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I begin my look at the movies of the DCEU with Man of Steel from 2013. Written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan and directed by Zack Snyder. I’m a life-long fan of Superman. I was obsessed with the character as a child. Christopher Reeve was my childhood Superman, but I was ready for my adult Superman. Enter Man of Steel. I loved this movie because it took Superman seriously as a first-contact science fiction film. This is exactly what I was wanting and Man of Steel delivered. So join me as I review and analyse this story in detail, and geek out over why I love Man of Steel. |
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Transcript
Welcome to Nerd Heaven
I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars
And I am a nerd
This is episode 26 of the podcast.
Today, we’re beginning a look at the movies of the DC Extended Universe, with Man of Steel.
The description on IMDB reads
An alien child is evacuated from his dying world and sent to Earth to live among humans. His peace is threatened, when survivors of his home planet invade Earth.
The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer
Based on a story by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan.
It was directed by Zack Snyder
And the movie first released on the 12th of June 2013.
And this podcast will contain full spoilers for the movie.
I should start with a quick overview of my history with Superman.
I’ve been a lifeline fan of Superman. Seriously, I can’t remember a time in my life before I was a fan. My earliest memories are of begging my parents to let me watch Superman The Movie on TV.
I had all the colouring books, a cape that I got on a holiday in Queensland. I consumed everything Superman that I could get my hands on. I’m sure that included a couple of comics, but from memory, they were mostly the kind of comic you were meant to colour in. Comic books just weren’t a huge thing around here when I was growing up, so it wasn’t until much later that I could catch up on some of the proper comics, thanks to archives on the internet, and later, comixology.
I caught the occasional animated show when I managed to find one, I watched Lois and Clark in the 90s, but for me, Christopher Reeve always epitomised the character.
In my late teens I “grew out” of superman, as teens often do. Only to rediscover the character as an adult in my mid-20s.
Coming to Superman as an adult, I saw different things in him. It wasn’t just about the colourful costume, and the fact he could fly. I saw a science fiction story about an alien trying to fit in on earth, and use what gifts he’d been given for the benefit of others.
Superman returns came along and I enjoyed it. My wife and I laughed at all the in-jokes calling back to the Reeve movies, while the rest of the theatre was silent. I appreciated the way this movie tied into the old Christopher Reeve stuff, but I was disappointed that it also continued some of the cheesier elements as well.
Ultimately, I felt Superman Returns was a fitting end to the Superman movie saga I’d enjoyed all my life.
I was ready for something different.
Christopher Reeve would forever be the Superman of my childhood, but I was ready for my adult Superman.
Enter Man of Steel.
Now I’d loved the movie Batman Begins. I heard somewhere that while working on his trilogy, Christopher Nolan and one of his creative partners (presumably, David S Goyer) started to brainstorm an idea they’d had about how they could approach Superman in the modern age.
When I heard this I was excited.
Yes. I’d loved Nolan’s new take on Batman and couldn’t wait to see what he’d do with Superman – my favourite superhero.
I’ll drop a spoiler on you and just say it now. I wasn’t disappointed.
This movie presented a brand new interpretation of the classic character. It was everything I was looking for in a superman movie for grown-ups. It was the right movie for the right time.
So let’s talk about.
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The movie starts with the deep resonating tones of Hans Zimmer’s iconic score. So let’s talk about the music right off the bat.
I love the music in this movie. In the lead up to seeing it, I was wondering how they could possibly create something as memorable and iconic as John William’s Superman theme.
Hans Zimmer delivered something very very different, but just as awesome.
It’s not the kind of music you can hum. It’s a modern theme for a modern movie.
It fits in so well and I love it.
So Krypton is incredible!
I get a sci-fi Lord of The Rings vibe from it. It’s a vibe I can’t get enough of. The alien animals, the unique technology with tactile displays like those pin pictures that you push your hands into.
The city-scape.
The costumes of the council remind me of the Time Lords on Doctor Who. They should look silly, but they work. It fits the ostentatiousness of the council who have lost touch with the common people of Krypton.
The world-building of Krypton in this movie is absolutely top-notch. I could watch a whole movie set on this planet. Again, very different take from the 1978 movie, but very good.
I also like the armour worn by Zod and Jor-el. I like how they kept the idea from Donner’s film, that each Kryptonian family have a crest. Superman’s S symbol is his family’s crest. I remember when they were marketing this movie, there was a website you could go to and it would generate a personalised family crest for you.
