Many have undertaken to compile a narrative and
review about the events that have been viewed among us, just as other
eyewitnesses of Man of Steel have done. It also seemed good to me, since
I have carefully investigated everything, even seen it twice, to write to you an
orderly review of my own, most honorable Theophilus, so that you may know
the certainty of the things about which you have heard.
OK, sarcasm time aside… by now you’ve probably
heard about many of the messianic references in Man of Steel. If you haven’t, I’ll discuss a few later in
this review. I will say, that Man of
Steel is, in my opinion, the best Superman movie to date.
But first, I want to get my biggest gripe about the
film out of the way. You may not have
noticed it but it really bugged me.
Apparently, very little of the movie was filmed with a steady camera. It was constantly bouncing or jiggling just a
little bit. Even slow intimate scenes,
close ups of excellent actors, were distracting. It seems to be a trend for some movies,
thinking that it’s a cool, “realistic” way of making film. It felt more like I was watching Cloverfield,
a monster movie from a few years ago that was supposed to be filmed on a hand
held camera. That’s what numerous parts
of Man of Steel felt like.
But to me, it really took away from what could have
been a better movie. My natural eyes
don’t see the world with that kind of bouncing, my motor control systems hold
me steady and my brain stabilizes the view better than any camera. To have this done intentionally goes against
how I naturally see the world and it distracted me greatly. I could never get a good look at any
scene. Maybe it didn’t bother you, but
it really did me.
OK, enough about that. Now let me get to my thoughts about the story
and movie itself.
I’ve read some who think
the movie was shallow on plot, I cannot see that. What may cause people to think so is the over
familiarity of the basic story. People
have seen Superman origin stories before.
While the basic skeleton of the story is still there, I really enjoyed
the nuances of how this version is different.
WARNING: Spoilers will follow.
Some examples:
Krypton is far more violent and philosophically
interesting. No one is just stoically standing
around in flowing robes. They show
emotion and passion. This is a world
that is experiencing a military coup. As
for their culture, issues can be seen that are worth looking at.
Strict
Genetic/Population Control—according to Jor-El, Kal’s birth
is the first natural birth in centuries.
All other children are genetically mapped out ahead of time and grown in
a “genesis chamber”, an external womb that is harvested at full gestation
(reminding me of scenes from The Matrix).
It’s like the curse of Genesis 3:16 has been circumvented. When General Zod was told of this
“miraculous” natural birth uncontrolled by the genetic map called the “codex”
he describes it as “heresy”. So there seems
to be some cultural imperative that makes such “breeding” not just undesirable
but morally wrong. Zod speaks of
preserving certain bloodlines and eliminating others—so there is an artificial
way to prevent any future children for a family or “house” to be born. They get to choose who gets to have children
and prevent undesireables—a form of Eugenics is at work here that we dealt with
in our history and motivated people like Margaret Sanger—founder of Planned
Parenthood—who viewed minorities as inferior which is why most PP facilities
are in minority neighborhoods.
Genetic
Determinism v. Freedom—the genetic controls determine
the skills, training and life of the child.
Babies are genetically modified to be the ultimate soldiers, farmers,
statesmen and scientists. Essentially
they are locked in to that role for their entire lives—there is no deviation
allowed. So if you’re a programed
scientist who would rather be a farmer, tough luck. It functions kind of like aptitude
testing—some nations and even education “experts” recommend aptitude testing at
various ages to determine the kind of education and “life skills” these kids
receive. After all, why set the kid up
to fail with mathematics if they test out as a laborer when they are 8 years
old. Jor-El saw the limitations of this
philosophy and rejected it saying, “What if a child dreamed of becoming
something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspired to
something greater?”
This was Jor-El’s dream for his son. He didn’t want Kal-El locked in as he
was. He wanted something more for his son,
as all father’s do. Jor-El believed this
locking in system was one of the greatest hindrances to the culture moving
forward. Krypton had become comfortable with where they were and what they had
achieved—there was little drive for greater things or things outside of the
achieved box.
But the society had locked itself into a Caste System. There was a ruling class, warrior class,
science class mentioned and presumably more.
By all indication, people were not able to change classes. All based on their genetics. They believed a form of Genetic
Determinism—as if the sum total of a person’s ability is determined by their
genetics—that they have no real freedom and no real choice. This kind of discussion took place in the
movie “Gattica” at a much slower pace but still interesting. Deviation from the genetics was not allowed,
but the unexpected events and outcomes and geniuses have a way of pushing the
box. That “it” factor that was talked
about in the first rebooted Star Trek movie that attracted Captain Pike to Kirk
in the first place—that willingness to leap before looking and unpredictability
was something “Star Fleet has lost”.
