Amy,
Hannah, and I took in a summer movie last Saturday night as we drove up to East
Bethel to see “Man of Steel.” By moving
worship to Wednesday evenings, Saturday evenings are much more relaxed and free for
my family.
The
movie started with a long scene on the planet Krypton. The planet is about to explode due to its
unstable core which happened because of years of exploitation of the planet’s
natural resources. Scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara save their son Kal-El by
sending him on a spacecraft to earth.
Kal-El’s cells were infused with a genetic codex to preserve the
Kryptonian race. The rebel, General Zod
murders Jor-El, but Zod and his followers are captured and banished to the
phantom zone. Kal-El is found on
earth—in Kansas, no less—and raised by a farm couple who name him Clark and who
we know as Superman. His Kryptonian
physiology gives him superhuman skills.
General Zod escaped the phantom zone and found Clark on earth. He wants to extract the codex from Clark so
Zod can develop the Kryptonian race on earth.
Zod tries to turn earth into Krypton; Clark—Man of Steel, I can’t help
but call him Superman—tries to stop him. The U.S. army helps Superman. Huge battles ensue with lots of
computer-generated destruction. Superman
wins, earth is saved, humanity will live!
Superman
is a wonderful story, but the story got lost in Man of Steel. The movie was much more about big destruction
and computer-generated violence than continuing the traditions of Superman. I felt assaulted
as I watched the movie. We were forced
to endure these long scenes of people battling each other. What’s compelling about that? When I left the theatre I checked my clothes
to see if I had any bits of the movie on me.
I felt like some rock from some destroyed building would fly from the
screen and land on me. I can’t imagine
what it would have been like to watch Man of Steel in 3-D.
The
best moments of the movie were when Clark and his dad, skillfully played by
Kevin Costner, talked about Clark’s identity.
Important questions were pondered about whether Clark should reveal his
superhuman, physical skills and whether Clark could trust humans. These scenes worked because the scene was
prompting the viewers to reflect on important and even eternal questions. The producers didn’t stay with these scenes
for long—there was too much destruction to share!
I
particularly questioned the destruction of New York City that the movie seemed to
want to show. If I had been in Manhattan on September 11, 2001 I wouldn’t watch this movie. These long and violent scenes would have
brought back too many memories.
The
movie deserved an “R” rating for the violence.
My pre-teenage daughter hated the film and was frightened by the
destruction. If an equivalent amount of
sex was shared in this movie, the film would have never reached the
screen. I guess over-the-top destruction
is accepted in the movie industry.
Give
me a story, tell it well, use your flashy computers if you want to generate
some fun stuff, don’t assault me with destruction. Man of Steel failed on all of these elements.
