Man of Steel is a disappointment 6/10

Rating: 6/10 (14 June 2013)

"Man of Steel" is the latest cinematic version of Superman, written by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer and directed by Zack Snyder. This science fiction film has state-of-the-art special effects, will certainly make mega-millions, spawn at least one sequel and have the fan base rabid with excitement. However, the technical brilliance of the film can't overcome the shallowness of the character development, the lack of tension, headache inducing sound effects and a completely forgettable musical score.
*SPOILERS FOLLOW*
The first 30 minutes of the movie are spent on Krypton, telling the well-known background story. The birth of Kal-El/Clark Kent is a joyous occasion to his parents Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara Lor-Von (Ayelet Zurer), but the good news is overshadowed by the impending ecological doom of the planet. On top of this, a rebellion led by General Zod (Michael Shannon) breaks out, explosions and shouting follow and Zod and his minions are eventually overcome. Before he's transported to the Phantom Zone by what look like giant flying penises, he swears revenge, laying the ground work for the conflict later in the movie. His threats should ring hollow since the Phantom Zone is supposed to be a death sentence, but he wouldn't be a good film villain if he didn't promise retaliation. Despite the defeat of the rebellion, Krypton goes boom anyway and baby Kal-El is sent into space and toward Earth.
Move forward to Clark Kent as a young man. He's now an almost anonymous drifter, keeping his powers in check but still helping out people when needed. I really liked this concept and wished they had done more with it. Much could have been made as Clark wanders around, struggling to find his place in the world and helping out people in distress. Perhaps the writers thought this would be too reminiscent of the 70's TV show "The Incredible Hulk" and this narrative path was dropped. More likely they correctly assumed the fan base wanted non-stop in-your-face-action.
Without rehashing too much, General Zod and his followers, of course, make their second appearance and threaten Earth. The resulting action is just another example of Hollywood's current take on action movies. The viewer is confronted with a preponderance of CGI and sound, which are over the top, extremely loud and mind-numbingly tedious. If one exploding and collapsing building is great, why not make it ten exploding and collapsing buildings? More is better! Lots of things get destroyed and Kryptonians and humans get tossed around like footballs. Earth is saved and credits roll.
Overall I found the movie disappointing for several reasons, especially considering the budget and source material. The acting is generally OK given the limited script and Henry Cavill is well cast as Superman. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane do a good job as Clark's parents and the flashbacks to Clark's life growing up with them add an insightful human element to the story. Michael Shannon plays crazy well and this translates to General Zod as coming across as a humorless killer, which is perfect for the tone this movie sets. Lois Lane also gets some lines and development. After all, she is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, which we know because she says, "I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist."
For everyone else the only character development that occurs is clarified by either the clothes they're wearing (soldiers) or by their title (Dr. Hamilton). It also seems as if the relationship between Clark and Lois only occurs because that's part of the Superman story. There's no chemistry between the two. Except for Cavill, every actor in this movie could be replaced in the sequel and I wouldn't feel any disappointment.
The lack of an invested interest in anyone leads directly to one glaring problem: there's no tension when you know the good guy and bad guys are indestructible. A good way to put the viewer on the edge of their seat would be to expose frail humans to danger. However, since no one is fleshed out to the point of relevance, it doesn't matter what happens to them. In the seemingly endless destruction of Smallville and Metropolis, certainly tens of thousands of people are killed, but outside of them being human beings, there's no feeling of loss. I've felt a greater sense of dread from people dying in video games than I did from this movie.
Another issue is that there is neither memorable music nor a theme song. Music has always been a huge contributor to the magic of movies and the lack of a quality soundtrack is a big detractor. I wasn't looking for the theme song from the 1978 version of Superman, but I did expect something that I could remember and hum outside the theatre. Imagine if Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark or Jaws had music as bland as this movie.
I'm sure my review will get poorly received as most of the other negative reviews have been given a low number of helpful votes. The negative reviewers are being denigrated as "stupid people who don't get it." A lot of the positive reviews have been written as if the room full of monkeys with typewriters paused on their Shakespeare project to write reviews for "Man of Steel." The following excerpt is a quote from a review that gave the movie a 10, I kid you not:
"This is the kind of movie that is really satisfying. When the movie ended, I got that 'satisfying' feeling instead of the 'wanting more' feeling. It's like it was really enough."
I saw the movie for free at a sneak preview, brought zero expectations other than hoping for an intelligent, entertaining movie and yet it still fell short. Possibly the sequel will be an improvement.