Great visuals, but poor storytelling, acting and abhorrent soundtrack

Rating: 4/10 (10 July 2013)

Simply put, it's very difficult to make a compelling story out of a hero who basically has every available power. The early superman films are a testament to this, and the last attempted reboot was similarly ill- fated. But when Zack Snyder decided to take a stab at it, I thought I'd give it a shot, given that he has managed to successfully translate Watchmen, and that was a very ambitious project.
Sadly, however, the result was a mess of poor storytelling, sub-par acting and worst of all a soundtrack that sounds like it was dragged kicking and screaming out of Skrillex's b-sides. Every moment in the film where something large happens, you get this "BWAAAH DIGGIDIDUN, DIGGIDIDUN, DIGGIDIDUN" blaring through the speakers. EVERY time something powerful or dynamic fires. This is basically 70% of the movie, as it is purely a film involving Superman getting into massive fights. I couldn't have been more distracted if I tried.
But to touch on the storytelling, simply put, it did nothing new, nor did it do the old ideas justice. The lead and significant other of the project are both about as flat and lacklustre as one would expect from relatively low level actors, but the worst crime is that Lois Lane is supposed to be a fiery woman, someone with independence of spirit and self-motivating. This appears intact in the beginning, but she quickly descends to a helpless irrelevant in no time.
It just doesn't tick any of the boxes bar graphical flare. There's a lot of eye-candy here, but really nothing behind it. Truthfully I feel confident in saying you're not missing anything by avoiding it.