Absolutely. It had me go "wow" at times.

My grade would be, at worst, a B+.

Since when is KJ so concerned about collateral damage and the deaths of innocents?

Count me on team loved it. A huge bounce back for Zack (we're on first name basis) after the unfortunate Sucker Punch. I've never been a huge Superman fan. I mean he's Superman, you can't hate him, but he's always been too much of boy scout, a goody two shoes. I liked the first two Superman's mostly because of the supporting cast, Hackman and Otis are especially hilarious. I'd take Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Thor, etc... over Superman any day. Yet here they have finally embraced what makes Superman special in today's world, filled with super powered individuals, he is a god.

The religious themes are not subtle at all, and normally they would bother me. Yet here is where I found the warmth and soul of the movie that so many people seemed to have missed. It's not a matter of a hero choosing his destiny. Kal-El has all the motivations to just stay hidden or leave the planet entirely. He can always visit Mom at Christmas. Yet he can't stop helping people, it is like a drug to him. Watching this unfold over an hour and a half is brilliant, and I woud have chosen the booty too. God or not, Superman has relatable motivations, another thing that was missing from the old movies. I'm not saying this is absolutely a better movie than Supers 1 or 2. I just much prefer the character of Superman here, as an alien and not an American.

I'm also with excel on wanting an entire movie on Krypton with Jor-El. What a great opening sequence. The bird might have been a little crazy, but I felt legitimately sad when it died. And why wouldn't Jor-El have a huge bird? Spaceships require a lot of energy the planet didn't have. Our own planet would be a lot healthier if we all had giant birds to ride around on.

Lastly, the killing of Zod has got to be the best death for a villain in a long time. Shannon and Cavill are both incredible in that last scene of theirs, making Zod somewhat sympathetic. Then you have Superman's final decision (maybe even a little sacrifice), to brutally end his own species to protect his new one. Cavill may not be the next Daniel Day Lewis, but he really sold his anguish at having to kill his nemesis.

I could go on forever like this, but I think it is already my longest review ever. I liked the movie a lot more than I thought, even with the high expectations we all had a couple weeks ago. I was slightly afraid of being overwhelmed by shots of waves and flowers, but instead I'm overwhelmed by massive destruction. I'll take that any day. A Top movie of the year, so far.

Since the hero actively causes said collateral damage and deaths of innocents.

It's uncharacteristic of the 'Big Blue Boy Scout' that so many people have come to know and love over the years.

What other option does Superman have at that point?

I wouldn't say actively. At that point Metropolis has already been fucked by the terraforming device. Anyone, like Morpheus, who hadn't evacuated is an idiot. And Zod said his only goal was to kill the people of Earth to make Kal suffer. I'd think the people of Earth would be pleased they weren't completely annihilated.

I'm guessing the sequel will explore the people who aren't so happy about Superman being here. And I hope it's contrasted by the religious following he is sure to gain. I'm not sure if thats ever been done in the comics, but it seems like a logical path to go here.

And killing Zod was such a huge moment. It showed Superman's dedication to people he can save, and more importantly it showed that Kryptonians are still mortal on Earth.

The drill shows up, and then very quickly Superman and the army pop in to pull off their plans. There wasn't time to evacuate. (Plus we see people actively trying not to get killed during the battle.)



I've seen this point made (and joke about it myself with the whole "Team Lex" thing), but I don't think it really excuses this film. My problem isn't the destruction of Metropolis, it's Superman's role in said destruction. If he was the only one getting speared through buildings I wouldn't have a complaint. Superman actively damaging the city -- and its citizens -- to try and hurt Zod is what bothers me and other people.

People can run away from the destruction though. There is also a massive military battle right before that, with fucking missiles landing all over the city. This is clearly an unsafe environment. It would be even more ridiculous if he was able to fight them without any massive destruction. Zod isn't going to just let Superman carry him to a non-populated place. This is not a perfect Superman, but he is trying his best.

How cool is the shot of the fleet flying towards Metropolis? I love my epic wide shots and that might have been the best of the movie.

That was pretty great too, and he saved the dog! Stupid tornados.

If only the hurricane scene wasn't so stupid. LIke why couldn't Clark just run real quick to get the dog? No one's going to be suspicious over that. I mean I guess stupid shit like that happens but yeesh. That was the only big scene I had a problem with.

Costner is so at one with himself, so salt of the earth, it doesn't even phase him as thousands of pieces of glass and metal and dirt and stone rip into him at high speed.

