by increasing the
planet’s mass with a cloud of particulates increasing the gravity.
Superman and Lois show up
to help the military bringing the craft infant Kal-El came in. They explain it
has a phantom drive and if it hits Zod’s Phantom Drive it will cause a
singularity like a black hole, that can draw the Kryptonians inwards. I just
want to say for a second that “Phantom Zone Singularity” sounds amazing and
that concept by itself is better then some movies I’ve watched.
The military is gonna try
and use a C-17 to missile launch their phantom drive into Zod’s phantom drive
so he can phantom drive while he phantom drives. Meanwhile Superman is gonna go
stop the World Engine over the Indian Ocean. I’m surprised so many seem to
think this is a tactical error. Nobody else can stop the World Engine because it’s
creating gravity too strong for the humans or their crafts and if Superman
tried to attack at the World Engine, he would most likely get overpowered by a
Few Kryptonian Soldiers attacking at once and not accomplish anything as we saw
happen minutes ago.
Lois asks the pertinent
question
1:46:10 Lois: “If that
thing is making Earth more like Krypton, won’t you be weaker around it.”
Superman confirms it as a
possibility but says he has to try anyway.
Superman tells Lois to
step back, and then a bit more before flying up into the air at supersonic
speeds. He heads off for the Indian Ocean as some of the people there including
Professor Hamilton and more minor supporting character Captain Carrie Ferris
but don’t have much impact at the plot looks up at him admiringly, I only
mention this because it comes back later near the end of the film and this is a
subtle hint to it beforehand that I just wanted to say I actually totally
caught first time.
The Phantom Drive starts
tearing apart nearby buildings. Zod tells Faora to take command while he
secures the genesis chamber, that room where the Kryptonian infants are
gestated and to pay his respects to an old friend.
Zod manages to get a hold
of his senses through sheer willpower in a very understated moment of coolness.
And this is also really bad for our heroes as it took Superman years with help
to learn to control his senses and Zod has learned how to in hours.
Zod speaks to the AI of
Jor-El and it’s fascinating how they go into it with different expectations.
Jor-El immediately asks Zod to stop this while there’s still time and Zod
replies with almost a quip saying, “Haven’t given up lecturing me, have
you…even in death?” It’s clear that both view their side as completely rational
and the others as insanity but Zod seems to legitimately think Jor-El may be
convinced while Jor is reduced to imploring. Zod tells him he is taking full
control from Jor-El.
1:48:45 We cut to
Superman over the Indian Ocean where as predicted he is growing weaker from the
World Engine but fights on.
The World Engine grows
massive mechanical tendrils to try and fight Superman with.
Meanwhile, literally
thousands of miles away, the military is approaching the phantom drive ready to
bomb them. They try and rocket the thing but it’s spatial warping causes the
missiles to get flung around chaotically, and it’s a small thing but I really
like fantastical tactics in fiction and how interesting they can be.
The Chaos of the World
Engine and the military’s struggle makes it’s way to the Daily Planet and Perry
takes command telling everyone they’re leaving and leading them out.
Meanwhile the Tendrils
are grabbing at Superman who is able to knock them into pieces but they continue
to reform and he grows weaker from the atmosphere of the World Engine.
The World Engine’s
spatial warping flings some of the jets around causing one of the buildings to lose
it’s support while the escaping Daily Planet Members are under it. A nearby police
offer witnessing the end of the world is not running but is instead orderly
helping people to safety and It seems like the police command is actually
stable and not broken and are organized-ly helping people. What the frick is
this? Normal people?! Being awesome?! DCEU Humans and really DC Humans in
generally have to take every opportunity to show how absolutely amazing humans
are.
The building begins
collapsing but while Jenny Jurwich is underneath. Perry yells her name and goes
to grab her while Steve Lombard, another employee from the comics stays to help
because normal people are comically awesome at every possibly opportunity. Incredibly enough they quickly turn and run
to the side escaping the building’s massive collapsing diameter. They don’t just
run towards the camera.
Jor-El and Zod snap at
each other a bit. Jor-El tells Zod he’s attempting genocide and Zod dryly says
he’s arguing its merits with a ghost. I love the line that Jor-El says in
response.
1:51:10 Jor-El: “We’re
both ghosts, Zod. Can’t you see that? The Krypton you are clinging onto is
gone.”
It reminds me of how
Jor-El said near the start of the film to the Kryptonian Council that everyone
in the room is already dead. Jor-El’s symbolic statement that they are both
ghosts, relics of a past trying to cling to the present is such a strong
imagery that really shows what Zod is internally. He’s not a normal living
thing anymore trying to adapt to its surroundings but the already dead trying
to cling to a past that no longer can exist.