Russel Crow is great as Jor-el. I like how, in some ways, he and Zod are on the same side. They both have similar goals, and under different circumstances could have been like brothers.
Jor-el’s aim is to reason with the council. Zod’s approach is to eliminate them and take over.
Already, we’re seeing a lot more nuance and depth. In the Christopher Reeve movies, Zod tried to take over Krypton because he was an evil bad guy. Here, Zod takes over because he believes it is the best way to save his people. But I’ll talk more about my love for this interpretation of Zod later on.
I love Jor-el’s line. “I will honour the man you once were, Zod, but not the monster you have become.”
At first, we’re not sure what all of this is about. What’s this codex? How can Jor-el use it to save their race?
I love that the Kryptonians are an interstellar race. They once explored the galaxy. But like the first ones of Babylon 5, they have retreated to their homeworld. There, they have become old, and as Zod says, degenerate.
Krypton feels like a fully-realised lived-in world.
Jor-el’s flying dragon thing is really cool.
Another thing this chapter explores is the way laws and rules no longer seem to matter when you genuinely believe the world is about to end.
Zod takes this to extreme, but even Jor-el is willing to break a few rules by entering the codex chamber.
We see that the codex is an ancient portion of a skull with glowing yellow symbols. This evokes so much mystery. I wonder who this skull belonged to. No doubt somebody very important in Kryptonian history. I’d love to know more.
Jor-el’s escape is so cool as he flies on that dragon while spaceships fire lasers at each other around him.
I like how earth is just one of the planets in their database. Probably catalogued centuries ago by their ancestors during their explorations.
Lara knows she needs to let her son go. She knows she needs to send him to the planet she’s found. But it’s hard. As a parent, I get that. You can know intellectually what must be done, but to say goodbye to your son, to send him away knowing you’ll never see him again.
How do you do that?
You do it with the knowledge that if you don’t, he’ll surely die.
Did I mention I love the 3d display technology they have? Not only can it display, but it can create objects. Kind of like a replicator using nanites or something.
And we get our first glimpse of the key.
So Kryptonian faster-than-light technology is called a phantom drive. We’re not given details of how it works, but there’s a clear link between their ship’s FTL capabilities and the phantom zone.
Kryptonian society is all about controlling bloodlines. Zod doesn’t want to change that. He just wants to be the one to choose which bloodlines thrive and rule.
Jor-el wants freedom for all Kryptonian bloodlines.
And this is where we get more interesting worldbuilding. Natural childbirth hasn’t been a thing on Krypton for centuries. Kal-el is the first natural-born child in a long time. To Zod, this is heresy.
They breed their people through careful genetic engineering. Again, we’ll learn more about this later.
But I’m impressed how much world-building and culture this movie crammed into just half an hour.
You really get a sense of both sides in this fight between Jor-el and Zod.
The codex is so precious. It’s the key to saving Krypton, something both men want to do. The problem is, only one of them can have it.
Zod is so distraught when he realises it’s out of his reach. He can no longer save his people.
In a rage, he kills Jor-el.
In the end, Zal-el’s ship is saved from Zod’s fighters when the council’s forces get the upper hand.
Zod refers to his prison as a black hole.
It seems the same technology that allows their ships to jump to other star systems can also be used to send the prisoners into that black hole, perhaps an artificial one? The phantom zone.
But it’s all too late. Realising there is nowhere to run. Lara just stands there and watches the world explode around her.
Her final words – “Make a better world than ours, Kal-el.”
After an indeterminate period of time, we see Kal-el’s ship jump into earth’s solar system and descend toward Earth.
End of Act 1.
I remember when I first heard they were making a TV show called Krypton, written by David S Goyer, and serving as a prequel to Man of Steel. I was so excited. I was gonna get to see more of this world.
When the show was finally ready to premiere, I was disappointed to learn that I would have no way of watching it. It wouldn’t be airing in Australia at the same time as it was in American.
But, that disappointed as overshadowed by the sad realisation that Goyer was no longer involved in the project and it was no longer part of the DCEU.
At that point, I just kinda lost interest. Pretty sad.
