Board Thread:DC Universe Discussion/@comment-3974095-20130611233337/@comment-5624498-20130615041212

OK, I saw it tonight. I'll avoid major spoilers, even in hidden text, but will have a minor spoiler that, well, really isn't to those who closely follow the DC universe.


 * It seemed the writers were torn between whether the overall theme was "Kal-El is the last son of Krypton and doesn't know how to deal with it" or "once Kal-El reveals himself to the world and what he can do, the world won't trust him." They seemed to want the former to be the primary focus, but the latter ends up becoming it.


 * I thought Henry Cavill was fine in the title role. The plot line is that Kal-El/Clark Kent hasn't immediately jumped into the "dual identity" role so Cavill doesn't really portray the Superman persona much differently from the Clark Kent persona. I guess we'll see if that route gets taken more in the second film and how he does there. I imagine this is what has put off some of the critics, given what Christopher Reeve did in the first Superman with the two personas.


 * And, no, they don't make Kal-El a brooding character. He's a guy looking for answers but he's not despondent for them. They do enough with some flashback scenes to his younger years to get across the idea that he's struggling with who he is, but they don't overdo it.


 * The minor spoiler: Lois Lane knows Clark Kent is Superman. All I'll say is this about the film: Lois first comes to know Clark before he adopts the superhero persona. As for it being that way, I'm fine with it given that Superman has revealed his dual identity to Lois in the comics, so there's no sense beating around the bush with it in a reboot.


 * Speaking of which, I do think the one thing that some critics are off the mark about is why they have to do the origin story again. That's the whole point of a reboot. It was done with Batman Begins (reboot) and the Amazing Spider-Man (reboot) so of course it was going to happen in Man of Steel. That's the one point brought up by certain critics that I take issue with.


 * I do, however, see the point some critics have been made about how there's so much action and battle sequences overwhelming the latter half of the film. I guess the writers figured because they spent so much time developing characters in the first half, to pull out all the stops in the second half, but it did get a little too heavy on the action toward the end.


 * After making Zod the antagonist in the film, I'm wondering exactly how they'll make Lex Luthor (who you know will get worked into the trilogy) into being a more formiddable adversary for Superman. Sure, you know they'll do Luthor as the corporate bigwig, likely tied into the military-industrial complex, but I'm not sure how they'll get him to reach a threat level on par with Zod... unless they figure they'll work Brainiac into the mix. *shrug*

So, overall, I enjoyed the film and thought it was a good way to relaunch the franchise. I will say that there were plenty of kids at the theater (a small-town one at that) wearing towels or jackets as capes, so you know kids are excited. Time will tell just how much audience interest there is in this version of Superman.