Zod prepares to terminate
the Jor-El AI and Jor-El says “silencing me won’t change anything, my son…is
twice the man you were.”
The subtle inflection of
how he says were instead of are, how Superman is not just better then how Zod
is, but how Zod always ways, a machine designed to fight and be a warrior and
nothing more. Zod asks Jor-El’s consciousness if he can feel pain before
telling he will harvest the Codex from his son’s corpse and rebuild Krypton
atop his bones before terminating Jor-El’s consciousness. The subtle arc of the
relationship between Jor-El and Zod is a part of the movie that rarely gets the
credit it deserves for its subtle depiction of a broken friendship.
Superman meanwhile
continues his fight against the World Engine, but every time he gets close he
gets hit by the Tendrils which, as he grows weaker, proportionally seem
stronger and stronger as he gets slowly warn down.
As Superman loses control
the tendrils fling him directly down into the World Engine Beam that is able to
massively increase the mass of the earth and terraform the planet, hitting with
a massive gravitational force.
Back in Metropolis Perry
which looks for Jenny as he sees the Phantom Drive’s power approaching. Perry
finds Jenny trapped under debris and she begins hysterically declaring that
she’s struck and can’t get free. Perry briefly looks away to find something to
free her and she grabs harder on his hand begging him not to leave her
tearfully and it’s an emotion I relate too all strongly. I’ve never been in a
situation like that per se, but I understand the fear that if someone leaves
you that you’ll die hysterical and irrational though it may be. It’s something
most children fear at some point when their parents leave them to sleep alone
and it’s something we revert too.
Perry reassures her that
he’s not going to leave and yells for Lombard to help him move the rubble
trapping Jenny. Perry and Lombard desperately try to free Jenny as the Phantom
Drive’s power gets closer.
At the world engine, at
the bottom of its beam, Superman with a push brings his fist upwards as he did
during his first flight, trying to summon the will again to bear the weight of
the world itself.
Superman pulls himself upwards, the strain of the gravity
shown so clearly in it’s intensity. Against the weight of the world itself,
Superman launches himself into the air and charges the world engine and with a
big yell slams his body into it’s center, shutting off the terraforming and the
Phantom Drive’s beam and causing it to explode on him.
Perry, Lombard, and Jenny
look around, having been saved at the last second by Superman.
1:55:00 The military
prepares to engage and fire down the phantom drive with their own phantom
drive.
Colonel Nathan is
piloting the show and tells Lois it’s up to her and Professor Hamilton to arm
their phantom drive. Lois goes back.
Meanwhile we see the
near-dead Superman and a ray of sunlight hits his face. He reaches for it, and
it seems to begin restoring him.
Lois moves to put the key
in to the thing, but it jams and doesn’t actually go in. Isn’t that always the
way, technology suddenly stop working just when you need it most?
Zod’s ship shows up and
starts blasting other aircraft out of the way getting ready to blast the ship
with the good guys’ Phantom Drive. Before they can fire on them, Superman flies
into the ship. Zod implores Superman to stop but Superman uses his Heat Vision
to destroy the scout ship ending all chance for Zod to turn Earth into a new
Krypton by destroying the genesis chamber. There’s a disturbing myth that this
means Kal-El destroyed a bunch of Kryptonian fetuses which is absolutely not
correct. Here is a list of reasons why.
BTW you should really
check out Man of Steel Answers the youtube channel and the actual site which
contains an absolutely insane amount of content dissecting the DCEU and it’s
many subtle themes in massive depth all in a calm, rational and positive
manner. Absolutely love the guys’ work.
Perry and Steve get Jenny
out of the rubble as the wreckage of the Scout Ship crashes down into
Metropolis violently.
Faora leaves to attack
the good guys’ ship. Meanwhile Professor Hamilton actually manages to figure
out how the key works and orients the machine properly, using his science
knowledge. Granted it doesn’t look very impressive which I suppose might be a
small complaint, but in theory this ordinary Earth scientist is saving the day
by on the fly figuring out technology thousands of years advanced of Earth
rapidly. It’s another example of normal humans being amazing.
Faora bursts into the
ship and walks through their gunfire. Professor Hamilton is knocked down and sees
the last adjustment needed to get the machine working while Colonel Nathan
knowing it’s now or never goes up to prepare for the phantom drive launch.
Of course, nobody
actually tries to run from Faora, instead trying to hold her off despite their
guns doing absolutely nothing because DC humans are so full of bravery they
probably eat Captain Courage breakfast cereal every day.
Hamilton works through
the pain and pushes the key inside the machine arming the phantom drive. And
Colonel Nathan says back to Faora:
“A good death…is it’s own
reward!”