But Krypton had settled for a false sense of Managed Evolution. I’m no fan of evolutionary theory—I understand
it well and it has far too many holes and theological consequences. But since that’s the world the movie was
working with, I’ll jump in a bit. The
Kryptonians have been controlling genetic profiles and outcomes—essentially controlled
breeding to engineer the perfect race—hmm sounds like Hitler a bit to me. But not even that is really evolution. Humans have selectively bred dogs for
centuries and produced enormous changes within that species (microevolution)
but few scientists would call it true evolution at work. This is what the Kryptonians have been doing,
selective & controlled breeding.
Laying aside the merits & theology of
evolutionary theory for the moment, one of the female Kryptonians said
something interesting later on. Faora:
[While Beating up Kal-El] “You have a sense of morality
and we do not. And that gives us an Evolutionary Advantage. And if there's one
thing that History teaches us it's that Evolution always wins.” This is interesting because many leading
evolutionists argue that morality can exist within an evolutionary system. But the only real law in evolution is
“survival of the fittest”—if killing helps ensure your survival, you are
morally justified in doing so. Kal-El’s
unwillingness to kill made him hesitant or unwilling to unleash his full power
to take Faora out. His morality was an “evolutionary
disadvantage”. To me this says that
morality has to have something other than a pure evolutionary cause—because without
it, we can justify anything.
But I thought it strange that Faora appealed to
evolution—which is supposed to be an unguided process—when everything about her
society and existence was planned, orchestrated and controlled. There was no “evolution” at work in her.
She represented humanity trying to function as
gods, whereas Kal-El was born the way God really intended. She thought that control made her better, but
in reality it did not. In other words,
perfection is not going to be achieved through human effort, we’re not really
as good as we think we are. We think we
can improve the process, like with genetic modification, but we don’t always
see the long term effects of such tampering.
Our generation is going through this right now in the debate on
genetically modified crops. Are there
some immediate and visible “improvements”, to be sure. Are there unseen consequences that may not
show up immediately? Probably.
Another interesting trait of the Kryptonians was
how they had once been explorers, expanding their territory, building bases and
establishing colonies. But by this
point, they had Retreated into
Isolationism—almost as if leaving Krypton at all was to be avoided and a
form of punishment. Losing that vision
of exploration is what had locked them into the controlled environment. Given our country’s retreating from the space
program—like no replacement for shuttles, no willingness to go back to the moon
etc. this could be commentary on those types of attitudes.
As for the rest of the film…
In the 1978 original film—about all they showed of
Clark struggling to fit in was his inability to play football when he could
score every time he touched the ball. He
endured being picked on as the equipment manager. But in Man of Steel, Clark’s secret is far more than just not getting to play
football. His powers come on
suddenly like an illness that is very traumatic for a young kid. Other kids make fun of him and he has to
struggle with whether he should defend himself.
He shows the essence of Meekness—which
is not the absence of power, but rather power that is restrained. Clark could have beaten or killed the kid,
but again, his morality held him back.
Kal-El/Clark struggles with how to use the
abilities he has. In saving people, they
see what he can do. So there is a battle
between protecting his identity but using the abilities he has to save
people. His father Jonathan Kent warns
Clark that people will likely fear and reject him—saving people is going to
hurt, cost you friends, relationships, maybe even your life.
Case in point…
Jonathan
Kent’s death.
This was so much more compelling in this version. Previously, Jonathan Kent was walking back to
the barn and collapses with a massive heart attack. Clark can do nothing to save him and that
grief sends him on his journey. In Man
of Steel, Clark and his father are arguing in a car about whether Clark should
listen to his father’s wisdom. It’s a
common type of teenage conversation made stronger by the adoption angle of
“you’re not even my real father.” With
the pain of that statement still hanging in the air a life threatening
situation comes up. Jonathan tells Clark
not to reveal his ability but to get his mother to safety. Jonathan risks his life for the family dog
and goes back and when it’s clear that the event is going to claim him, Clark
begins to move but is stopped by his father’s hand telling him no. Clark could have saved his father, but was
obedient when it really mattered. That
decision haunted Clark.
This movie also didn’t try to introduce the dual personality of Clark Kent and
Superman side by side in Metropolis.
What little they did show, thankfully, Clark doesn’t look like he’ll be
getting the geek treatment in future
movies. As great as Christopher Reeve’s
version of the characters were for their day, the bumbling, geeky reporter routine
has become more and more frustrating and irritating. Who would hire that guy? Who would ever do an interview with that
guy? Why would he ever be partnered with
an ace reporter like Lois Lane?
Thankfully, as they are not treating Clark Kent with geek gloves, they
are also not treating Lois with Blind
& Stupid gloves. Glasses don’t
fool her. Because she knows Superman,
she recognizes him immediately and presumably she’ll be helping Clark cover for
the sudden disappearances.
I liked the way that Zod and the other Kryptonians had
a hard time adapting to earth’s
environment and the powers that came with it. The transition to power was painful and
difficult for them as it was for the young Kal-El. The senses were overwhelming and it took
intense mental control to push through it.
