With the extended version in place, what do people hate about this movie? I enjoyed it so thoroughly, I can’t understand the extent of the trashing!
Ok, don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect, but it was pretty dang good, particularly with the added scenes.
When I first saw the film, I thought as you do. However, for a while, one line of dialogue was burned into my mind. It was something Superman said to Lois, “No one stays good in this world.” In this moment, Superman, champion of the world and most beloved hero of mine since I was very young, gives up on humanity. He just. Gives. Up. And declares humans as a waste of his time. After a little while, I realized something else: he already had long before this scene. The very first thing he does on screen is murder someone. Did the victim threaten his girlfriend? Yes, but what should Superman do? Something like this:
But instead, he decides to crush the man’s body through solid walls, giving an eerie smile before he does, as if he derives a sadistic pleasure from killing this man.
Later, Superman is seen saving people from various disasters. When he takes a girl from a fire, he glares menacingly at the crowd around him. He treats every good deed he does, everything that Superman should do, as a chore. There is no heart in it, no humanity, but murder? That is something that Superman apparently can get pleasure from now.
Superman is dead in this movie, but Doomsday didn’t kill him. Superman was already dead. We have, in his place, a coward. We have a brutalistic tyrant in his place.
There’s a comic story where Superman meets some new superhumans that call themselves The Elite. They’re mean, and resort to murder often. However, they quickly become popular among the people for getting the job done. Where Superman has those pesky morals that get in the way of dealing with villains permanently, The Elite are seen as the true heroes for the modern world. Superman, sick of the actions of The Elite, decides to face them, and The Elite set up a fight to the death between them and Supes. It’s off Earth, but The Elite have cameras broadcasting it to the world below. Suddenly, Superman’s not holding back anymore, and eventually all except the leader, Manchester Black, is seemingly dead. Black is terrified, and so are the people of Earth. Superman is a murderer now. Black exclaims that Superman is a hypocrite, and that now the people have seen his lies. Superman then says that he knows that everyone saw it, and they were scared. They saw Superman kill without mercy and were shocked. It is then that Superman reveals that he didn’t kill anyone. The Elite are all alive, knocked out, with broken bones and headaches, but alive.
Black then yells at Superman that he’s living in a foolish dream world. Supes’ reply was this:
Superman. Not a killer, like that movie would have you think, but a hero.
EDIT: If you like the movie, that’s fine. I’m just a geek who reads too many comics.