“Man of Steel is the attempt to Batman Begins the Superman franchise by treating the quintessential superhero as an alien invasion tale in the name of realism. This shifts the focus away from the purpose of Superman’s existence – as a paragon of “Truth, Justice and the American Way” both in-and-out of universe – and to the mere existence of Superman, which is necessarily a darker tale. Zack Snyder delivers an action-packed film that clearly apes producer/”godfather” Christopher Nolan. However, this didn’t make it a good Superman movie. Henry Cavill also makes for an uninspiring Clark Kent, augmenting the perception of it not being a good Superman movie. The film’s problem is its script which contains an unhealthy amount of David S. Goyer and not enough of the Nolans that balanced out the Dark Knight trilogy. The film remains divisive because the aspects people hate (too much destruction, deconstruction etc.) are the same aspects people like me love.” – Sam Flynn
“When I first watched Man of Steel way back in 2013; I, like many countless others, was excited. It was a new take on the Superman character, and for some reason I was perhaps a bit skeptical (we all remember Superman Returns). However, after watching it, my conscience was relieved to know that Man of Steel wasn’t bad. It was pretty good, to be honest. Not perfect (it’s hard for anything to be perfect these days), but still a good movie. A lot of people diss the film because of Supes’ neck-breaking scene, and I always question people why they question this. Sure, I know for a fact Superman does not kill, but seeing Zod’s destruction and what he could potentially do, Clark made the toughest choice of his life. Granted it worked, and Metropolis commenced its recovery. All this has lead to Batman coming into the frame, but I’m still a bit worried about Batman v Superman. I have no shadow of a doubt it’s going to be one of the best comic book films yet. People, of course, will still diss it because of its numerous characters and the “spoiler” that is Doomsday. But, honestly, if Doomsday was a “spoiler”, do you really think they would have included him in any trailer(s)?” – Shay Conaghan
“Superman in the movies to me was always a goody-goody boy scout that did no wrong. Previous films portrayed him as a demi-God graciously saving the weak, and I have to admit, I was never a fan of that. Man of Steel changed all of that. From the mood, to the cinematography, Zack Snyder produced a world that was very real, and a hero that was very flawed. In its 10 year run, Smallville showed a very human Clark, but made his transition to Superman laughable, Man of Steel excelled at this with a fraction of the time. The film humanized Superman in the best way possible, and the controversial ending by far showed this. Zod knew what he was doing, and Superman didn’t want to do it. The visible tears and the scream of pain galvanized this film to me as the perfect depiction of the Superman I know from the comics.” – Taylor Landine
