Because the people want 'splosions and lots of them!

Rating: 5/10 (6 April 2014)

Coming off of the success of Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy, rebooting Superman was a given. So was "Nolanizing" it to make it more "realistic" and "darker". There's nothing wrong with any of this, of course, but this movie fails in every place Nolan's Batman succeeded. Specifically by devolving into a series of absurd explosions with little to no substance. But it's not all bad! There was potential for a good movie here. I think it got buried under one of those buildings in Metropolis.
One of the few things that I really like about this movie was how they portrayed a young Clark Kent. Let's be honest folks, if you think that you're just a normal kid from Earth and all of the sudden you start experiencing weird powers, such as heightened hearing, you'd be a little messed up. And that's what I really enjoyed about this film. It portrays a young Clark Kent struggling with his powers and all of the pain and confusion that comes with them. It's an interesting angle that added a very slight bit depth to an otherwise shallow movie.
Other highlights? Russell Crowe's performance was excellent, as were the bits on Krypton. Amy Adam's did a good job as Lois Lane as did Kevin Costner and Diane Laine as Pa and Ma Kent respectively. Hans Zimmer's score was excellent, as it always is, and the cinematography was so close to being good, if not for the obligatory "shaky cam".
But once this movie enters its mid-to-final act, everything (and I mean everything) falls apart. The entire thing devolves into "destructo-porn" where it seems like the filmmakers were just trying to see how much stuff they could blow up. Seriously, it's just one mind-numbing fight scene after another to the point where it's boring and almost insulting. Is this all that Hollywood thinks we want? More 'splosions and noise? Because at some point, it all becomes pointless and almost every fight scene in this movie was pointless. Sigh.what a waste.
Also, all of the jumping around via flashbacks were very awkward. Snyder was trying to go "Nolan Style" with the flashbacks. To be honest, I love how Nolan handles his flashbacks. They're brief, emotional and fluidic. You know, like how a flashback you have in real life is. The problem is that Nolan either sets up his flashbacks so you know what's going on, or he has a character speaking during the flashbacks, so you know what's going on. Snyder doesn't do this, so you don't know what's going on!
There could've been a good movie here. They had some good ideas, but they didn't go any deeper. They just relied on the new god of the big-budget Hollywood movie: Gratuitous CGI destruction. And that's a shame, because that's not what Superman is about. Superman is about preventing that destruction. Superman is a hopeful character. The reason the dark undertones work in Batman is because he is an inherently dark character (and subsequently, a far more interesting one IMO). There's nothing wrong with a little darkness and realism in a Superman movie, but millions of innocent dead people, a destroyed city and snapped necks isn't the way to go.
Maybe since they got all of the gratuitous 'splosions out of the way, the next one will be far better.I hope. Please don't screw up Batman!