The next section of this movie employs a lot of flashbacks. Y’know I’ve even heard people criticising this. Non-chronological storytelling is a commonly-used technique. Especially at the time, this movie was made. It’s an efficient way to get the necessary information to us without becoming bogged down.
They could have gone the route the Donner film did, show us Clark growing up in Smallville, and then move to Metropolis, and that’s a valid way to do it, but we wouldn’t even see an adult Superman, nor the character playing him until around halfway through the movie.
This is a modern movie, made with modern sensibilities.
It works.
I like how we actually get to see some pre-superman adult Clark. In many tellings of the Superman story, Clark spent his early adult years travelling the world, learning all he could about Earth and it’s various cultures, before finally putting on the suit.
We’ve never really seen this part of the character’s life on screen before, although Lois and Clark in the 90s regularly referred to it as backstory during the first season or two.
I like that we meet Clark here as we’ve never seen him before. A bearded man, unsure of himself, working on a fishing boat.
It could be argued that Superman shouldn’t be able to grow facial hair, but hey, this is a particular interpretation of the character. And I like it. It’s just a step toward him become the character we know. I like it.
In the oil rig rescue scene, we see Clark has superpowers, but not infinite power. I liked how we saw him struggling and straining to hold the weight of that massive structure.
Clark doesn’t yet know his limits. So his actions here are brave and selfless. Traits he learned from his adopted father.
Our first flashback takes us to Clark’s early school days. We see him struggling with his senses, his x-ray vision. His super hearing. It must be terrifying for the poor kid. He doesn’t understand why he’s like this. He doesn’t know how to control these powers. It’s a fantastic scene.
“The world’s too big Mum.” “Then make it smaller. Focus on my voice. Pretend it’s an island on the ocean.”
Not only is this a beautiful character scene, that shows how his mother helps shape who he would become, it also nicely foreshadows some cool stuff that will happen later.
Little scenes like when Clark has to steal the clothes from the car after his were burned up in the fire add some nice believability to his world. These are the practical things he has to deal with.
When he sees a school bus, it triggers another memory.
The bus crash scene gives Clark his first chance to use his powers to help others. Maybe for the first time in his life, they’re not a burden or a curse. They’re a gift. A gift he can give to others.
And hear Zimmer’s man of steel theme play again as Clark pulls the bus from the water.
This movie allows Lana to see him do what he did. But who will believe him?
People are starting to notice Clark, and that REALLY worries Jonathan.
He loves his son and he’ll do anything to protect him.
Now, this is a somewhat controversial part of the film.
An important part of the Superman mythos has always been the way the Kents raised him. They instilled into him the values that defined what it meant to be Superman.
Some people felt this movie betrayed that though Jonathan’s words here.
I believe, the instilling of values from the Kents is still in this movie, but, because this is a slightly darker, slightly more emotionally realistic take on the character, it’s all a bit more nuanced and ambiguous.
The truth is, Jonathan doesn’t know how to raise a superhuman. There’s no manual. He’s got nobody else’s example to follow.
Clark asks “Was I supposed to let them die?”
Jonathan hesitates and says “maybe.”
Note, he doesn’t say yes. He’s not promoting cold hard pragmatism.
He’s giving a raw honest answer.
“I don’t know.”
He does want Clark to fulfil his potential, to be a good man. To use what he has for good.
But he also wants his son to be safe. And he’s not convinced that the world is ready for him.
See, that’s one of the big themes of this movie. What if Superman was real? What if he appeared today, in our world, the real world. How would people REALLY react to seeing a being of that kind of power? That’s a question I really enjoyed seeing explored. It’s a psychological realism we hadn’t seen much in superhero stories before. There was such an unreality to the way people reacted to Superman and characters like him.
This is the type of exploration I really wanted to see.
And the movie allows the Kents to be good people. But flawed people. People who are doing their best at an incredibly difficult job. It allows them to be uncertain, and even wrong sometimes.
I applaud that.
I mean, heck, as a parent, I’ve been wrong before.
Ultimately, Jonathan doesn’t want Clark to end up being directed in a lab. He’s overprotective because he doesn’t comprehend how powerful Clark will become, but mostly because Clark is his son. And he loves him. As a parent, I get that.
This is the moment Clark is told the truth about who he is. He sees the spaceship that brought him to Earth.
What would it feel like to learn that you’re an alien?
And then there’s a beautiful moment that always chokes me up.
