A Much Needed Reboot of the Series

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2013)

Bottom Line: This film is highly recommended for users who are looking for: a much more detailed explanation of Superman's source of power, fantastic acting, a film with surprising depth (foreshadowing, imagery, etc.), or just a great action flick.
Analysis: Personally, I always hated how Superman was portrayed in previous installments as the source behind his powers never made much of any sense. This movie finally gives a reason that actually makes sense. That being, Kryptonians are a much older species than humans (thus having much more time to evolve) and their planet was much harsher than Earth, leading to significantly stronger bones and muscles.
This concept is reflected in many aspects of the film, especially in the feel of the Kryptonian technology. Unlike in other action films where the chest-pounding bass was merely use for shock value, that feature really adds to the theme that Kryptonians and their technology needed to be extremely powerful to even be able to function on such a harsh planet.
There were also a surprising number of subtle features that added to the depth of the film. Three main examples come to mind. The first is the number of parallels between certain aspects of Kryptonian society and Communism. I saw this as an amusing allusion to the original Superman comic as Superman was originally created as anti-Communist propaganda. Second, was the foreshadowing of Lex Luthor's inevitable return (or entrance in this case). There were a few spots in the film where one could see the LexCorp logo clearly marked on tankers and billboards which both functioned as foreshadowing as well as contributing to the sense that this is indeed Metropolis. Finally, Lois Lane's word choice of saying, "welcome to the Planet," as opposed to the Daily Planet. Such a simple difference and yet one than clearly demonstrates, 1. that she did indeed recognize Clark Kent (one of the key differences between this series and the original), and 2. that she wasn't greeting a new colleague. Rather, as a human she was greeting the last of the Kryptonians and affirming that, for the first time in his life, Clark had found his place in the world.
There was only one real complaint that I have about the film. That being, that it felt like they rushed through much of the beginning of the film. Many of the emotional scenes within his origin story did not have the impact that they could have/should have as we did not have enough time to appreciate them. Conversely, some of the fight scenes tended to drag on and on. I understand that they were trying to fit a lot of content into a limited amount of time, but some of the time spent on action sequences would have been better spent fleshing out Superman's background.
Overall however, Man of Steel is an excellent film and one that I would highly recommend, especially to individuals like myself who always found it difficult to take previous incarnations of Superman seriously.