5 People That Should Not See Man of Steel

This weekend, the latest movie entry into the Superman mythos, Man of Steel, opens in theaters. I was fortunate enough to see an early sneak preview of the movie last Sunday. Among other things, I came away from the movie thinking that there are going to be certain people who don't like this movie. Read onwards to find out which people those are.

1) People Expecting This To Be The Christopher Reeves Superman movies

For me, when I get to thinking about what Batman is, I always think of the Batman portrayed in "Batman: The Animated Series". That was "my" Batman - what I base all other portrayals of Batman against. For some people, probably a good many people, the Christopher Reeves movies are "their" Superman. Therefore, I would imagine that there is a decent number of people that are going to see this movie hoping that it will be like the Superman movies that they remember. Those people will probably be disappointed. Times have changed, and Man of Steel reflects that change. While the core character and what he stands for are similar in both movies, the overall tone and feel of the movies is very different than the tone of the 70s movies.

2) People Expecting This To Be The Dark Knight

Having directed The Dark Knight trilogy, many people seeing Christopher Nolan's name on the Man of Steel movie poster may be concerned that this movie attempts to "Batman-ify" Superman. I can see how someone could think that - Superman movies havent done very well recently, but the Batman movies have, so lets just put some of those appealing Batman aspects into this Superman movie. However, Christopher Nolan and Zack Synder did not do that. The tone and universe may have a similar feel to The Dark Knight, which is the way it should be since both movies take place in the same universe, but Superman shines like a beacon, being the man of hope when the world plunges into darkness. What you end up with is a movie that shows how a man like Superman can exist in the same world as Christain Bale's Batman (by the way, in one of the space shots, look at a nearby satellite for a small Easter egg).

3) People Taking Small Children

Typically, for big comic book movies, Ashley and I are of the belief that we should watch the movie first, then take Chloe to it later. This way, we know what's coming and we can shield her from any scenes we feel are too young for her. Most of these movies she really wants to see, yet most are rated PG-13, and this way she can still see the movie with me still holding on to some sense of "good parenting". For Man of Steel, we thought about bringing her along with us for this one time - I mean it's Superman, how bad could it be? I'm glad we decided not to bring her, because I don't know if she's ready to see the movie. As I alluded to above, this movie gets pretty dark. In order to bring out the best traits in a character, you need a villain who is really good at the opposite. In Man of Steel, General Zod is a dark, evil man who will stomp on anyone who gets in his way or who he deems "inferior". This works in the sense that it lets Superman's goodness shine, but the result is a few intense scenes that I believe might be rough for some small kids watching the film.

4) People Who Hate Good 3D

I've heard it explained to me plenty of times that the best 3D is the kind that is not completely obvious to you. Our eyes see in 3D everyday, so if done correctly, good 3D movies would look very natural to us, adding depth to the experience. The preview of Man of Steel we saw was in 3D and this is exactly how I felt watching this movie. There were no cheap gimmicks of objects being thrown at the screen or other effects that other movies use because they are being shot/rendered in 3D. Overall, the 3D felt very natural and did not distract from the movie, which I believe qualifies it as a good usage of the technology.

And Finally....

5) People That Hate A Good Movie

I really liked this movie. Superman has never really been a huge character for me: i consider the other movies to be "alright", I did enjoy "Smallville", but I don't regularly read Superman comics either. While I still prefer the Batman movies, I had fun watching the movie and it did make me want to go to the comic store to look at Superman comics, which for any comic book movie is a good judge of how good it was.

Go see the movie, for most of you out there, you'll enjoy it. If not, comment below and let me know what you thought about it.