Clark says “Can’t I just keep on pretending that I’m your son?”
And Jonathan says “You are my son.”
I love that.
Clark stands up to a bully who is treating a woman very inappropriately.
But when the bully tries to pick a fight by humiliating him, Clark has to make himself walk away.
You can see the conflict in his eyes. He could flatten this bloke. But he can’t do that. He has to be in control. All the time. Because if he lets himself go, somebody could get hurt. Clark can’t let that happen.
He must want to hit the guy so bad. But he doesn’t.
This is the first time I really see Superman in Henry Cavil’s performance. It’s great.
Of course, the movie does allow us the satisfaction of justice, as the bully see his truck mangled.
At this point, it’s clear Clark is in Canada. He overhears some military types talking about something of interest.
And he’s not the only one here. We get our first glimpse of Lois Lane.
Amy Adams seemed like an unconventional choice when she was announced, but I was open to it. And I really like her portrayal of the character. I’d previously seen her in the movie enchanted, a very different kind of role. It was great to see what she could do in a serious dramatic role like this.
The mystery of the 20,000-year-old object in the ice captured my imagination straight away. It gives a very logical reason for Lois and Clark to meet and become part of each other’s stories.
And we learn it’s an ancient Kryptonian space ship. Been here since the days of exploration. Clark knows he’s found potential answers when he sees a slot that would fit his key. The key Jor-el; left for him.
The security robot stops attacking him as soon as he inserts it. Jor-el’s software has now been downloaded into the ship’s computer and has taken over.
I imagine Jor-el suspected there was a crashed ship on Earth, and that Clark would eventually find it.
Maybe it wasn’t crashed. Maybe these people were hibernating waiting for colonists to come join them. Colonists that never arrived because Krypton changed their policy of expansion through the galaxy.
The security program doesn’t recognise Lois so she is still attacked by the robot. Clark has to reveal his abilities to her in order to save her life.
And then, he flies the spaceship off to the north pole.
And here we come to understand that this movies version of the fortress of solitude is that Kryptonian spaceship.
Again, unconventional, but I love it. Everything in this movie has a real sci-fi flavour to it.
Exactly the flavour I was craving.
We now meet Perry White. Laurence Fishbourne isn’t an actor I would have thought of casting for this role, but it turns out, he’s perfect for it. Christopher Nolan has a certain way of casting superhero movies. He always gets an unknown for the lead, as is right, but he then surrounds that lead with top-end Hollywood stars. I mean, how great was it to see Michael Cain as Alfred, and then Morgan Freeman in Batman Begins.
Man of Steel was cast in a similar way.
I think some small part of Perry does believe Lois, but aliens? It’s a tough one to sell.
And Lois isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. She’s not scared of looking silly, because she’s Lois Lane.
Perry says he’s not going to publish a story about aliens walking among us. Never going to happen.
And yet, we know what’s coming…
So Lois gives the story to a tabloid website. She wants Clark to know she knows the truth about him.
Jor-el uploaded a holographic copy of his consciousness into the key. That program is now running on the ship’s computer. So we get the classic superman scene where Jor-el explains to Clark who he really is.
This is very nicely done with the graphics as Jor-el plays.
We learn more about the history of Krypton’s space program. IT lasted for 100 thousand years.
They terraformed alien worlds.
Every child is designed to fill a pre-determined role. This is how Kryptonian society works.
Jor-el and Lara thought something had been lost. The element of choice.
Jor-el’s speech is nice. He hopes that his son will embody the best of both planets. His human upbringing will help him grow beyond the weaknesses and failures of Krypton.
I love that the symbol for the house of el, the superman symbol, means hope. That’s beautiful.
And so, he gets the suit and he puts it on.
He walks out into the snow.
Now he’s Superman.
And at his father’s recommendation, he begins to test his limits.
This sequence, where he learns to fly is brilliant.
The visuals are awesome and Zimmer’s music is incredibly powerful.
I love that he fails a couple of times before he succeeds. It’s like a toddler learning to walk. They have that ability, but they have to learn how to form the right neural connections They have to strengthen the right muscles.
When he finally succeeds, it’s such a triumphant moment. We see him soar into the sky over grassy plains and oceans. Through mountain cliffs and then into space.
And we see that classic superman shot of him orbiting the earth.
YES! This is Superman.
What a moment!
The character in this movie IS superman. In every way that counts.
