Unfortunately, Man of Steel is just another generic superhero film among many

Rating: 5/10 (14 June 2013)

Okay, after countless Superman films, including this one, I've finally come to the conclusion that the character just doesn't appeal to me in any way, shape, or form, and that could be exactly why there's not a single Superman film that I consider great. It's far too fantasy- based to see the film(s) (or anything for that matter) as anything but a superhero movie. If you don't mind, also, I'll be comparing this film to The Dark Knight trilogy (I know every movie has to be compared to them nowadays- it's annoying- but they're the perfect representation of superhero films done right, so) since it draws several similarities to the three films and is basically set in the same universe.
Anyways, though it's been heavily marketed as a Christopher Nolan film, I find it distasteful to ignore the fact that it's truly Zack Snyder's film, and it's very clear once you've seen it since it focuses more on style- visuals, non-stop action, etc.- rather than substance like story and character development. The first half an hour essentially builds the back story for Superman- where he originated from, who his parents actually are, and how exactly he found himself on Planet Earth. The issue here is that the film did better explaining Superman/Kal-El's father's (Jor-El's) story than it did Superman's as it dedicated a considerable amount of screen time on Jor-El (played by Russell Crowe), and then when Superman's story finally came along, it brushed most of his childhood aside to get to the action as soon as possible. Right from the get-go, you don't see him as an adolescent or a teenager, you see him as a man, already in his 20's, working on a ship. The only way we see anything from his childhood is through flashbacks.
The film basically turned out the way I was worried it would. For instance, Batman Begins did an incredible job at dedicating the majority of the film to introducing Bruce Wayne as an individual, not Batman right from the get-go, but then again, I guess very few filmmakers have artistic integrity in big-budget Hollywood nowadays since now, everyone's thinking about filling as much of their films with action as possible so that the average clueless Joe's come in waves. There's way, way too much action, and it reminds me of the dreadful time when Transformers 3 was released, and its finale was a large, bloated mess of unclear and incomprehensible action sequence after action sequence. Once Man of Steel commences, the action immediately begins with the intense battle in Krypton. This much action leaves little time for actual character development, and this leaves me thinking that Jor-El isn't as complex and interesting of a character as Bruce Wayne was.
And for once, can the woman, who somehow gets involved in the whole conflict, not end up sleeping with the superhero just to make things a little less predictable and typical? That leads me to the next issue: it's so goddamn predictable just like mostly every other superhero film nowadays. Again, the Dark Knight trilogy was fairly unpredictable and unconventional in its ways, which is why the installments are beloved and remembered to this day. There's nothing unique about this film- nothing that helps it stand out from the large crowd. Every time someone's in peril, Superman comes out of nowhere and saves them. This is exactly what deteriorated The Dark Knight Rises's quality; it creates a total lack of suspense and that unpredictable edge that these kinds of films desperately need to avoid the generic fare they often turn out to be.
One aspect that somewhat redeemed the film was the music. As usual, Hans Zimmer delivers with his incredibly epic and "goosebumpy" music, which is what ultimately, effectively conveys the sheer grandeur and colossal scale of the film. The darker color/look of the film conveys a tone quite similar to the Dark Knight trilogy, as well as its music. In fact, though its music was spine-tingling, it had an extremely noticeable resemblance to the TDK trilogy's music. It practically sounded just like the music present in the Dark Knight Rises in some cases, but it was still pleasant to hear.
The villain- mehforgettable as he rode around in his spaceship, paid Earth a visit in order to wreak some havoc a couple of times, and returned to his ship thereafter- rinse and repeat. Don't get me wrong: I strongly respect Michael Shannon and love his work, but he just didn't convey the menace he was supposed to. In terms of acting, I believe that Diane Lane stole the show since her acting was far beyond that of the rest of the cast.
All in all, Man of Steel is just another summer blockbuster that has a high chance of being forgotten in the long run. Some comic book/superhero fanboys might enjoy it (and say that they love it), but they'll probably forget it until another Superman reboot releases. I give props to the visuals and special effects department, but there's nothing else to Man of Steel than just another Superhero film that'll rake in millions (perhaps billions) for Hollywood. I expected more from the same man who brought us Watchmen, but hey, if you're into heavily action-packed superhero films, I'm sure you'll reasonably enjoy this one. Otherwise, save your money for something with more substance.