So much promise in the 1st half squandered in the 2nd half

Rating: 6/10 (22 June 2013)

After watching this film I can only conclude that Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan watched The Avengers and came away with entirely the wrong idea as to why that movie worked so well.
Man of Steel had so much going for it, so it's disappointing that it fails to live up to its own promise. The first half of the movie is in many ways the best Superman film I've ever seen, and that's saying something, since I'm inevitably comparing it to the '78 Donner/Reeve classic. Man of Steel features some new, original twists on the Superman mythos and a refreshingly non-linear structure to the inevitable origin story. There's a lot of character development, and not just of Clark Kent--Lois Lane and Jonathan Kent also get their due. The cast is very talented and it shows.
Sadly, the film starts to fall apart in the second, action-packed half. Not entirely, mind you; there are moments that show how a much better movie could have shone through. Secondary characters like Perry White, Dr. Emil Hamilton, and Col. Nathan Hardy all get moments of heroism. This fits with what both of Kal-El's fathers have said before this, that he will inspire others by his example.
But the over-the-top destruction ultimately detracts from what the movie should be all about. Superman is a HERO. That means his primary concern is not just defeating the bad guy, but protecting innocent lives.
Again, think back to the Avengers. For all the pyrotechnics and cool fight scenes at the end, that movie emphasized over and over again that the heroes are primarily concerned with protecting "civilians". Us, in other words. "We keep the fight focused on us," Captain America tells the team, i.e. away from innocents. Iron Man nearly dies in the process. THIS is what makes them truly heroes. The public's adulation for them, shown in the film's end sequence, is justified.
The supposed "hero" of Man of Steel, however, aside from a couple of all-too infrequent and brief moments, seems to have little concern for innocent lives. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that's the fault of the filmmakers. Buildings in Metropolis topple like so many sandcastles kicked over by bullies. News flash, Noland and Snyder: PEOPLE live and work in buildings, and your audience is well aware of this. I sat there thinking that the death toll had to be in the thousands if not hundreds of thousands.
And Superman, the ultimate comic book hero, never gets a chance to save those lives. Far worse, he's probably responsible for many of the deaths; he's far to willing to let his battles with his fellow Kryptonians wreak havoc in Smallville and Metropolis. I kept wondering why he didn't divert the fights to a sparsely-located mountain range or desert. Kryptonians tossing tree trunks and boulders at one another? Still spectacular, and it would have avoided the distraction of wondering how many bystanders were maimed or dying.
So ultimately, the problem with this movie and why it fails to truly capture the spirit of Superman is that the filmmakers never allow the hero to be one. They're too busy blowing things up real good, force-feeding the audience special effects eye candy, to bother living up to the premise of the film and of the character. Snyder and Nolan don't believe in heroes, they believe in production values.
So, nice try, once again, DC, but Marvel just keeps kicking your butt in the movie department.