Then we have a nice little bit where Lois is tracking Clark through the urban legends he’s left behind, the lives he has touched. She’s a great reporter. Of course, she’s going to track him down. IT would be insulting to her character if she didn’t.
This is a big departure for Lois in a Superman Story.
We’re not gonna drag it out, having Clark have to pretend around her for years. No, she knows he is Superman from the very beginning. And I think the story is better for it.
It gets rid of all the angst. We had more than enough of that in Smallville. For all the things I loved about that show, man, it sure had a lot of angst.
People love to make fun of the whole, wearing glasses thing, and nobody recognising Clark.
But in this version, anyone who really knows him would not be fooled. Anyone who knows Clark and has had a meaningful encounter with Superman is gonna know who he is.
This movie makes it work.
Not that Christopher Reeve also made it work, but in a different way. The way he changed his performance between Clark and Superman was incredible. Two different approaches. Both good.
I gotta say, they cast the adult and child versions of Pete Ross very well. I totally believe they’re the same person.
When we see Lois approach the Kent farm, we know she’s reached the truth. It’s very satisfying.
Clark doesn’t want his story told. Lois rightly points out that someone else will figure it out.
Then he’ll just run away again.
She also rightly points out that the only way he can truly disappear is to stop helping people, and that’s not an option for him.
I think this is our final flashback. Clark is a young man, perhaps in his late teens. He and Jonathan are arguing about what he’s going to do with his life. I don’t think Jonathan really wants him to stay in Smallville and be a farmer. But there’s that fear again, holding him back.
In the heat of the moment, Clark says you’re not my father. You’re just some guy who found me in a field.
They never really get to resolve their conversion, but the last thing Clark says before they see the tornado is “Look….Dad….”
I love that he calls him Dad because he’s showing he didn’t mean what he said earlier.
Clark takes his mother to safety, while Jonathan tries to help others.
See, again, he’s modelling the Superman values to his son.
Jonathan doesn’t want Clark to reveal himself. He still doesn’t think the world is ready for him.
And being a good son, Clark trusts his father’s judgement.
It’s not like he delivery left his dad to die, he didn’t know what was going to happen.
But there’s this one very brief moment when it looks like it’s over for Jonathan. Clark is going save him, but Jonathan signals No.
And he obeys.
Could he have saved him? Maybe.
Should he have? I guess we all have to make up our own minds on that.
Poor Clark will be asking himself that question for the rest of his life.
When Lois makes the decision, to drop the story, for Clark’s sake, Perry is pretty much convinced that she’s telling the truth.
And then he asks the question that sums up the whole movie.
“Can you imagine how people would react if they knew there was someone out there like that?”
Martha has very mixed feelings when she hears that Clark has found where he came from, his true parents.
She’s happy for him, but at the same time, she’s worried she’ll lose him to them.
OF course, that will never happen.
Martha talks about how, as a baby, Clark struggled to breathe Earth’s atmosphere.
I love that. Just a nice little sci-fi touch to make Clark a more believable alien. I think that’s important, since Krpytonians look human on the outside.
And of course, it will become important later on.
We meet General Swanwick. For the first time. He’s a cool recurring character. I like him. And, of course, Zach Snyder has revealed there’s much more to this character than meets the eye. I guess we’ll see how that pans out in the Snyder Cut of Justice League.
And horror horrors, something is approaching Earth. And it looks Kryptonian.
The little gag with the alert on a computer screen that turns out to be low toner in Lois’s photocopier is pretty funny. See, these movies do have some humour in them!
And this is the big moment.
The aliens arrive.
A UFO is spotted in the sky. Martha sees something up there. Clark recognises it.
And then the lights go out.
There’s silence
And then the tv starts making that spooky sound.
And the voice says “You are not alone.”
Oooh, that gets me every time.
So many goosebumps.
At this moment, I think we begin to understand what that plan was that Christopher Nolan and his mate had while they were writing the dark knight trilogy.
Their plan for a modern Superman was to treat it as a serious science fiction story.
They realised that the minute Superman is revealed to the world, it’s a first contact story.
As soon as Zod appears, it’s an alien invasion movie.
Man of Steel embraces its role as both of those.
No wonder I love it so much.