At one point, when Superman first used his eye beams on other
Kryptonians like Faora, she was shocked and for the first time, started to
retreat. Zod was eventually able to
master the sensory overload and control his powers much like Superman. This led to better…
Fighting—technology
finally lets you see the scale and destruction of a fight between such powerful
beings. Until Man of Steel, only the
cartoon version of Superman could convey what would really happen to a city
with this going on. The attacks were
fast and hard unlike any other of the Superman movies. Sometimes the previously mentioned camera
stuff interfered with a good view of the fight, but I can forgive those moments
more than the slow ones. In the fighting
between Superman and Zod, you again see the influence of genetic superiority
and the caste system when Zod, who was born a warrior and trained his whole
life, mocked Kal-El’s ability to match him because Kal received no real
military training only what he could learn “on a farm”.
Zod also was locked
in on his mission to protect Krypton.
This came from his breeding. He
was not truly free but lived only for that purpose. So he felt justified in doing anything to
complete that mission, even if it meant killing billions of others, all because
they were not part of Krypton. It’s the
same type of philosophy that the Nazis used to justify what they were doing in
protecting the “superior Aryan race”. Zod
had no reason to live once the possibility of a reborn Krypton was
removed. He then lived only for
vengeance.
Messianic/Religious
Messages.
Here there are many and many have been
written. The
Washington Post, Drew
Zahn,
& Time
Magazine. Screenwriter David Goyer commented in an
article: "We didn’t come up with these allusions of Superman being
Christ-like, that’s something that’s been embedded in the character from the
beginning. But also the legend of Moses, clearly the whole way his parents give
him up."
Kal-El has a “miraculous” birth and is sent to
earth like Moses in a space faring “basket”.
Jor-El calls the baby “Kal, Son of El” early on which if you know any
Hebrew, El is the word for God, shortened from Elohim.
Kal states clearly that he
is 33 years old, the traditional age of Jesus at His crucifixion.
Superman leaves the Kryptonian ship in orbit in a
position mirroring the crucifixion.
When trying to decide what to do, Clark seeks
counsel in a church from a minister, presumably Lutheran or Episcopal as there’s
just a cross, not a crucifix. Over
Clark’s shoulder is a stained glass window depicting the Garden of Gethsemane
when Jesus wrestled with sacrificing Himself to save humanity.
The minister helps Clark by saying that the step of
faith comes before trust can be established.
Faith & Trust are pivotal themes as are the search for purpose and
meaning. There are many messages on the
nature of Sacrifice, the acceptance and rejection of someone with this kind of
otherworldly power, the choosing of genetic family & adopted family, even
the morality of killing in combat.
Zod stated at one point that the only way the
fighting was going to end is if one of them were dead. Clearly with his desire to save life,
Superman doesn’t like the idea of killing, even someone like Zod, but left with
no choice, he very graphically breaks Zod’s neck (though I thought there were
other options). This was a very dramatic
break from previous depictions and this hands on killing clearly took a toll on
Superman’s character.
In the future, I suspect that the life of Superman
will parallel the life in Jesus in that there will be a period of popularity,
then a period of rejection—probably orchestrated by Lex Luthor, then even a
death & resurrection. We’ll see on
that.
Music
I thought the music was excellent and very fitting
for the screenplay. I heard an interview
with the composer Hans Zimmer on the pressures of composing music for the same
character that John Williams had done in 1978.
William’s theme is one of the most recognizable in filmscore. And that’s one philosophical difference,
Williams was writing a theme song that could stand alone—like the introduction
to a regular program that is meant to remind everyone what show is next. Zimmer changed the style and the sound by
deliberately removing the trumpet from his instrumentation and by harkening
back to themes of the American Midwest in composers like Copeland—Appalachian Spring/
Fanfare for the Common Man, Gershwin, Bernstein & others
There were several bones thrown to fans of
Smallville who had hoped Tom Welling would be cast in the main role. There were four people in Man of Steel who
spent at least one episode in Smallville.
Amy Adams was in one of the worst SmV episodes (called Craving) in its
entire 10 year run as an overweight girl turned skinny, fat consuming
psycho. Mackenzie Gray played the old
Lex Luthor clone in the season 10 opener.
Tahmoh Pinikett was in three SmV episodes and Alessandro Juliani, who
had a small role in the Canadian cold, played Dr. Emil Hamilton on SmV for a
couple of seasons. Another Smallville bone was the name of the place that Jonathan Kent was working at when Clark got in a fight when he was 12--the name of the place was Sullivan's. If there were more,
please let me know.
All this to say, I really enjoyed the movie, even
if I was one of those Smallville fans who were upset at a Brit getting the role
of the American Way Superman… well done Henry Cavill—you actually looked like
you had real muscles, unlike some others… B.R.