And it’s such a cool moment!
He then flies their phantom drive into the Kryptonians’ phantom drive, their
air force sucking Lois out as the two phantom drives collide into….wait for…
PHANTOM ZONE SINGULARITY
Everything Kryptonian
starts to get pulling into the… Phantom Zone Singularity!!!... including
Superman as Lois falls to the ground. Superman flies up to catch him. I hear
this is a plot hole, but it’s really not. Namely how Lois was falling and not
being sucked into the….Phantom Zone Singularity!!! That’s really not a plot hole if you were
paying attention. Only things that were doused in wormhole energy are getting
sucked in which is the Kryptonians from their hyperspace jump, and Superman who
made a hyperspace jump as a child and was doused in the stuff by the World
Engine. The normal human stuff isn’t getting pulled in because it wasn’t hit by
any of that warp energy.
Check Man of Steel answers for visual evidence of
this.
In a really cool small
scene, Superman carrying Lois pulls against the force of the…Phantom Zone
Singularity!!! … which can be seen as a sort of mini-metaphor for him escaping
the pull of his Kryptonian origin. One might wonder why none of the other
Kryptonians could pull against it like he could, but they can’t fly. They can
just superleap and once pulled into the air they have nothing to push off of.
Superman’s flight is made a surprisingly big deal in this movie.
The…Phantom Zone
Singularity!!! … collapses leaving the world a much less metal place and
Superman brings Lois to ground.
So, 2 hours into this
movie. I’m nearly 18,500 words in rn. If I stopped here and somehow published
this, it could be counted as a Novella. I have painstakingly gone over this
movie in incredible detail and I do this for an important reason. When you hear
most DCEU haters comment on this movie, there are some complaints you hear
which I have tried to address, but for the most part it’s ambiguous terms that
really don’t apply if you try and look at specific examples throughout the film
like “dark” and if you ask for specifics it’s basically 2 things you get told.
2. 2 things that are in PART of the last 15 minutes of the film which has 2
hours beforehand.
Think about that for a
second. We’re talking about 1/9 th of the film left. If you were watching a
television show of say 22 minutes we are talking about less than 3 minutes of
content and those 22 minutes include opening and ending. And this is a
conservative estimate. Let’s say you hate the last 15 minutes of this film, I
could see someone dropping a point or two out of ten but jeez the overrated
response to the last 15 minutes of the film, and one moment in particular is so
overstated that I had to start making these defense blogs, blogs I suspect will
take dozens of pages each time in Words Time New Roman 12 font because I find
it so incredibly irrational and annoying. I am not saying you have to like this
film, but what I am saying is you have to be rational in your logical
assessment of things if you want to be considered truthful and if I don’t think
you are, I am going to criticize and deconstruct that logic.
So, time to get into the
last 15 minutes movie (it’s actually more like 13 minutes
but who’s counting) of a film that is notably longer than 2 hours.
So, Jenny asks Perry if
they’re gone and when he confirms he believes so Jenny says that he saved them,
and I’ve seen people try and make fun of this line because there was
destruction which is such…. she’s saying he saved the human race which he did
twice over there. Both literally and metaphorically she is completely right.
You just don’t like that he did not save everyone which is not what she’s
saying.
Superman and Lois have a
cute shipping moment before they hear a dramatic rustling of the rubble
indicating Zod’s presence. Superman goes over, flying close to ground. Superman
walks to the kneeling Zod holding a pile of sand and ash in his hand.
Zod, in a voice with
anger deep in it but mostly of sadness and confusion says Kal chose this
squalor and the humans over them. Zod has a really great line expressing his
confusion and anger mostly at Kal but maybe partly at life itself and to his
own fortune and his line you can see exactly how Krypton’s way of removing people’s
free will and forcing them to be what society wants them to be is wrong.
2:01:25 Zod: “I exist
only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which I was born. And
every action I take, no matter how violent, or how cruel is for the greater good
of my people. And now, I have no people. My soul…. that…is what…YOU HAVE TAKEN
FROM ME!”
Saying this, Zod angrily
charges Superman flinging him away. Zod and Superman exchange declarations
before their battle
Zod: “I’m going to make
them suffer Kal, these humans you’ve adopted. I will take them all from you,
one by one.”
Superman: “You’re a
monster, Zod. And I’m going to stop you.”
Superman and Zod charge
each other causing a massive shockwave sending Superman flying. Zod follows
Superman and with a moment’s warm-up starts firing his Heat Vision, rapidly
acquiring the powers that Superman took years. He destroys most of the office
room they ended up in, as it’s clearly chaotic and uncontrolled at the moment
but he’s quickly reaching Superman’s control of his powers.