Most other interpretations of Superman on screen never really accepted what a world-changing thing it is to have an alien walking among us. I remember an old episode of Lois and Clark where people were being abducted by aliens and nobody believed it. But ….. There was an alien flying above Metropolis every week. The episode tried to handwave that away but it didn’t work for me.
So Zod has come to earth and he wants Kal-el. If he doesn’t turn himself in, earth will suffer the consequences.
I love the moment when the power comes back on, the globe explodes, and Martha jumps. Such an honest moment. We’re all feeling the same way.
The tabloid rats Lois out. “Lois Lane knows who this guy is.”
The FBI are after her. The government want to find this alien. Because the survival of the human race is at stake.
Then there’s a nice little scene where Clark goes to a church to consider his options.
The moment is subtle about it, but there is a clear indication that Christian faith was some part of Clark’s upbringing.
I was wrong. There’s another great flashback. Clark is being bullied. Forcing himself not to fight back, and Pete Ross, who had previously bullied him too, gives him a hand up. I guess they became friends after Clark saved his life.
Jonathan asks if they hurt Clark. “You know they can’t.” That’s not what Jonathan meant. He’s referring to emotional hurt.
Clark’s self-control, his deliberate choice not to use violence against others is an important part of his arc in this movie. Good man or bad, he will change the world.
Clark confesses to the pastor that he is the alien Zod is looking for.
The pastor’s not sure how to respond to that.
And there’s a symbolic picture of Jesus behind his head as Clark talks.
It’s obvious Zod is a bad guy, but can Clark trust the people of earth?
Some times you have to take a leap of faith first. The trust part comes later.
Clark makes the decision to surrender himself to the US military, but he wants them to release Lois.
He submits to the handcuffs because it makes the soldiers feel more comfortable.
You don’t control me and you never will, Clark says, but that doesn’t mean I’m your enemy.
Clark lets them turn him over to Zod. That’s why he’s here. He’s sacrificing himself for the sake of Earth.
The Kryptonian shuttle is cool, as is the breathing mask.
Fiaora says Zod wants Lois as well. She agrees to go.
I’m not sure why they want Lois. The movie doesn’t really explain it. This is perhaps the biggest plot weakness of the movie for me.
Clark has an escape plan for her. He gives her the key. Installing the Jor-El program should give her a way off.
I love that the Kryptonian ship has an atmosphere not breathable to humans.
Clark is reflecting their atmosphere because he’s spent a lifetime adapting to Earth.
He has to let this run its course.
While he’s out, he has a vision of Zod.
I guess this is a type of telepathic communication? Perhaps using technology? Again, it’s not really explained.
Zod recounts some information we already know, but gives further details as well.
Turns out the destruction of Krypton freed their prison ship from the phantom zone.
They retrofitted the phantom projector into a hyperdrive. Remember, the two technologies are very simple.
They were to the old colony worlds, but without support from Krypton, these colony worlds withered and died.
But Zod did find a world engine for terraforming.
Clark triggered a distress beacon when he boarded the ancient scout ship. He brought Zod here.
And we finally learn about the codex. The genetic code for every Kryptonian yet to be born is stored in it. The purpose of sending the codex was so that Krypton could live again on another planet. Maybe on earth?
But Jor-el never planned for it to happen Zod’s way. Zod wants to terraform Earth into a new Krypton. The people of earth will die.
The scene where Clark is drawing in skulls is very symbolic and creepy. But kinda cool.
Zod admits he killed Jor-el. There isn’t a day it doesn’t haunt me, but if I had to, I’d do it again.
Remember those words. They’ll be important.
This version of Zod is a fantastic villain. Possibly my favourite villain from any superhero movie.
You see, he is truly the hero of his own story. He passionately believes he is doing the right thing. He’s fighting for his people.
As planned, the Jor-el AI helps Lois escape back to Earth.
So why was she here to begin with? As I said, we never learn the answer to that.
I like the black versions of the Superman suit we see both Jor-el and Zod in.
With the ship’s environment changing to human norm, Clark has his powers back. Technically, the other Kryptonians have powers now too, but they’re not adapted to this atmosphere.
Now that Clark knows Zod’s plan, he can’t just surrender to them. He won’t save earth that way. He has to escape and oppose Zod’s forces.
Jor-el wanted Clark to learn what it meant to be human so he could be a bridge between two people’s. Jor-El’s plan for the codex was for the two species to live oin peace.
