Deafening roller coaster ride; entirely plot free

Rating: 4/10 (25 July 2013)

A lot of talented people put an enormous amount of work into this film. It is well cast, visually stunning, and had all the ingredients to modernize the classic, if only....
But as with nearly every Hollywood product these days, Man of Steel falls apart due to lazy and borderline incoherent writing. The only compelling character in the story (remember, it's supposed to have a story) is Clark's big hearted but foolish adoptive father. Although he's a well drawn and interesting person, he isn't enough to carry the movie by himself. He isn't even on the screen for very long.
All of the other characters are just reading stilted lines and going through the motions. Particularly bad is the awkward insertion of Lois into the plot. In many scenes, her behavior simply doesn't make sense. With one major plot point, there's just no sane explanation for her presence, let alone participation.
While on the subject of not making sense--the lax physics in Man of Steel is really embarrassing. I'm willing to suspend some disbelief for a comic book, but this so bad that anyone with a grade school education will spend at least twenty minutes of movie time in face-palm pose.
Apparently in an effort to disguise the above weaknesses, the movie has some of the longest, loudest, and most violent action sequences I've ever seen in a movie theater. My ears were ringing the next morning as if I'd been to a Megadeth concert. As much as I like big action stuff in movies, this excess actually made the movie worse. Shock an awe are not a substitute for good storytelling.
I will admit to feeling a bit of guilty pleasure at the amazing artwork and effects in the movie, but ultimately this just left me in mourning for what could have been.