Zod leaps out of the
building and Superman flies after him. The two begin their fight scene with Zod
collapsing the building and throwing Superman around like a ragdoll. People
seem to get really angry at this fight, despite being amazingly well-choreographed
and it’s incredible capture of the feel of godlike entities clashing
because….Superman didn’t stop the collateral damage. I’m sorry, this is
Superman’s first day and he’s fighting General Zod. What do you people want
from him? These are the same people that are like “Comic Superman isn’t really
perfect, he’s an interesting character and totally not overpowered” and yeah, I
agree this is a pretty logical struggle for him to have and this is a realistic
amount of damage and yet somehow, it’s a problem he’s not so perfect as to not
stop all of this. And there’s a common argument used against it, but the film
is actually going to show the problem with that argument.
I love the little detail
of this fight how Zod actually does way better against Superman showcasing his
military training. Zod kicks a Lexcorp oil truck at Superman who nimbly dodges
by levitating only for it to explode behind him. This tiny detail makes people
get angry. Come on guys, not only is this Superman’s first day, but being hit
by that could have given Zod an advantage as opposed to doing surface level
damage, and if you look later the building didn’t even actually collapse.
Zod takes advantages of
Superman’s momentary distraction to whack him.
The two continue fighting
and it’s just so cool how well the fight captures the feel of gods fighting,
their constantly being flung around which shockwaves coming out of their
strikes. One reviewer humorously said it’s the best Dragon Ball Z movie ever even
though it’s not Dragon Ball Z.
Zod gives his ultimatum:
2:04:15 Zod: “There’s
only one way this ends Kal. Either you die, or I do.”
General Zod and Superman
clash again and their fight continues with redoubled effort. On top of a
building, Zod tries to hit Superman with a metal beam. Superman heat visions
through it but Zod hits with the burnt end of it knocking him humorously into a
sign that gave number of days since last accident and setting it to 0.
Zod gives pretty much the
perfect explanation for why he’s doing so much better then Superman.
2:04:50 Zod: “I was bred
to be a warrior Kal, trained my entire life to master my senses. Where did you
train? On a farm?!”
And there we see Zod give
the stakes. Kal is on the ropes, Zod is a much stronger fighter who can adapt
faster and has better training. Superman has barely any control on the
situation and the people claiming he should be stopping Zod from doing this
collateral damage, a damage much less I should add then people think or is
common in comic book crisis events, are saying he should completely contain
something the movie is saying he can barely contain at all.
2:05:00 Zod does the
biggest intimidation thing he could have done. Zod’s armor breaks apart and he
begins to fly. Remember the First Flight Sequence? That was not even days ago.
Flight has been Superman’s biggest ally against the other Kryptonians so far.
Yet now Zod can use it despite being on Earth a very brief time purely through
will and his military training. Zod is quickly becoming unstoppable.
Superman, realizing he
has to end this quickly, charges Zod and the two fight in mid-air, punching
each other across the city, a city that seems completely pristine I should add,
the vast majority not being affected by the Phantom Drive. But yeah, they are
zipping around each other, flinging each other with punches, it’s amazing.
I especially love a very
small moment where we are given an over the shoulder view from Superman’s
perspective as he zips around the city and there’s a brief silhouette of Zod,
before quickly disappearing showing the fight from his perspective as a mad
chase looking for brief visual confirmation with buildings rushing by at high
speeds.
Zod continues to throw
Superman around like a ragdoll through buildings and I have to wonder if DCEU
haters are like “Nope, Superman should have stopped Zod from throwing him
through buildings. Really irresponsible of him.”
So, I hear some of the
haters be like “Why doesn’t Superman take the fight outside of the city?” Well
not only is that easier said then done, but Superman actually tries, a charge
sends the two of them careening into space up to a Wayne Satellite.
Also, can I just say I
love when metahumans fight in space, it’s one of the reasons my favorite series
is Sailor Moon (Manga), because space fights make everything seem so vast and
cosmic in scale and it’s so cool.
Zod brings the satellite
down onto Superman sending him careening back towards Metropolis so yeah,
taking fight elsewhere, doesn’t really work that well when your opponent is
stronger then you and is fast enough to easily fly to and from satellites in
space.
The humans see Superman
and Zod in melee re-enter atmosphere like a comet before crashing down into
what I think is a museum area and Superman has managed to briefly take
advantage of the fight getting Zod into a headlock.
Zod angrily tells
Superman that if he loves these people so much, he can mourn for them and
blasts his heat vision near some trapped civilians and starts trying to jerk
his head in that direction to kill them.
