My favourite Superman movie

Rating: 7/10 (8 April 2015)

The first time I tried to watch this, I was like, Ah man... (outer) space! So I left it. I tried again a few days later, but alas: the same thing. So I left it for about a week or so and tried yet again. For me, third time really was the charm: I liked this movie quite a lot. I know some of the critics really didn't like it, the same applying to a lot of Superman fans; and as far as the latter goes, I can understand why they would be miffed with some of the casting choices (Amy Adams... a red-head!), and the decision to exclude the red shorts of the hero's costume – I suppose I would feel the same if a book I loved had been adapted for screen and cast someone "wrong" as the lead.
But personally – and I'm speaking as someone who prefers Batman to Superman, and an Amy Adams fan – I thought the casting was good; I especially thought Henry Cavill did a wonderful job as Clark, and I really can't think of anyone who would've suited the role better. I enjoyed Michael Shannon as Zod, he was sorta kinda subtly, calmly menacing which was fun to watch, and really: apart from the 'physicality' issue, Adams made a pretty good Lois. But then perhaps I really am speaking as a Batman fan here. As for the rest of the cast: Fishburne, Lane, Costner, Traue, Meloni were effective in their respective roles (...and if I am to be completely honest here: Antje Traue was a lot of fun to look at as Faora).
My only real problem with this movie was the fight scenes. Because special effects are so evolved it's gonna take a lot more creativity in their implementation to make an exploding building seem anything more than that: an exploding building. And there are a lot of exploding and crumbling buildings in this movie, and not once was I particularly moved or excited. I felt, too, that these scenes were WAY protracted, and the damage done was bordering on ludicrous; I reckoned that at the end of the day, when all was said and done and dusted, there really wouldn't have been much difference if Zod and his world engine had gone on to annihilate earth.
But on the whole: a pretty decent superhero / action movie. I felt the characters were all nicely developed, and they did a pretty good job with Kal-El's backstory – I also quite liked the fact that Cavill's Superman was a somewhat darker and sombre incarnation than in previous Superman films. So I reckon if you're not a die-hard, purist fan of Superman (and I say that with respect to those who are), perhaps you could over look the red hair and absent red shorts, and you may just enjoy this movie experience.