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I thought the flashback sequences were a bit ham-fisted. (Like when he's getting bullied, or protecting a waitress' honor, or saving a sinking school bus...all very cliche, generic hollywood hero tropes.)
I think it's hard to do a Superman movie without some of those aspects.
I disagree. The best elements of child/adolescent Superman is during the times he's learning or struggling to discover his abilities. Hate to bring up Smallville again, but I thought they did some good things in terms of showcasing WHY Clark felt himself an outsider (other than the obvious alien aspect):
- He couldn't play sports for risk of showing his abilities
- As a kid, he had to be kept away from other children because he couldn't control his tantrums
- His heat vision was discovered....during an 'intimate' moment of passion (thus adding to his reluctance to date)
But even those are just showcasing some of the downsides of his abilities. Filmmakers could have had some real fun with him discovering super speed or flight. (Hell, imagine the fun x-ray vision coulda been?)
Basically, Superman is a generic, trope-y hero...but that doesn't mean his journey to become Superman has to be. I just felt MoS took some shortcuts in this regard.