I’m over 20,000 words in.
And now it’s time to talk about what all the DCEU haters complain about, the
moment that they all seem to bring up and they all seem to hate.
Superman pleads with Zod
not to do this, imploring him and begging him to stop and Zod angrily says
“Never”.
Superman breaks Zod’s
neck.
Readers and hopefully
friends, I want to apologize pre-emptily. You are about to see me get angrier
then I usually get. This moment is the most commonly talked about moment in the
film, and honestly it really shouldn’t be. I am going to have to explain in
massive detail why Superman killing Zod is not bad. This is going to be in a
LOT of detail, so I am going to need you to prepare yourself for this. I am
doing this because the arguments people use against this are so flawed and yet
are clung to with such vigor that I have no choice but to utterly annihilate
this argument in every detail.
There are so many ways to
deconstruct the logic that it’s actually hard to figure out where to start.
Let me start at the
beginning.
Man of Steel is an
adaptation. I want to use another adaptation for comparison sake. I am a huge
fan of the Divine Comedy, I think it’s the great written work ever made. If you
look at Dante’s Inferno the video game as an adaptation it’s horrendous. It
does exactly what Dante is against, The Divine Comedy promotes sympathy and
empathy for everyone, even the damned, while in the game the damned are
transformed into hellish monstrosities to be slain with sadistic glee. In the
Divine Comedy, Dante is an ordinary man, meant to show the universality of his
message and the importance of the common man as being able to center a
narrative or even a universe around his struggles. In the game, Dante is a
super-powered crusader with a soul literally more sinful then anyone had ever
been before. In the Divine Comedy Satan was locked in ice at the bottom of hell
symbolically impotent as opposed to God’s omnipotence, his sterility
representing the lack of creative power that evil has, and his isolation
showing that Satan is not responsible for our misdeeds. In the game, Satan is a
clever manipulator who actually is able to manipulate people into doing the
wrong things. If you look at Dante’s Inferno as an adaptation as an adaptation
it is wholly and entirely against the spirit of the original.
Do I hate Dante’s Inferno
the video game? No. Because taken it in isolation it’s fairly enjoyable, at
least in my opinion and its plot in isolation is also enjoyable.
Now I want you to look at
Man of Steel again but pretend that Superman is not an established character.
Pretend that Man of Steel was the first film to ever feature Superman, or even
a superhero in general if you feel like it. You know what happens, Superman
killing is suddenly not at all a big deal, because the ONLY reason it’s a big
deal is because people see it as taboo that Superman would ever kill anyone
despite the fact that this is an alternate universe with a different character.
Tell me how Superman killing in Man of Steel at all violates the plot arc of
Man of Steel.
Some people complain that
there was totally a way for Superman to stop Zod without killing him in the
context of the situation, which is such a weasel way of doing this, of trying
to avoid the actual situation which is that Superman has to kill Zod or let
them die. But these are heavily unlikely. Could Superman have flown up with
Zod? Well yes but Zod could have lowered his head and hit them anyway. In fact,
that change of angle would have actually given Zod a straighter line to fire in
because of the math involved. Also, if Zod breaks free he’s gonna kill everyone
anyway. Superman was barely able to get Zod in a lock once. Zod was actually
winning their fight most of the time and he laid down the ultimatum that it was
one of the two. The situation was merely a representation of that. I hear some
people insanely try and claim that Superman could have blocked Zod’s heat
vision with his hand, which just goes to show how far DCEU haters will go to
try and justify their intuitions, even without rational fact. If you ask how
Superman’s hands could have survived the heat, some of them will say because he
survived re-entry heat which is absolutely nonsensical. Superman’s Heat Vision
earlier threatened Faora and Zod learning Heat Vision was supposed to be a
threat earlier. Kryptonians can’t just take their own heat vision. Also, if
Superman loses his hold on Zod by taking a hand away, Zod is going to break
free and kill people regardless. All of this is just a desperate attempt to try
and discredit the film and ignore the actual conflict raised.
If you look at Man of
Steel in complete isolation, Superman killing is him symbolically ending his
attachment to the old ways of Krypton and choosing humanity, something he has
done throughout the entire film. And on a more literal level it’s completely sensible
that Superman would kill Zod but I’ll get to that in a second. Let me tell you
why I know Superman killing wouldn’t be a big deal if the movie was not
considered as an adaptation but as an original work:
In the Avengers, the
Marvel Superheroes killed a massive load of Chitauri including destroying their
mothership killing them all at once and in their solo films they often kill the
primary villain by the end of the film. In Dragon Ball Goku regularly killed
his opponents including kicking out Drum’s eyes and killing Commander Black who
was trying to run away (honestly most Shonen protagonists kill monsters on the
spot). In Super Sentai and Power Rangers the Team will often explode monsters
of the week without any hesitation, many of whom are established as sentient
beings. Most Magical Girl shows involve the Girls regularly magically exploding
monsters of the week, many of whom are also established as sentient beings
(Don’t even get me started on some of the deaths in Codename: Sailor V where
Minako did things like melting monsters to death and slicing off their heads).