When they land back on Earth, I think Lois actually explains why they wanted her. They probed her mind. They wanted to know about Kal-el from the perspective of a human who knew him
There we go. Mystery solved.
I love it when Martha tells Zod and the others Kryptonian thugs to go to hell.
They find Clark’s spaceship, but the codex is not there.
When Clark learns that Zod threatened his mother, he doesn’t hold back. For the first time, here is a foe he can let loose on. He doesn’t have to stop himself.
HE really pounds into him with his fists. Man, it must have felt so good!
And now we pay off that flashback scene in the school. With his mask damaged, Zod is not only struggling with earth’s atmosphere, he’s getting all the visual and auditory information.
He hasn’t spent a lifetime learning to control his senses. And so he retreats. Wonderful moment.
The big shootout in Smallville is cool.
This is the most visually impressive Superman film we’ve ever seen.
I mean, the donner film was just as impressive for its time in 1978, but this is a modern film exploiting all the advantages of over 30 years of technical advancement.
Incredible effects and stunt work
Superman has one big weakness.
No, it’s not kryptonite, it’s his morals.
He cares about the innocent. Fiora claims this gives her an evolutionary advantage over him. In one sense it kinda makes sense. They can fight harder, to hell with the consequences, because they don’t care who gets hurt.
He can’t.
But is she right? Or can compassion be an unexpected source of strength?
The soldiers are told to engage all targets.
“What about the guy in blue?”
“I said all targets.”
But by the end of the fight, Clark has proven himself, using that compassion we talked about.
In the end, the soldier says “this man is not our enemy.”
They regarded Superman as an enemy at first, as they should.
But he’s proven himself. And now they know he is an ally.
Fiora says “You will not win. For every one you save, we will kill a million more.”
This is also a very important line to understanding the end of the movie.
The battle has been won, but it’s not over.
Fioras words are no doubt haunting Clark.
I love it when Martha says “It’s just stuff. It can be replaced.”
We learn what happened to the codex. Jorel stored the information in the genes of Kal-el’s body.
They can extract it from his cells. He doesn’t need to be alive.
And so they release the world engine.
They’re going to terraform Earth, making it uninhabitable to humans.
The world engine is in the south Indian ocean.
The main ship hovers over Metropolis. Two parts to accomplish the terraforming.
I love how the water droplets go upward when the process starts.
The noise the world engine makes is creepy as hell. The stuff nightmares are made out of.
It’s wreaking havoc across the ship.
Clark is finally given the name Superman. That’s what they’re calling him.
Lois knows how to stop Zod. I think Jor-el told her.
They use Clark’s ship like a bomb to trigger the phantom drive and open a singularity, sending the Kryptonians back into the phantom zone.
I love how everything in tihs movie has a slightly more scientific spin. Even if it’s just fictional science.
One of the things I love about this movie is that it allows Lois and the US military blokes to play equal parts in the salvation of Earth with Superman.
They’re gonna execute the plan to open the singularity but Clark has to stop the world engine.
The scout ship has a genesis chamber on board, which means, once Zod has the codex from Clark’s dead body, he can breed a new race of his people.
The defensive systems on the world engine are cool, another application of Krypton’s nano display replication technology.
It’s chilling seeing the skyscrapers dissolve. BRings back memories of September 11.
We’ll see the horrors of this moment from Bruce Wayne’s point of view in the next movie.
Jor-el is actually in a lot of this movie, and it’s fitting because the whole narrative has been about the conflict between him and Zod.
Even Perry has his moment to be a hero in this third act.
Superman is weakened by his battle with the world engine, but the first rays of sunlight rejuvenate him.
The climactic scene as they battle to open the singularity is filled with tension and thrills.
Clark chooses to destroy the scout ship to stop Zod. By doing so, he destroys Krypton. His people can never be reborn now.
He is unable to fulfil his father’s plan. Zod has ruined that.
Ultimately, his loyalty is to earth. Krypton had their chance.
The plan works. The singularity is created, and the Kryptonians are all sucked into the phantom zone.
All except Zod, who was in the crashed scout ship.
Lois and Clark have a quick moment together. It’s the first time they really express anything romantic between them.
This movie doesn’t really give much time for their relationship to develop, but it does make sense Lois is the one Clark would fall in love with. She’s the first one he was able to open up to. The first one he was able to trust with his secret.
