Fantastic Modern Hero Movie

Rating: 10/10 (14 June 2013)

If you are a fan of Smallville (which is where I have gained most of my superman knowledge)or any of superman's origin lore this is a MUST. Critics likely do not like this movie because they do not have much of a back ground on super man. Which i do believe they shouldn't be required to. There are several minor introductions of characters that if you are a fan of superman lore you will appreciate and will make the experience that much more richer. That being said, if you are new to superman this movie is still great and since these characters are not of significant importance for this movie you wont skip a beat if you do not know who they are.
I also hear and read complaints of not enough character development. To those people I would refer to my first paragraph. In two and a half hours they managed to introduce a large number of characters both significant and non significant to the story and gave them relevance. At the end of the day this movie is about Zod and minions and Superman, not Lois or any of the other characters. Sadly this is a fault in that the more knowledge of superman you come into the movie, the more significant the movie feels.
One of the most satisfactory aspects of this movie is the physics and or explanations behind krytonians abilities. Most importantly in this movie it is shown they are not INDESTRUCTIBLE and are still some what vulnerable to humans without the use of krytonite. This gives more of a realistic feel to the movie.
The villains are great. Faora for me was the most intimidating and dangerous. Antje Traue portrayed Faora in a new light that was amazing and cunning. Honestly she felt more dangerous than Zod. This does not go to say Zod portrayed by Shannon is not very well done and true (mostly) to comic lore and Smallville in his motives. Shannon delivers a masterful Zod which will sometimes require you to ask if hes really a villain? In that his motives are mostly pure. He also has several lines that are very memorable similar to "The Dark Knight"'s Joker quotes and "The Dark Knight Rises"'s Bane's quotes.
The biggest complaint I read is the the "choice" superman makes that isn't "superman like". I will keep this part spoiler free but I will voice my opinion. I completely disagree with what people say about it not being superman like because he felt he had no other choice and when he did perform the action he felt the guilt and despair from the decision. sure i get it, some people will say why didn't he fly away with Zod instead or aim is head another direction but honestly in a realistic setting he had to make a split second decision. It certainly did not come without a moral strain on superman.
Quick side note CGI in this movie is beautiful and all special affects are all realistic looking and the best quality to date.
Overall this movie is made for action lovers. If you are into superheros this will knock any other superhero movie out of the ball park. For those who love deep story development and less action stay away. This movie does have a strong background given but its not in depth and ultimately leads to a simple hero stops bad guy plot. 10/10 for the superhero category