A masterpiece in 'universe' framing......

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2014)

From the outset of the announcement of this film, I was excited. Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer's story telling and realism, matched with Zack Snyder's visual flair was sure to finally give us the Superman film that we all deserved.
Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the last decade and a half would know that the brothers Nolan and there confidant Mr. Goyer would know that happy-go-lucky tales are not the stories that flow from their quills. As such, anyone looking for thigh slapping quips or Superman fighting for 'Murica only has themselves to blame for being disappointed. The teaser trailers told you everything you needed to know about the tone of the film. The inner turmoil and battle that Clark Kent had to go through with Superman. To find himself amongst the viciousness of humanity and the amoral quest of the remains of his own people.
I dislike the critiques of other submissions, because certain inalienable truths were given, even if they weren't force fed and narrated out of the celluloid into the viewers eyes and ears.
1.Superman already demonstrated that 'no prison can hold me', so if he knows that, he knows no prison can hold Zod. Zod had to be killed. 2.Zod's ship didn't have an engine that allowed for faster than light travel, the Phantom drive on his ship acted as a prison to 'hold' he and his followers in a separate dimension. When Krypton was destroyed, the 'holding' device failed and they returned to their own dimension. When they retrofitted the engine, it didn't allow light speed in the general 'warp' sense, but allowed them to fold time and space within itself to travel massive distances in short spaces of time. That's why all Kryptonians were doomed. The only ship with the capability to be retrofitted was their prison ship, and there could well not have been time to retrofit it. 3.Not once did it show Clark piloting the scout ship, it was far more likely to be an auto pilot. The odds of him knowing how to suddenly dogfight with an incredibly complex piece of hardware are slim, having been raised on a farm. 4.Of course it took Zod and his troops less time to adapt, they were military trained soldiers, not farm boys...... 5.Jor-El tells his son that the suit is of the House of El. It is not said "here son, we put this suit here because we knew you'd be along in 10,000 years". It stands to reason that the pilots of that ship had a person of the House of El on board - I mean, they didn't go around naked did they?
I get that destroying Metropolis was horrifying and extremely surprising to a lot of loyal DC fans, as it goes against 75 years of character development, particularly as Superman wasn't interested in taking the fight away from the city and population centre. But from a 'universe' point of view, the devastation and cost involved in the fight should (hopefully) frame the discord between Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor, Wonderwoman and Superman for the sequel. For all we know, Bruce could see Superman as a villain who needs to answer for all the carnage he has wrought.
The score of the film was on it's release, and still is today, the finest piece of cinematic orchestra ever constructed and Hans Zimmer is a master exponent of his art. Both grandiose and booming, yet reflective and sorrowful when required, it continues to suck you in to the conflict that goes on in Clark's quest to find his own inner peace and salvation.
I would agree with the critics of Lois Lane's role however. There is no need for her to be on the military plane, and no way she could have run that distance to the climactic end to the fight in time. However, without those two scenes, her role would have been little more than bit- part, so I get it. I'm not too happy about it, but I get it.
So having watched the film three or four times now, it leaves me waiting with baited breath to see what Nolan, Goyer and Snyder serve us next and remember, "Captain America: The First Avenger" only existed to set up "The Avengers"........