Mario usually crushes enemies under foot and, even if that isn’t killing in
some games it seems, knocks cowardly Koopas hiding in their shells into boiling
lava. In the final season of Samurai Jack, Jack kills living things and feels
remorse for it which got apparently praised for this (he also killed X9 who
might have been a robot, but he clearly expressed love for his puppy). Kirby
regularly consumes his living enemies trapping them in a nigh-infinite void for
all eternity. In most Medieval Fantasy Settings, the hero will cut down any
number of goblins and orcs and any number of other evil entities despite being
paragons of righteousness. At least one Disney Princess has killed hundreds of
invading troops by burying them in an avalanche. Are you starting to get the
picture? The whole of fiction is full of noble people killing bad guys and it’s
not considered even remotely morally suspect. If Man of Steel was considered
independently, this would not be any kind of argument whatsoever.
The only way this is any
kind of problem is if you expect the Superman of Man of Steel to not be a
character in his own right but to be the exact character from the Comics. Which
reminds me, there are two reasonings DCEU haters use, or some hybrid, which are
that “Superman doesn’t kill” and “Supeman shouldn’t kill”, both of which are
wrong. While both are bad arguments since Man of Steel is not the Superman of
the Comics, it’s also wrong because both of these statements are categorically
untrue…. well the first one is, the second one is an ethics statement but it
you believe there is any objective moral code it’s highly unlikely to be the
second.
Let’s start with the
easier to deconstruct “Superman doesn’t kill”.
I have to say, I don’t
think you know the character as well as you think you do. Why does the Superman
in the Comics not kill? Because Superman believes he is not any higher than anyone
else and believes in the proper rule of law and the execution of it. Also, it
would be insane if Superman were to heat vision a normal criminal’s brains out
because he was stealing which would be completely excessive. However, when
fighting entities of his own level, Superman does not hesitate to kill for the
good of the universe.
People bring up the
famous times when Superman killed the Pocket Universe Kryptonians, one of which
WAS Zod, by the way using Kryptonite. The only defense I hear when I bring that
up is “But that story wasn’t well received, you shouldn’t be pulling from that
if you are a REAL fan of Superman” which is not only not actually a defense of
the fact that Superman has killed before in equal to less immediate
circumstances, but also a real no true scotsman fallacy. But fine. In “The
Death of Superman” Superman kills Doomsday who also kills Superman with his
final blow. Sure, Doomsday regenerated but Superman legitimately killed
Doomsday. Or how about in Final Crisis when Superman erases Darkseid from
existence by canceling out his cosmic string vibrations? Yeah Darkseid came
back eventually too, that doesn’t stop the fact that Superman erased Darkseid
from existence. “Death of the Superman” and “Final Crisis” are both somewhat
controversial works with both fans and critics, but at the very least they’re
somewhat positively received, and nobody cares that Superman used lethal force.
What, is Zod somehow
morally superior to Doomsday and Darkseid? Comic Doomsday has a pretty similar
origin to Man of Steel Zod (which may explain the connection of Zod and
Doomsday in the next movie), given they were both genetically engineered to be
killing machines. Superman doesn’t kill because he doesn’t view himself as
above the law but no legal system on Earth would possibly say that Superman
acted outside the law in killing Zod who was currently consciously trying to
kill Superman and literally every other human on Earth.
Also, Synder has
indicated that the DCEU is inspired by the Golden Age of Comics, which I
actually see, especially in Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman, which I’ll get
too. And Golden Age Superman had absolutely no problem killing, including one
time making a criminal scientist the same toxic gases that he made for others.
Golden Age Superman regularly allowed evil-doers to die.
Superman does use lethal
force when necessary, if he didn’t that would be called “being an absolute
idiot that cares more for a moral high horse then actually saving lives.” Which
brings us to the other argument, “Superman shouldn’t kill”.
This statement is an
ethics statement. Ethics statement are very hard to prove or disprove because
you basically have nothing but faith claims and moral intuition to use.
However, I think I can show within reasonable certainty that saying anyone
shouldn’t kill, Superman included, is nonsensical.
Maybe you have heard of
the famous ethical dilemma, the trolley problem. If you haven’t it goes like
this:
“There is an out of
control trolley running down the railway tracks. On the tracks are 5 people who
are tied to the tracks and are unable to move. You have a lever that can switch
the trolley to a separate set of tracks however there is tied to that track.
