I have spoken to many people over the weekend about Man of Steel and have found that I have to add the movie to the list of movies I refuse to see. It is not because I don’t especially care for Superman. It is because there are aspects of the movie which I do not wish to condone.
Man of Steel
My Refusing to See Certain Movies
There is a short list of movies which I refuse to ever see. They are on the list for various reasons. Days of Thunder is on the list because I hate NASCAR and just about anything to do with racing. Dead Man Walking makes the list because I despise Susan Sarandon and her inability to keep her politics to herself. The same goes for any movie by Sean Penn. I have never seen Top Gun, and never will simply for the fact that there are so many people that say I “have” to see the movie. The last one is simply a personal goal.
Trying to Make this Spoiler-Free
I am going to do everything I can to keep this article spoiler-free, but there are a few aspects which I have to allude to so you understand why I refuse to see Man of Steel.
Superman Not in Man of Steel
If I was going to see Man of Steel, I would be going under the assumption that it was a Superman movie. The main character would be the suit-wearing character which everyone grew up with. Even if DC Comics had decided to insert more of the New 52 aspects of the character, I would at least be going to see a Superman movie. Instead, from everything I have heard and read about the movie, there is a character in a red suit that does not exhibit the characteristics one should have expected to see in Man of Steel.
Not Superman You Say?
Even though Superman has never been one of my personal favorites, I have to commend the creators who have worked on him over the years for establishing that Superman will do everything he can to keep human life sacred. This aspect of his character in Man of Steel is outshone by a character who will do anything to get to his target, including fighting in the middle of a city.
Displacement vs. Destruction
Another aspect which I hear is lacking in Man of Steel is Superman’s famous act of displacement. Instead of destroying an alien ship, the Superman everyone grew up with would cast the alien spacecraft out into oblivion and far from the Earth. How many times did we see Superman kick unbeatable foes off into space instead of rendering them in half?
The Moment
There is a moment in which Superman takes the opportunity to do irreparable damage to another character’s body. This is not something Superman would do. He would find a non-lethal way of dealing with the foe. He would do everything he could to end the issue without ending the person causing the issue. Making a non-lethal decision is something which makes Superman into a super man. This is not present in Man of Steel. Since the movie is about a character we have never seen before under the guise of one we are familiar with, I find I cannot willingly give DC Comics a dime of my money in support of the movie.
While it had a great opening weekend, I hope Man of Steel crashes and burns from here on out.
