Even though the real truth won't come out until June 14th and the movie is seen in its entirety, I really like the direction this film is seemingly going in, and the tone it sets.
For starters, what helps us relate to it is the verisimilitude of it. Take this abstract character, and place him in today's society. In real life, how would we view such a being? Would we just be willing to readily accept him? We can't even accept people within our own race, so are we going to readily accept a being with unfathomable powers that he can ultimately use to easily destroy us if he so wished?
The Dark Knight trilogy in my opinion got Batman right, but in the midst of this era of "darkened" heroes, there hasn't been a quality Superman film really since 1978. In my opinion, somehow we have lost the sense of what he truly stands for, especially in times like today. Part of that is because we can't relate to him. He's too powerful. I don't necessarily think Superman's problem is that he is too powerful, but there hasn't been a director or producer who has really known how to harness that power. Some think this film has a lot of darker undertones to it which they disagree with being that Superman is supposed to be a character of light, but if you really want to capture the realism and make it believable, everything always has a dark and a light side.
Many people want the film to go straight into action, as we already know where Superman comes from and don't need an origin story, but I beg to differ. The only real on screen depiction we have had of Superman's origin has been the 1978 film, and there is a limited number of people today who have even seen it. Even so, it didn't really give the audience an emotional attachment to the character, in being able to relate with him. Even though I want to see Superman battle Doomsday on the big screen, I think General Zod is a perfect choice for a villain in a first film. He ties in with Superman's origin, and is still a formidable opponent. While still telling the tale of a meaningful origin story, I firmly believe this film will deliver in the action department.
The image of Superman in the handcuffs is perfect for this film in my opinion. As touched on, many people have forgotten what he stands for, and criticize him. It's almost like with him willingly (obviously) being escorted by military personnel in handcuffs, that he's facing his critics head on. Giving us a reason to trust him, being that both he and we know that he can easily break out of them, but he's playing by "our rules" so to speak.
Unlike the Reeve films where he just basically showed up and we just merely gave him the handle "Superman", it seems like in this film he has to earn and deserve the title "Superman".
