Such a great, astute review of both Cap 2 and Man of Steel, and the crucial differences between two very similar characters, Steve and Clark, especially as they’re portrayed in their most recent iterations. She makes some super insightful observations about characterization that I think a lot of the time get overlooked when we watch/think about/respond to action and superhero movies. Like:
The Winter Soldier understands the difference between a morally compromised character and morally compromising a character.
Dang. Yes. I’m so using those exact words the next time I’m working on ramping up conflict or refining character motivations with an author.
Also, I might have teared up. A bit. Or a lot. I mean:
But what really struck me about The Winter Soldier is that in it Marvel takes their Boy Scoutiest hero and turns him into a deeply depressed, suicidal mope who never loses sight of his moral code. In order to make Superman work in their desired context—i.e., gritty, dark, Nolanesque—Man of Steel had to dispense with his morality. But The Winter Soldier never betrays Cap’s inherent goodness, they just show us a good man beat down so far he kind of really wants to die.
Man. I love Steve Rogers. A lot. And really want to give the guy a hug. And possibly make Sam talk to him about therapy and medication. *sigh*
Only thing I’m not on board with is the equating of “straightforward” with “boring,” which seems like a common misconception when it comes to Cap’s characterization. That aside, this made me want to go right back and see TWS another time.
Also also also: really good breakdown of Bucky as a protagonist/the character who’s actually on the hero’s journey more so than Steve, and of what the two characters mean to each other in general over the course of their arc as foils (seriously, you’ll cry. I dare you not to.) I mean, I think they’re both protagonists — you don’t have to choose one or the other, there can be multiple protagonists — but I like how she assesses Bucky’s character through the lens of the (slow, labyrinthine, ridiculously painful) redemption arc he’s clearly on that I’m sure’s going to be a major focal point from here on out Cap-movie-wise, and not through the lens of a secondary character, which he clearly isn’t anymore, if he ever was in the first place.
I just finally watched Man of Steel for the first time last night, and this article very concisely explains all my issues. Especially:
But I do mind that Superman never seemed to realize that lives were being lost—by the thousands—as he face-punched his way through downtown Metropolis.
And then again with:
The main issue with the new take on Superman is that Man of Steel spends two hours building up Superman as a Christ figure only to use its last half-hour showing us that he’s a wantonly destructive person who’s negligent toward human life.
This is such a great article.
But the movie that destroyed Man of Steel for me was, sadly, Man of Steel. It’s just… not good.
this review made me verklempt. i have such a huge crush on steve rogers, it is ridiculous
Spectacularly well written article which made me understand not only why I friggin loved TWS so much (aside from the reasons that have been abundantly clear over the last few weeks) but actually managed to make me appreciate The First Avenger a little more (which I did not think would happen).
michaelmandog