"Man of Steel"

Just saw the movie "Man of Steel".  I don't usually have any interest in this sort of movie, but Chris is in it in a very short appearance and so I was anxious to see it.  Of course, Chris was great, but much of the rest of the movie was not very interesting.  The story of Superman has all sorts of things to offer as far as drama goes.  The dying planet Krypton which, in this version is imploding because of the Kryptonians' hubris in trying to mine the core of their world, can provide a metaphorical connection for us who are also crazy enough to think we can keep exploiting our resources and environment and face no consequences for our actions.  This movie also gives us the child, Clark Kent, who is "weird" and bullied by the children in Kansas because he is different.  That's a great source for a look at how a special person like Superman learns to bear up under the strain of being excluded and tormented by people around him.  He wants to fight back but his father asks him to restrain himself because if people find out about his true identity, they may not be able to handle it.  I liked the idea of Superman as a kind of modern day Frankenstein's monster, travelling the world seeking to find his own place.  But of course, very soon, the movie became another one of these "look what we can make explode next!" kind of things and that makes me feel restless and bored.  I realize that we have access to all sorts of great effects in film, but even my fourteen year old son suggested that they needed to invest more effort in the writing of the film rather than the explosions.   William is excited to see the next installment of "The Hobbit", but I felt like that movie, too, missed the mark, with far too many fight scenes and not enough story to sustain the need for two films. 

As we left the theatre, I saw ads for showings of old movies like "Roman Holiday" and "The Great Escape".  Now those movies had stories!