You can either let the trolley run over and kill the 5 people or you can pull
the level and kill the other one. What do you do?”
This is a really basic
ethics question. This is one of the first problems introduced in almost any
Ethics class. Most people tend to say they would flip the switch, taking the
utilitarian logic that 1 death is better then 5 deaths. Some take a
deontological approach saying it’s awful that people have to die in the
scenario but morally you can’t kill people even to save the lives of a larger
amount of people because of human rights.
The Zod problem is like a
really, REALLY dumbed down easy version of the Trolley Problem, where one
person is literally going to cause the deaths of others, won’t make any kind of
compromise or negotiation and you have to choose between their death and the
deaths of innocents they are about to kill. It’s barely an ethics question.
Even Kant, the philosopher who said you don’t have a right to lie, even if it
would stop massive catastrophe, would agree that Zod should die.
When people say Superman
shouldn’t kill ever, they are either saying that Superman should choose to not
kill no matter what consequences it causes (IE they are saying, it’s never
right to kill and Superman should always do what’s right) or he should never be
put in a situation where he has to make the moral decision to kill. These are
both deeply problematic and irrational sentiments and it’s where my anger is
really gonna kick in.
If you are saying that
Superman should never kill because killing is always wrong no matter the
circumstance and he should always act morally then I have to say, as a Superman
Fan, and as someone who considers myself a moral human being, I am offended.
People say Superman is supposed to be a moral icon, and I agree. Superman
should optimally do his best to do the right thing in all circumstances and if
you’re telling me that it’s never the right thing to kill then you are claiming
that every military and police in the world are immoral for the requirement
that they may kill in the line of duty despite risking their lives in the line
of duty. You are saying that a moral icon like Superman should allow Zod to
kill others and not stop him by lethal force, you are saying Superman should
just let innocent people to die when he could stop it. This is flatly immoral.
Ethics may be difficult to prove but I can’t believe any moral intuition on
Earth would claim that under no circumstances, even if it would prevent
complete annihilation of humanity, even if the person has long since
relinquished right to life through wanton and excessive acts of murder should
Superman not kill a villain, and not just a villain a bio-engineered monster
who is unrepentant and wants nothing but the annihilation of humanity.
The other option I think
is a more common claim which is that Superman shouldn’t be placed in a
situation where the moral option to kill and when people say that it makes me
very sad for them. The trolley problem is one of the most basic fundamental
problems in ethics, and this is a really dumbed down easy version that almost
everyone agrees. Your moral icons are supposed to be there to show you what
being moral means, they’re supposed to guide you through confusing moral
territory and you can’t even allow Superman to be presented with a really easy
version of the trolley problem? Really? How little faith do you have in
Superman as a character and a moral icon if he can’t be presented with such an
easy version of such an elementary ethics problem?
Superman’s not a
character of my culture, he’s blatantly not, and he talks a lot of The American
Way. And when I saw I was intrigued of this other culture, of how they thought
about things, how they felt about things, what they do in hard or confusing
times. I first learned what the West considers their values through Superman, I
learned what they meant by truth and justice. I learned how strong a character
like Superman can be, not because he’s an alien from a planet with greater
gravity but because he’s a moral icon that represents all the foundational
ethics since the ancient times of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. If you have
such little faith in him that he can’t be given a moral question that is even
slightly controversial then it seems you have lost faith in your own culture’s
values, and that’s really very sad to me.
Maybe you don’t believe
in those values, maybe you’re not a fan of history, but I read the Western
Philosophers; I loved the writings of Plato, Dante, Descartes, Locke, Rousseau.
Have some faith in these old mens’ meditations, I think one of the most classic
Icons of Western Values, the Superman, can handle the trolley problem without
breaking his character.
Superman kills Zod, and
all I can say is that on every level this is justified. And with that we return
to our story.
2:07:55 Superman stands
shocked for a moment before dropping to his knees in anguish. Superman is
clearly heavily distraught at the killing of Zod and lets out a guttural yell.
Lois comes over and cradles Superman’s head, as he relinquishes his emotions.
I hear some arguments
that oh it switched back so far it was so jarring…I can’t see how people would
really think that. There’s a full half-minute of Lois cradling Superman’s head
as he releases his distress. Superman expresses great anguish and has to
release his emotions and then it goes into a time cut. I don’t see what the problem
with that is supposed to be. It showed the emotional pain Superman felt and
then the story continued at a later point. This is like basic stuff, you want
to keep the story on the important parts. Superman talking about killing
someone would been completely superfluous material given everything I expressed
above. I can’t imagine how the idea of a time cut for this kind of situation
would be so alien to people that it would cause any kind of problem. Or were
you mad that at the start of the Guardians of the Galaxy you didn’t see much of
young Starlord’s anguish after being abducted and instead it switched almost
directly to a scene of him dancing around on an alien planet, an emotional
change of much greater magnitude?
