Superman Redux good but not great

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2013)

"Man of Steel" is a good movie. Not as good as the first two Superman movies in 1978 and 1980 and (Superman and Superman 2) starring Christopher Reeve, but certainly better than any of the sequels for Superman post Superman 2. Superman with Christopher Reeve was much more tongue and cheek than the current iteration and I thought stayed truer to the Superman ethos.
Further, despite the more tongue and cheek nature of the 1978 Superman I found the Lois Lane death scene much more impactful than anything in "Man of Steel." With that said "Man of Steel" is a good film, with some great action scenes that complement a solid performance from Henry Cavill as Superman. Amy Adams is okay as Lois, but frankly just okay. Russell Crow as Jor-el brings does a good job, but in spite of more screen time does not surpass that of Marlon Brando as Jor-el in the 1978 Superman.
In terms of the whole Daily Planet angle we will have to see how that works out in the sequel, but this first movie does very little to establish the Daily Planet as a the central player it has been in Superman lore.
**SPOILER BELOW**
The best thing about this Superman was that he actually did the right in killing General Zod. Yes, Superman's rule on not killing is a good one especially for someone as powerful as Superman. However,not killing General Zod would certainly have resulted in the deaths of further countless innocents as earth authorities would not have been able to contain GeneralZod. So actually in this case Superman made the very tough decision to protect innocent life by killing Zod. (note this is not in any way murdering Zod as he had already killed hundreds if not thousands and was poised to kill more innocents in a matter of seconds. Superman has not become just like Zod.)
So when dealing with humans, Superman's rule is a good one, but when dealing with murderous, genocidal beings with powers far beyond those of mere earthlings such as Zod, the underlying spirit of the rule must be followed which is to protect innocent human life. Ultimately, Superman was morally obligated to kill Zod. Not doing so would have made him responsible for any further murders by Zod.
To whom much is given, much is required and Superman will have to bear the burden of intentionally killing the last Kryptonian of which he is aware.