Swing and a Miss!

Rating: 2/10 (14 September 2013)

"Man of Steel" is not just a failure on it's story, but a catastrophic meltdown right down to the fundamental core.
1.) If you didn't have tinnitus going into the movie, you will when you come out. This is one of the most unnecessarily decibel cranking movies I have ever seen, that's not me being oversensitive, i've sat through plenty of loud movies.
2.) The Krypton story. I appreciate that time was taken to explore Superman's home planet, parents, and how he came to be on Earth. It's also when I started to become uneasy with this movie. Zod & co. are convicted and sentenced, and a huge spacecraft collects them for punishment.
I could accept that perhaps this supposed advanced culture's arrogance stopped it from seeing it was doomed (I'll reluctantly give it a pass, it's been in every Superman i've ever seen, But why didn't Jor-el utilize a bigger ship? Surely he'd figure out how, or own one of his own. I didn't question this in the original Donner version because no Spacecraft scene was there, only the weird mirror.
3.) The Codex. Jor-el swims through fields of growing babies left over from the Matrix, grabs a skull, dissolves it, and infuses it into his baby. Couldn't we just stick with he obtained powers from passing through a sun?
When you suck all the mysticism and wonder from a story, something is lost in translation. (that's you Star Wars prequels).
Likewise this happens when you try to shovel in as much ridiculous crap as you can.
4.) Pa Kent. Wasn't this supposed to be the surrogate father that Clark loved, respected and who helped to mold him into a good man? Watch as he treats his son with indifference and coldness. His demise, a scene that is supposed to be powerful and poignant, is instead boiled down to a stupid action scene for no real reason at all. Costner really phoned this one in.
5.) Some stories are means to be dark and full of drama and angst. Superman is not one of them, and it shows. It's a huge trend now to make every super hero story dark and depressing, this works great for comics like Batman or Watchmen, but backfires horribly for Superman,(Take a note from "The Avengers" guys, it's possible to be successful and convincing without being dark all the time.)
Am I saying he can't be frustrated, angry or upset? No, of course not. Reference again the Donner version for how this can be achieved properly and effectively.
6.) Numerous miscasts. Don't care for Henry Cavill...I just couldn't get into him as Superman, and I tried, I really did, he just didn't convince me.
Likewise on Amy Adams, who took me so far outside the character of Lois Lane there was no going back. She also lacks any chemistry what-so-ever with Superman.
Fishburne is well...there, but nothing about him is memorable. Diane Lane is serviceable.
7.) Superman doesn't act like Superman, and may actually cause more casualties that any villain, device, in this movie. Huge buildings are destroyed, countless people are incinerated, crushed or seemingly blown up, and it goes on forever.
This contributed greatly to the further removal of myself from the Superman character, frankly this molds him into more of a douchebag hellbent on personal vengeance than it does as a hero. (btw there is continuance here of the "Jesus" savior references from the last movie..ridiculous.) There no way I could invest in him, I promise I tried, I did.
8.) Other misc. stuff thrown in that bothered me. Lois in the Arctic, there was absolutely no reason for her to be there. The dumb Arctic spaceship and the equally ridiculous contents therein. The anti-climatic death of Zod.
9.) Lois Lane on board with the army/Air Force with the baby ship. Why do movie makers constantly feel the compulsion to have characters do things for the sake of having them in some big action scene. Lois functions best as the snoopy reporter, and occasional damsel in distress.
A few things I liked about the movie:
1.) The terraforming machine was cool. I "guess" I could buy the explanation about terraforming other planets. It's not the worst plot line they could've come up with. I liked the way the CGI/special effects for it were done.
2.) General Zod. One of two characters I actually enjoyed. Too bad they didn't develop him more or give him some real dimension. But Michael Shannon does a great job. After a while his scenes were the only ones I looked forward to. At least he had some passion, conviction, and reasons behind him doing the things he's doing. After the disaster the rest of this movie is, you'll find yourself rooting from him. (um, filmmakers, this is what you intended right? You didn't want me to root for the hero did you?)Too bad we won't be seeing him again as Superman offed him horribly.
3.) Jor-el was great. Russell Crowe did a great job. He was a highlight for me. There was more intensity and emotion in interactions between himself and Zod (both "hologram" Jor-El and person Jor-el) than collectively between anyone else in the entire movie. Great job guys.
Skip this one, you'll feel mad at wasting your hard earned money on the ticket. If you were a fan of the Donner series (I am.) Remember your hero as Christopher Reeve portrayed him, brave, honorable, kind, and properly angsty and emotional.
2/10 for Shannon and Crowe, and for some of the effects.