Man of Steel doesn't need my help and by the end of next weekend will likely pass the half billion dollar mark but I wanted to do one last posting in defense of the film.

Of all the criticisms leveled at the movie the one that gets me the most is that this is a darker Superman. Even defenders seem to admit that this version of Superman is darker. No No No. The Superman in Man of Steel is as good or better than any other interpretation I've ever seen. What he did at the end of the movie was unavoidable and ultimately heroic. I want to know where Superman does dark things in the movie. He allows a man to throw a beer in his face, he repeatedly saves people including his classmates, he even permits himself to be taken by Zod to what may very well be his doom to protect mankind. When he first dons the Superman suit and begins to learn to fly his emotion is pure exhilaration. Even Metropolis is shown as bright and much more cheerful than its counterpart, Gotham City. Superman is a heroic, inspiration figure who is cast into a dark situation and triumphs but Superman is not himself dark. He does NOTHING to bring shame to the legacy of Superman. Contrast this with Superman Returns where our hero spent his evenings peeping on Lois and Richard White.

What Superman isn't is goofy. His Clark isn't bumbling around perpetually pushing up his glasses. It seems like fans of the Superman MOVIES expect to see Lex Luthor with bumbling sidekicks and Superman spouting stiff corny dialogue. Anything else is DARK.

Batman Begins has been my favorite superhero movie but after Man of Steel I'm torn. BB is probably the more technically proficient and better written of the two but Man of Steel did something no other superhero film ever did. It made me feel real emotion. Batman Begins was thrilling but I never felt real emotion for the character. Bruce Wayne's quest to clean up crime always felt remote. I felt the intensity and dedication of Bruce Wayne but his pain was not unique and had occurred at least a decade in the past. When Zod grabbed Martha Kent by the neck and threw her to the ground and Superman unleashed his fury screaming "DON'T EVER THREATEN MY MOTHER" while hitting Zod like a literal locomotive there was an intensity that I never felt with Batman's angst over the death of his parents.

Unfortunately most of the best lines are in the trailers but in context they take on more emotional significance. I'm a huge James Bond fan but in all 23 movies I have only felt real emotion once and that was with the death of Tracy Bond and James final pathetically sad line. Man of Steel managed to stir emotions several times and when a movie can do that it has achieved something rare for me. Wayne's tragedy was sad but what Clark went through was horrific. First he learns he's not even human and by the end to have to destroy the last remnants of his own race to save his adopted world. It is the most heroic act any Superhero has ever performed.

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