A part of a series:
Man of Steel, Small-Large Steps on the Path to Superman
SPOILERS... please watch the film first before reading on if you do not want anything spoiled.
What is it with this making films darker nowdays? What is up with all this "Nolifying"?
Maybe I am blind, maybe I am old fashioned, maybe a lot of things. But when did adding detail to a film ever become something bad? When did making something more believable ever be a bad thing as well?
For generations now we have been fed mediocre adaptations of all our comic and superhero franchises. Even when something good rises, historically, it falls again into toy-merchandising and kids films.
It stands with reason then that after wanting something like this for so many years and no one being able to deliver or have the nerve to try, that a film like Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins would appeal to the masses and fans in a way like no other. The approach was serious, it done the character justice, and yes it was dark because that is the story of Batman to begin with.
Evidently, Hollywood saw that this is what people wanted for so many years, and box numbers were a show of the praise of this act and hence other studios went on after that to up their game in comic films so that they too would become deeper, more realistic, and with an increased attention to detail. How is this in any way a wrong practice?
On the subject of Batman, Tim Burtons parody of a film was just as dark, if not darker, and in ways also swayed from the comic material quite a lot. However, it worked and it was a great 2 Batman films. For many, this adaptation and Micheal Keatons' portrayal of Batman was even better than the Dark Knight Trilogy. So it isn't in any way something completely new, especially for the Batman name. It was simply something that wasn't done right before and to such an extent.
Back to the point of Man of Steel and other films however. The notion that Man of Steel was Nolified and dark couldn't be more wrong.
There was nothing dark about man of Steel. The threat felt very real and quite menacing indeed, but a film is only as good as its villain is, and this was a great plus.
Man of Steel even symbolically took place in the sun almost the entire time. The themes portrayed showed of hope. This was the main drive and idea behind it all and this was also the intent of the direction behind the film. People hear it was produced by Christopher Nolan and they simply tag Man of Steel wrongly with it being a dark film. There was absolutely nothing dark about it.
I was really content when I saw Henry Cavill look at an interviewer like he was completely irrelevant with the question he made of "why was Man of Steel darker?" His response was that it wasn't, and that the theme behind the entire film was hope.
Was I among the few and only people that caught on this?
I have gone into the idea of people being conditioned before seeing a film in other articles of my own , so I will not head off into tiring myself once more and explaining why such an idea even exist. The year is 2015 and we are still as a populace subject to self conditioning and mainstream influence. That speaks in volumes about humanity.
There are many films out there that practice a "darker" approach to what is made. Some are indeed dark in their portrayal (like the fan film Power Rangers) whilst many are not.
Was the realism and more concerning themes in Captain America the Winter Solider seen as Nolifying? Was the realism found in all of these Marvel films seen as Nolifying as well? No, as a matter of fact those films are praised alongside Marvel.
Man of Steel begins with the telling of the story on Krypton. What happened and how it all came to pass that Kal El was sent to Earth. It was also the foundation to General Zods tale which worked wonderfully into the film.
The entire film takes to account the idea of humanity, what they are capable of through either acceptance or rejection of something they do not understand or perhaps fear. It had to do with the idea of making a leap of faith, which again aligns with the forces of hope. It portrayed Kal Els' journey growing up on Earth and how he contained his emotions, showing us his upbringing through his Earth Father and also of Kal Els' own direction as he would always want to save the day.
All this then sprinkled with his journey coming to an end as the Man of Steel, taking his first steps into becoming something more, a symbol for humanity, and his "space" father Jor El teaching him of his purpose. Of hope. Of the bridge between two people. And that he could save them all.
Again, with going back to symbolism, the sun is a very powerful tool in this film, as well as the lighting in which it all takes place. And they done a great job in making Superman believable and portraying this feeling through all the imagery created. Apart from the visuals which were stunning, we now relate to him on a whole new level, and further-more with this reboot see a sense of limitations to him as well which again leave us hoping he can break those limitations. And that is again one of the elements to the film, where Jor El tells him that the only way he will know his boundaries is if he keeps pushing them and breaking them.
As a whole the entire film set up one of the greatest Superman reboots in a long time. And although not having taken the mantle of Superman on the fly (no pun intended) the film shows us his journey into how he becomes Superman from a mere superhuman-being that is marked as The Man of Steel.
The sense of the film was quite evidently the opposite to that of Nolans' Dark Knight Trilogy, and had nothing of the likes in it at all. Man of Steel was indeed Snyderfied, that is for sure, but it was not dark in neither its premise neither its execution.
Even the score, which is by far one of the best works from Hans Zimmer for me, had a completely different tone to it. It was truly a masterpiece.
But hey what do I know right? I am after all old fashioned. I will let this little guy speak for himself in the video that I will link you to here (a baby's reaction to Man of Steel flight scene). Children are afterall the least biased and most susceptible to feelings from us all. So that I think speaks volumes.
Yes, this is only one scene, but the film was filled with such sensations all over the place. It's a wonder I did not throw my hands up in theaters myself. Something tells me I would be single now if I did :P
Check the video in the link out, it is more than worth the watch.
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