.... and, to be fair, this was not my idea but the screenwriter's, since the last few minutes of the film reveal that this was a topic very much on his mind when he penned this script.
OK OK, I get that the transition from comic book (graphic novel) to feature film is not easy, but art never is, really. And it has been done successfully. Look at Superman 2 with Chris Reeves. Look at Spiderman 2 with Toby MaGuire. More recently look at Superman Returns (flawed but still brilliant in parts) and even more recently than that, Captain America 2.
What do all these films have in common? Humanity. Hope. Decency. That difficult blending of superpowers with those same quirks and oddities which make us human.
What they lack -- every film above-named lacks -- is brutality for its own sake, gratuitous violence directed against the star (and, by analogy, the viewing audience) just to make them feel the pain.
Yet, astonishingly, this trend is becoming the "new normal" in superhero films and no one seems to care, the fans just keep lapping it up. MAN OF STEEL was an abomination, as if the intent was to see how many office buildings you can bang to bits with Superman's head. Ditto Thor 2, ditto The Wolverine (borders on torture porn, that one); and finally, this "re-imagining" of Spidey where everything that can possibly go wrong in his day ... does go wrong. Including saving his gf.
Is this entertainment?
Seriously. C'mon folks, wake up and smell the stupid before all superhero films end up like this.
OK OK, I get that the transition from comic book (graphic novel) to feature film is not easy, but art never is, really. And it has been done successfully. Look at Superman 2 with Chris Reeves. Look at Spiderman 2 with Toby MaGuire. More recently look at Superman Returns (flawed but still brilliant in parts) and even more recently than that, Captain America 2.
What do all these films have in common? Humanity. Hope. Decency. That difficult blending of superpowers with those same quirks and oddities which make us human.
What they lack -- every film above-named lacks -- is brutality for its own sake, gratuitous violence directed against the star (and, by analogy, the viewing audience) just to make them feel the pain.
Yet, astonishingly, this trend is becoming the "new normal" in superhero films and no one seems to care, the fans just keep lapping it up. MAN OF STEEL was an abomination, as if the intent was to see how many office buildings you can bang to bits with Superman's head. Ditto Thor 2, ditto The Wolverine (borders on torture porn, that one); and finally, this "re-imagining" of Spidey where everything that can possibly go wrong in his day ... does go wrong. Including saving his gf.
Is this entertainment?
Seriously. C'mon folks, wake up and smell the stupid before all superhero films end up like this.