The "Little Things" You Appreciated/Loved Thread - Part 1

[jasontodd]

Another thing I loved, was for me for the first time on film, Superman felt like an actual fleshed out character with flaws, shortcomings, doubts, and even a hint of a lack of confidence. Past iterations seemed like a caricature in some ways. Not to say that there was no character development in past films (the Reeve films, Superman Returns) It's just that Superman seemed more three dimensional in Man of Steel. Snyder and Goyer played it straight. Without a single hint of irony. The scale was massive and the stakes were as high as any comic book film in history. In Superman Returns I always felt like the character of Superman was in a way being mocked and deconstructed in a way that I felt was disrespectful. For all the criticism leveled at Man of Steel for "destroying the character of Superman" or being called a "good Science Fiction film but a horrible Superman film". There is in my opinion no greater destruction of the character of Superman than his treatment at the hands of Bryan Singer in Superman Returns. I've gone on record as saying that Superman Returns is nothing more than glorified fan fiction disguised as a tribute to the Donner Superman films. I stand by that statement and there is no greater example of a group of filmmakers not "getting Superman" than Superman Returns. Which is why one of the many many reasons that I love Man of Steel is that these filmmakers treated Superman's character with the dignity, reverence, and respect that he deserves. This was a three dimensional person who you could believe would accept his responsibility and ultimately the tremendous burden of being Earth's champion. At no point was there a moment where Superman was mistreated in the narrative. Even the controversial death of Zod. His remorseful scream in anguish was pitch perfect. Looking ahead to Dawn of Justice and beyond, I am extremely excited at the possibilities moving forward with Cavill in the role. The thought of this Superman having interactions with Batman, forming the Justice League, confronting Lex Luthor, and just continuing to grow and evolve as he continues his journey, is the reason I am so looking forward to this DC Cinematic Universe. As I have stated before, I feel that as the DC Cinematic Universe continues to grow and expand Man of Steel will be looked back on in hindsight with a greater appreciation not unlike Batman Begins after the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rises.

 

[Batmannerism]

Another thing I loved, was for me for the first time on film, Superman felt like an actual fleshed out character with flaws, shortcomings, doubts, and even a hint of a lack of confidence. Past iterations seemed like a caricature in some ways. Not to say that there was no character development in past films (the Reeve films, Superman Returns) It's just that Superman seemed more three dimensional in Man of Steel. Snyder and Goyer played it straight. Without a single hint of irony. The scale was massive and the stakes were as high as any comic book film in history. In Superman Returns I always felt like the character of Superman was in a way being mocked and deconstructed in a way that I felt was disrespectful. For all the criticism leveled at Man of Steel for "destroying the character of Superman" or being called a "good Science Fiction film but a horrible Superman film". There is in my opinion no greater destruction of the character of Superman than his treatment at the hands of Bryan Singer in Superman Returns. I've gone on record as saying that Superman Returns is nothing more than glorified fan fiction disguised as a tribute to the Donner Superman films. I stand by that statement and there is no greater example of a group of filmmakers not "getting Superman" than Superman Returns. Which is why one of the many many reasons that I love Man of Steel is that these filmmakers treated Superman's character with the dignity, reverence, and respect that he deserves. This was a three dimensional person who you could believe would accept his responsibility and ultimately the tremendous burden of being Earth's champion. At no point was there a moment where Superman was mistreated in the narrative. Even the controversial death of Zod. His remorseful scream in anguish was pitch perfect. Looking ahead to Dawn of Justice and beyond, I am extremely excited at the possibilities moving forward with Cavill in the role. The thought of this Superman having interactions with Batman, forming the Justice League, confronting Lex Luthor, and just continuing to grow and evolve as he continues his journey, is the reason I am so looking forward to this DC Cinematic Universe. As I have stated before, I feel that as the DC Cinematic Universe continues to grow and expand Man of Steel will be looked back on in hindsight with a greater appreciation not unlike Batman Begins after the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rises.

Very much on the same page bro !

I think I've said most of that, in one post or another, but you bring it all together very nicely. I detested Superman Returns, it was a very lame
homage to Donner's work that managed to avoid capturing any of the
magic of those films.

I stand by my comment that Nolan/Goyer/Snyder should get a lot of credit for having the balls to do something different with Superman - instead of what Singer did, which was do a terrible job of covering old ground.

I'm not sure if MOS will be better understood as time goes by, it was such a polarizing film. I went in expecting to hate it, but came out loving it (my favourite film of 2013). But I suspect that for people who didn't like it, they're not going to dislike it less with the passage of time.

Ah well. Still, I feel good for you, because you clearly got what the filmmakers were trying to do (and despite what many people and critics say, I think they were very successful at achieving) - as such MOS probably brought you a great deal of enjoyment, and if you enjoyed it half as much as I did, then it was time well spent.

Cheers.