The next moment between Superman and Zod is fantastic.
Zod exists only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which he was born.
And every action he takes no matter how violent or cruel was for the greater good of his people.
That’s why he sees himself as the hero, and Clark as the villain.
But now he has no people.
That is what Clark has taken from him.
So now it’s personal. Now it’s revenge.
Zod vows to take the humans from him. One by one.
He’ll make them all pay.
That’s how you hurt Superman.
It’s fitting that after the rest of the Kryptonians are gone, the final showdown is just Clark and Zod. The two of them, one on one.
It’s a thrilling fight, but it takes a huge toll on Metropolis.
We’ve never seen a Superman fight like this on-screen before.
There’s only one way this ends, Kal. Either you die or I do, Zod vows. That’s important.
Zod has spent his life training as a warrior to master his senses. Clark may have the same powers, but he doesn’t have the military training.
The music in this scene is phenomenal once again.
And then the moment that caused the most controversy in this movie.
And I’ll admit, it took me a while to sort out how I felt about it.
Superman kills Zod by breaking his neck.
Zod is using his heat vision to try to kill some civilians.
Clark stops him.
So many people felt this was a betrayal of Superman’s character. Superman should never kill.
I respect that opinion, but ultimately I found I disagreed with it.
Some have said Superman should have just flown upward to save those people.
And that might have worked temporarily, but it wasn’t just about those people.
Zod had made it abundantly clear that he would never stop killing humans. He would keep going until the end of his days.
Clarks pleads with him to stop. He says never.
The Kryptonian ships are gone. The phantom zone can’t be re-opened.
No prison on earth can hold him.
“This only ends when you die or I do.”
And so Clark takes the only option he can see available to him.
And it absolutely guts him.
You know, having pondered it for quite some time, I’m okay with Superman killing Zod?
It’s because of that gut-wrenching scream he gives afterwards. The hurt, he feels at having to do something he swore he would never do.
Zod says there isn’t a day he isn’t haunted by the fact he had to kill Jor-el.
Clark will also be haunted by his killing Zod for the rest of his life.
But both men did what they felt was necessary, to save their people.
It’s powerful symmetry.
This is what I love about the emotional honesty of this movie.
In Superman 2, he pushes Zod off a cliff with a smile on his face.
In the 1989 Batman film, Batman kills a minor goon while cracking a joke.
Not in my superhero movie. No. This movie takes death seriously. Death has consequences. Killing takes a toll. This movie acknowledges that. And I love that.
And I think ultimately, the pain of this moment, the guilt he’s feeling will only help to further cement his desire to never kill again.
The US military are trying to find where Superman hangs his cape. But he’s not going to let them. He destroys their tracking satellite. “How do we know you won’t one day act against America’s interests?” the general asks.
I grew up in Kansas, he says. I’m about as American as they come. Clark is interesting in that he’s not human, and yet he was raised human. He was proven his loyalty to Earth. And yes, he will feel an affinity for the nation he grew up in.
I’m here to help, but I have to do it on my terms, he says.
In the end, the US government are just gonna have to trust him. It won’t be easy, but superman HAS proven himself.
There’s a nice conversation at the end. Martha says Jonathan always believed in Clark.
Clark is sorry his dad never lived to see it, but Martha says he saw it. He saw it in the boy that Clark was.
And I think that’s beautiful, and ultimately it redeems Jonathan’s weakness earlier in the film when he said “maybe”
Clark has given thought to what he’ll do while he’s not saving the world. A job where he can keep his head to the ground, where people won’t think twice if he goes into danger and asks questions.
So finally, after the whole movie, we see journalist Clark kent, with the glasses.
I don’t mind that it took all movie to get there. It was a very satisfying moment. It made sense for the origin of the character through the plot.
And I love the double meaning when Lois says “welcome to the planet.”
And I love the goofy grin they give each other. She knows it’s him. Those glasses ain’t gonna fool anyone who knows you buster.
It’s a nice little humorous moment to end the film on.
I love this movie. It’s my favourite superhero movie of all time. Probably my favourite movie full stop.
Not only is it a fantastic superhero movie, but it’s also a fantastic science fiction movie. It blends the trappings of superman, the red and blue suit, the S, the flying, and it mixes it with a brilliant first contact alien invasion film.
And ultimately, that’s why I love it.
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