Good Movie, but not Great

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2013)

I liked the movie. It is a must see, but it lacked a few things I was hoping to see.
Weaknesses: Character development was weak for sure. The action was very visual and stunning, but I would have preferred less explosions and more super speed sparring. What they had of it was awesome. Superman was also not quite cool enough for me. I would have loved to see him take on multiple Kryptonian enemies and look cool doing it, but he usually got his butt kicked, then found a way to win in the end (yawn). He is more used to the planet, his powers, and the atmosphere, so you think he would be able to do better than he did, at least while the others were still getting used to all that stuff.
The biggest fail of the movie was definitely the small attempts at humor. It was poorly done, and didn't make anyone laugh. Would have been better to completely take it all out and keep it 100% serious. It simply did not fit the tone of the movie or the tone of the characters.
Transitioning to the flashbacks were a bit awkward. They had powerfully emotional scenes that you were not set up for, so it made them just seem awkward. They needed to invest more time helping viewers connect with the characters before trying to have emotional scenes. Clark getting bullied as a kid was awkward too. It could have been better done, but perhaps it was simply a fail for the child actors.
Zod could have been set up better, too. It wasn't easy enough to hate him. They could have added a little more lines or a few more scenes to help the viewers really see how twisted he was.
Strengths: The beginning scenes on Krypton were a pleasant surprise. They completely re-vamped the world, so don't expect it to be anything like what previous movies have portrayed it as. Jor-el was very cool.
Cavill was a great fit for Superman. I would like to see his interpretation of Clark Kent in future movies before I am sold on him, but he does well on the Superman side of things (which is probably the easier role). The other actors also did a good job. Surprisingly, I was not too impressed with Kevin Costner. I am not sure if he fit the role.
Faora-Ul was by far the coolest character to me. A lot of the action that she participated in was the type that I would have liked seeing Superman perform. At times I was thinking "Why is she so much cooler than Superman? They should be having him do this stuff!" She also looked a lot like the character from the old movies, so that was a plus.
Overall, it was a good movie. Not great, but good. I would definitely recommend seeing it.