# How many people saw Man of Steel \*after\* opening weekend? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160 "2013-10-13T20:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/21 "2013-10-14T20:29:40Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > That’s true and it kind of falls apart towards the end, but Man of Steel has no scenes that can compare to Superman saving the security guards or airplane in Superman Returns. With all its heavy atmosphere and doom-laden portentousness it doesn’t even have any light-hearted moments like the grainy CCTV footage of Superman tackling a common thief in ‘Returns’. I haven’t seen the newer one, so I can’t really compare them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/22 "2013-10-14T22:19:35Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > That’s true and it kind of falls apart towards the end, but Man of Steel has no scenes that can compare to Superman saving the security guards or airplane in Superman Returns. With all its heavy atmosphere and doom-laden portentousness it doesn’t even have any light-hearted moments like the grainy CCTV footage of Superman tackling a common thief in ‘Returns’. They have overdone ‘dark & gritty” and humorless. I also skipped the last Batman film, and even Spiderman. I am sooooo fucking tired of “dark & gritty”. “Returns” has the stalker Supes:rolleyes:, a REALLY bad Lois:mad:, and the ridicious plot of a island of Kryptonite.:dubious: That said the guy was a dead ringer and they had some nice touches. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/23 "2013-10-19T12:49:49Z")
My wife and I just saw it last night and came in with no bias. I’d heard the negativity, but was totally open minded. Loved it! I thought it was the best Superman movie, though I do love Superman 1 quite a bit. I thought this movie was excellent, hit every dramatic note correctly, and had me wowed quite a few times. I give it a very positive review. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/24 "2013-10-19T13:35:31Z")
I haven’t seen it yet, based on reviews and opinions here at the SDMB. I’m waiting until it’s available “free” on Netflix or whatever. Yes, I’ll miss the big-screen experience (although our screen is around 50" so it’s not too bad), but… I also have to add that I’m a big Superman fan in general, and I usually don’t mind re-thinkings of classic characters (like Holmes), but my son said this was NOT Superman. He just lets buildings fall on people and doesn’t seem to care, and he murders a villain. Holmes as a woman, OK; Holmes as the stupid foil to Watson’s brilliance, OK; but a Superman who is not a Good guy (or not a Paladin, in D&D terms), that’s just not Superman. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/25 "2013-10-19T14:52:56Z")
CK Dexter, your spoiler is kind of correct and kind of wrong. I’ll spoil box a brief explanation that does not further spoil your comments. [spoiler] There is mass destruction, but I don’t think Superman had much choice. These dudes were causing it and it had to be stopped. If Superman didn’t stop them, it’d be billions of lives. What else could he do? Force them into outer space? The movie does not show total apathy from Superman. He cares plenty. Murders the villain? Without spoiling it, I’ll point out that Superman had little choice. The villain was about to brutally(and in a tortuous way) kill helpless humans. I’m sure the writers could have fabricated a way out, but I think the killing was well justified.[/spoiler] Mind you, I’m not a big Superman purist. What would the comics have done in an identical situation? I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/26 "2013-10-19T16:31:16Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > CK Dexter, your spoiler is kind of correct and kind of wrong. I’ll spoil box a brief explanation that does not further spoil your comments. > > [spoiler] There is mass destruction, but I don’t think Superman had much choice. These dudes were causing it and it had to be stopped. If Superman didn’t stop them, it’d be billions of lives. What else could he do? Force them into outer space? The movie does not show total apathy from Superman. He cares plenty. > > Murders the villain? Without spoiling it, I’ll point out that Superman had little choice. The villain was about to brutally(and in a tortuous way) kill helpless humans. I’m sure the writers could have fabricated a way out, but I think the killing was well justified.[/spoiler] > > Mind you, I’m not a big Superman purist. What would the comics have done in an identical situation? I have no idea. That’s what I can’t understand about the purist rage. Superman has done the same thing several times before in the comics. Once involving the very same guy. It’s very rare and very much the exception to his usual way, but you can’t dismiss it with ‘That’s not Superman.’ It is. I think the point was to show how his way becomes his way. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/27 "2013-10-19T17:43:56Z")
I saw it late. The movie had terrific visual effects and set design, Krypton looked great. The super-fights were definitely super. All the actors were working hard, especially Russell “Fightin’ Round The World” Crowe. Problem was they weren’t given much to do. It’s a one-note film that can’t figure out where the rest of the notes are so it just keeps hitting that one note harder and harder and harder. There’s a refusal to lighten up, a desperate fear that somewhere a 8 year old child might possibly be enjoying this story about a man in a red cape from outer space with super powers, and golly, we can’t have that! It is a gray, grim and humorless film, shot with a stern refusal to allow things like “color” to interrupt the serious tone. They left out Jimmy Olsen and replaced him with some bald nonentity whose job in the film is to do exactly what Jimmy Olsen does, because God forbid we give the audience a bow tie or a “Golly” to smile at for two hours. A needlessly destructive Superman wanders through the movie with a pained look on his face that occasionally gets a tad more pained and signals the audience to prepare for another flashback. I look forward to another two or three films starring grim, pained gym-rats staring each other down across the ruins of cities and the bodies of the people they ostensibly are supposed to be saving. No, wait, I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/28 "2013-10-19T19:43:51Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > That’s what I can’t understand about the purist rage. Superman has done the same thing several times before in the comics. Once involving the very same guy. It’s very rare and very much the exception to his usual way, but you can’t dismiss it with ‘That’s not Superman.’ It is. Well, part of the problem is that, if you take any given Superman comic title, the percentage of books in which he kills someone is a fraction of a percent. The percentage of movies in the current cinematic franchise where Superman kills someone in 100% The comics spent decades establishing Superman as a guy who doesn’t kill, so that when it happens, it’s a Big Deal. When he killed Zod in the comics, he had a nervous breakdown, and ended up exiling himself from Earth. Like I said, I haven’t seen the movie version, so I can’t comment directly on it. Maybe they sell it. But I think having Superman kill in his first appearance in a new continuity is a serious misstep. For one thing, the next Superman movie is, inevitably, going to feature someone bigger and more dangerous than Zod, because that’s just the nature of action movie sequels. So, does Superman kill again? If he doesn’t, and finds a non-fatal way of dealing with the villain, doesn’t that undercut the argument that he was in an impossible situation in the first movie, when he was fighting a less dangerous foe? > [@](#): > > I think the point was to show how his way becomes his way. And that’s a problem right there, because fundamental to the character of Superman is the idea that he got his values from his adopted parents. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160/29 "2013-10-19T22:59:05Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The comics spent decades establishing Superman as a guy who doesn’t kill, so that when it happens, it’s a Big Deal. When he killed Zod in the comics, he had a nervous breakdown, and ended up exiling himself from Earth. Like I said, I haven’t seen the movie version, so I can’t comment directly on it. Maybe they sell it. But I think having Superman kill in his first appearance in a new continuity is a serious misstep. Well he _is_ shown to be devastated by it. It wasn’t some casual bad-ass scene. You could argue the necessity of the scene at all, of course. But, given its existence, the incident \*was \*played as a Big Deal, and is likely the beginning of his rule. > [@Miller](#): > > And that’s a problem right there, because fundamental to the character of Superman is the idea that he got his values from his adopted parents. Well, he did. Some people had problems with his dad’s protective ‘wait til you’re older’ stance, but his parents were shown to be good upstanding people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-saw-man-of-steel-after-opening-weekend/671160.md?page=1)