Pretty Super

Rating: 9/10 (22 June 2013)

When we get to earth the film slows down for a bit; It isn't boring mind you, just slower. Snyder effectively weaves foreshadowing, past events in Kal-El's childhood, and the present existence and nomadism of Kal-El along with Lois Lane's career and the military's investigation into something peculiar. Kal-El travels from job to job so that he remains anonymous and so he is never found after he displays his power or ability to save others in some capacity. It is interesting to see some circumstances in which Superman had to hold back his powers as a boy because his father Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) told him that the world may not be ready for him and that he needs to keep his identity a secret until the world is ready.
Snyder said that in this film Kryptonite would not even be introduced. Superman's weaknesses would have to be emotional weaknesses, or struggles within. Although it wasn't clear to see his struggles within, the very few people he did care about were put in danger multiple times. The main targets of injustice were targeted at Martha Kent (Diane Lane) and Lois Lane (Amy Adams).
An Entertainment Weekly story featuring some quotes from writer David Goyer mentioned the effort for empathy for the main character and that if Superman were in a street fight with some aliens and a train, you want the audience to care more about Superman than the property damage. While I agree with that philosophy, the aesthetic way in which the property damage was created was definitely the most pleasing thing for me. The fights between Superman and his fellow Kryptonians were amazing, and now I can see a little more why this film has taken sooooooo long in post-production and visual effect editing.
It almost felt to me like this was two different movies. The first hour was separate because it had his origin, his present, and sporadic childhood scenes or adapting to this new world with his powers, but not a ton of action. The second 1.5 hrs were focused more on the action and Superman having to stop Zod do some crazy stuff to our planet.
There wasn't much in this movie that didn't work for me. Amy Adams climbing on a mountain early on to investigate something felt a little far-fetched, Lane's and Kent's relationship also was put together pretty quickly, and it didn't feel intense or emotionally connected, especially when you see the circumstances surrounding it. I also did not love Jonathan Kent's exit in the movie. He constantly tells Clark to suppress his powers until the world is ready and then Clark is forced to watch him get sucked into a tornado because the old man couldn't resist the urge to run back and save his stupid dog!?!? Really?!?! Other than that I thought Costner's performance and role fit perfectly.