WHY "MAN OF STEEL" IS A DISAPPOINMENT

                              Oh gee, look at all the decimated buildings. I hope no one was hurt.

The other day I came home from seeing one of the many summer blockbusters this year, MAN OF STEEL. My son and I disagreed on the movie. He thought it was fantastic. I didn't think I'd probably watch it ever again. Oh sure, I'll probably watch it one more time to write about it, but it's not a movie that I'll want to add to my collection. This being said I should also note that while I wasn't a huge fan of the first SUPERMAN movies with Christopher Reeve I liked it better. So far my favorite Superman film has been SUPERMAN RETURNS.

*SPOILER ALERT*

So let me say why I didn't like it. To begin with it was a dark film. Being a comic fan I can tell you that there was a yin yang set up between Batman and Superman. Batman was a dark character whose past evolved from darkness. Superman was the lighter of the two, a symbol of hope. That is not displayed here. Instead the film seems to have little or no color to it relying on darkness throughout. Even his costume is more dark blue and burgundy than the blue and red we've all know for years.

Hand held shaky camera. I HATE shaky cameras. It feels like ever since the steadi-cam was invented directors have revolted against it and insisted that to make a more "artistic" film they need hand held. Dude, there's a reason we like a steadier picture. It means we can actually see it!

The fight between Superman and two of Zod's henchmen. Well one's a man the other a woman. This felt almost like a shot for shot remake of the battle between Thor and the giant robot from the THOR film. Speaking of fight sequences, those who like this movie all like the fact that Superman finally has a fist fight in a film. Fine and dandy but at the same time he's fist fighting he's obliterating Metropolis. Building collapse filled with people, people on the streets are crushed and the damage to property is astronomical. One online site paid a damage estimate company to come up with a figure and it was to the tune of several billion dollars worth of damage and over 250,000 people dead from this one fight alone. And yet when Zod threatens 3 people and says he'll keep doing so only then does Superman decide to snap his neck and kill him. Had he done so earlier then the damage might have stayed in the low hundred millions.

That neck snap? Something Superman would never do. He's a good guy. He doesn't kill. He finds another way out. Period.

Superman's father telling him that maybe it would have been better to let a busload of kids drown rather than reveal himself by saving them. Two things here. First off the fact that he would advocate the deaths of innocent children is not who Jonathan Kent was. Secondly Superboy/man would have found a way to save the kids and the bus without revealing himself. Toss this in with papa Kent allowing himself to be sucked into a tornado and killed rather than let his son reveal himself and again it wouldn't have happened. Superman would have found a way to save him without revealing himself.

There were a number of other things that just didn't feel right about this movie but the biggest problem with this movie was that there was no joy in it. There didn't seem to be any happiness or reason to smile in this film and that's not at all what Superman is all about. The only time this was captured was when he first learns to fly. There is great joy in that sequence. But it last a few minutes out of the total time of this film.

I won't say that you shouldn't see this movie. If you're a fan of Superman then by all means go. See if you enjoy it. And if you do more power to you. But for me it ruined the Superman I've known and loved for years.

This movie displays the difference between films based on DC Comics characters and Marvel Comics characters. The folks at Marvel get it. They realize up front that their movie is based on a comic book. Those at DC seem to want to dissociate themselves from that fact. They want to make their movies grittier and more realistic. That might work for Batman but not for other characters. I felt the failure of GREEN LANTERN wasn't the costume which so many talked about but the fact that there were multiple bad guys and the main one was some giant monstrosity. No, I didn't want GL to stop bank robberies. But if he had done a few things like that leading up to the giant creature it might have changed things.

There is talk they may to a Justice League movie. If the same people involved are the ones behind this one I don't know if I'll go see it or if I'll save my money and wait for it as a rental. As it stands MAN OF STEEL will not be a movie that will grace the shelves of my collection.