Part 5: Epilogue
2:08:45 We cut to a rural
area where a spy plane crashes into the ground in front of General
Swanwick and
Captain Carrie. Superman is standing there. General Swanwick reads him the riot
act about trashing their expensive equipment. Superman tells him that he knows
he’s spying on him trying to find his real identity and that it’s not gonna
happen. Swanwick asks how they know he’s not going to go against America’s
interests. Superman responds
2:09:30: Superman: “I
grew up in Kansas. I’m about as American as it gets. Look, I’m here to help,
but it has to be on my own terms and you have to convince Washington of that.”
General Swanwick asks how
he’d get them to listen, even if he was willing to try and Superman says he’ll
just have to trust General Swanwick.
This scene is nice, and
it establishes Superman’s relationship with the government going forward,
although it’s certainly not my favorite or anything.
As Superman flies off,
General Swanwick turns and sees Captain Carrie smiling to herself and asks
what’s she smiling about. She responds that she just thinks he’s kind of hot.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I
see what you did there DC, thought you could pull that reference over my head
you scamps. Captain Carrie Ferris. Aka Carol Ferris the Violet Lantern, the
Space Nymphos, I see your game.
Also, ngl, kind of agree
with her.
Cut to Clark and Ma Kent
at Pa Kent’s Cemetery. Clark says he wishes Pa Kent was here to see it finally
happen, it being him doing great things. Ma Kent assures Clark that he saw it
in him. It cuts to the Final Flashback.
Little Clark is playing
with the doggie with a red non-descript fabric cape on his back like a boy
playing superhero. Pa Kent is fixing the car and looks over to see Little Clark
with his red cape who makes puts his fists on his hip in the classic pose and I
tear up again.
It’s how ever parent see
sees their child, as a little growing hero who will change the world, and I
love how he sees The Superman in Clark before he becomes The Superman.
Clark explains to Ma Kent
that he needs to find a job, a job that can give him information and can get
him into dangerous areas without suspicion and able to ask questions. This is
in voiceover as we see the mild-mannered Clark Kent entering Metropolis and the
daily planet dressed up for a job.
And as Clark gets
introduced to everyone as a new member of the daily planet we finish the film
with a deliciously double-meaninged exchange
1:12:45 Lois: “Welcome to
the Planet.”
Clark: “Glad to be here,
Lois.”
ROLL CREDITS
There’s no after-credits
scene and to be honest I really don’t like after-credits scenes so I’m happy
about that. The DCEU has started using them which… blech. I’m glad at least MoS
doesn’t.
I love Man of Steel. I
really adore this film. Is it a perfect film? No, I don’t believe such a film exists.
That said there have been 2 films which I gave a 10 out of 10 score. Man of
Steel…actually isn’t one of them. I gave Man of Steel a 9/10.
As I said, I don’t think
it’s a perfect film. I have mentioned small things I didn’t like throughout
this defense. I think it was cliché at times and I think parts of it, due to
the necessity of the Superman story and Superhero tropes, were illogical like
how Kryptonians are an alien species and yet look incredibly human. I liked the
Pre-Invasion stuff a bit more than the Post-Invasion stuff. Even the films I
give a 10/10 rating I don’t think are perfect.
That said I absolutely
love this movie and have watched it a good number of times. Man of Steel is not
a very dark film. “Oh, but there’s destruction at the end and Superman snaps
Zod’s neck”, yeah well at the end of the first arc of Sailor Moon, a franchise
at least as saccharine as Superman, Metaria drives the world to savagery, mass
murder and suicide collapsing civilization and Sailor Moon makes her explode
after literally caving her face in. If you insist on talking about Sailor Moon
Classic in the last 3 episodes Metaria causes a planetoid to go extinct of life
and Sailor Moon obliterates Super-Beryl.
This movie is only “dark” by the incredibly warped standards of what
people seemed to have expected. The movie constantly, and I mean constantly, is
going on about how great normal people are, do you know how many times I had to
write normal human is amazing or some variant? The DCEU to me is the very root
of DC, of why it’s great, and the precursor to the Rebirth the idea that people
are inherently better then you think they are. I love humanity so much and so
does Man of Steel and that’s why I love it. It’s a film that celebrates Free
Will and Humanity and is incredibly clever and well-written.