This is where the editing fucked it up. The film only includes HALF of the original line.

I know for a FACT that the original script included a line where Costner tells Clark 'Get your mother to the overpass! Don't let ANYTHING happen to her". Jonathan didn't want Clark to go for the dog because he wanted Clark with Martha (as he knew nothing would happen to her that way). Makes a lot more sense.

Considering they found time to waste a good 5-6 minutes doing random shots of nothing (the rain dropping into buckets, birds struggling against the wind, etc), surprised they couldn't keep that 2 second line which really added a lot.

The best shots would be

-Crowe running onto the balcony as the war begins
-In desert, Lois running away as Superman turns his head to see the aliens in the distance, followed by the quick pan of the entire scene.
-Clark on fire casually ripping open the oil rig door
-Fish staring into Jenny when they think the end if near
-J. Kent holding his hand to tell Clark 'stay'
-Close up on Cavill's abs while he holds the oil rig

The odd thing was that most people here have said how they wished the second half was more like the first half, but my friend actually preferred the second half because he thought the way they did the flashbacks were "weird".

I like that they did it that way. Otherwise we would have had to wait half the movie just to see Superman.

I like the flashback structure, but the fact it's non-linear (i.e. Clark's a kid, then Clark's an adult, then Clark's a kid again) means it can't build momentum with them the way BATMAN BEGINS did.

And Excel, for someone who thinks the film is pretty much a godsend, you sure do have a lot of little problems with it.

The audience I was with was getting a bit bored with the flashback's and when Zod came back is when the story started.

To me and my friends its like when Thor gets introduced in TA or when Iron Man goes to the small town in Im3.

That is when the movie really got fun.

If you wanted a BB film you liked the first half.


The film's main theme was for a Christ Theme...The comparison to Christ and Superman were quite evident in the film, hes goes to a Church for crying out loud!

As much as I enjoy objectification of Cavill's body that was a really odd shot. But... we needed more shirtless scenes tbh.

I have to say though that I've now seen this 3 times and I honestly think it's one of my favorite comic book movies ever. The friends who went with me yesterday were lukewarm about it which surprised me, the polarization of the movie is very interesting.

Polarization is a good thing. Means there are enough die hards to make it a huge hit, but at the same time, the sequel can still top the original.



Not every film can achieve DARK KNIGHT RISES type of perfection.

Superman will always invite Christ symbolism: the only son of a powerful being set adrift amidst flawed and violent people to become their savior, a higher purpose and sacrifice with which he must come to terms as a man. Superman Returns has the dramatic crucifixion-pose fall from space.

I think the use of flashbacks here is way more effective than if it were linear. Some call it messy but I thought it flowed well.

I wish a great director would adapt The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for the big screen or television.

I never even picked up on that. In Man of Steel we have Russell Crowe saying "you can save her, you can save them all" and then Kal-El flies out of the ship backwards in a badass cross pose. That was another one of my favorite shots. A little bit of arrogance that a god should have, but can only show when no one is around.

Re-watching it today I don't get the complaint that Superman CAUSED hundreds of thousands of deaths in the final battle.

- If he stayed in Metropolis to finish off that machine, it would have had the same effect as the one on the other side of the world. When one deactivates, so does the other. Just because he was on the other side of the world doesn't mean that killed more people.

- When him and Zod are doing their air battle, Superman only causes destruction on ONE building by choice (when he smashes Zod's head against a building. The rest is done by Zod and those buildings are essentially empty anyway. If The Daily Planet is leaving the scene, then that's a pretty clear sign everyone else has left ship.


When re-watching this again for a third time though I still enjoy pretty much everything about this film. The best reaction scene though is when Superman realizes he can break free from Zod's restraints and gives the "motherfucker I'm Superman"-like look.

^When I re-watched it yesterday with the 'destruction' mentality I found it interesting that so many people are focusing on how 'thousands and thousands' died and yet we don't see any civilians die. When Zod and Superman crash into buildings they're either empty or if there are a handful of people there they don't die. I'm not saying that no one died but the only time the film shows people really in peril is when Superman is trying to get rid of the other half of the ship on the other side of the world. Idk, I guess I understand the argument that it is totally irresponsible for Superman to just throw Zod into wherever but it never affected my views of the movie. For the most part in this film he is inexperienced and emotional in this scale of helping humans.

HATERS GONNA HATE!