I wanted to like this movie, but it is a tremendous disappointment.

Rating: 4/10 (24 June 2013)

I so wanted to like this movie. It's hard to explain how much I wanted to like this movie. Superman Returns had nearly killed the franchise but this was my hope for a redemption. I watched closely at Rotten Tomatoes and the Metascore for this movie, and then dismissed them. Even though the critics didn't love this movie didn't necessarily mean that it was bad. I didn't read any of the reviews and went into the film wanting to defy them. Then, I saw the movie and my heart sank.
This film is a tremendous disappointment that looks good, but is only skin deep. Man of Steel introduces itself as a new version of Superman for this modern age. However, it feels the need to spell out every aspect of an origin story that everybody already knows with few bizarre changes to feed its predictable story. While I liked parts of it: the visual effects are stunning (in 2D) and the character interaction can be good, when the script allows the characters to have fun, I have to conclude in the end that this is a bad movie.
There are some parts of the film that I enjoyed, so I can't completely pan this film. First of all, I did like the special effects, especially on Krypton and during the flying sequences. They are well done and quite stylized and a good use of Zack Snyder's talent. Some of the flashback sequences are good for the character, especially the first one in which young Clark is hiding in the closet. Michael Shannon is glorious as General Zod, bellowing every line in villainous contempt in a suitably over-the-top performance that fits the grandiose Zod. (He doesn't hold a candle to Terrance Stamp, though.) Russell Crowe is surprisingly good as Jor-El who is in much more of the film than you'd expect. Finally, I can't say that I wasn't excited once Zod began to fly in the final battle and trade punches with our hero, an occurrence that Superman fans have been waiting for ever since there have been movies about the Man of Tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the film totally collapses under the weight of its own screenplay with tremendous actors having little-to-nothing to do. Amy Adams' redheaded Lois Lane is generally a bland character with little chemistry with Cavill's Superman. After the halfway point she serves almost no purpose to the plot, only being there because she's Lois Lane (apparently) and needs to be in the movie. Lawrence Fishburn has nothing to do as Perry White, although the film cuts to him every once and a while, though the audience has little reason to care what happens to him. We watch him try to evacuate the Daily Planet as we have to assume thousands of people are trying, and failing to do the same in nearby buildings.
The characters in this movie are uncharacterized, poorly characterized, or mischaracterized. The film seems to be upset with the concept of Superman while not really making us care about Superman the person. He has little opportunity to show any of the charm that Reeve brought to the character, robbing Man of Steel of some of the fun. I also couldn't get over the characterization of Jonathan Kent in this film. While Jonathan Kent is, and should be, highly protective of Clark and his secret, he doesn't do so in a constructive way. Jonathan Kent is meant to be a tether that binds Superman to the human world and teaches his son the value of life. Otherwise, this Superman really shouldn't care about the people, and cannot really be the savior he needs to be.
The movie is filled with plot holes, questionable judgments, and stupid characters. Why do the Kryptonians, especially Lara allow Zod to be imprisoned in space when the planet is about to blow up? Where is the rest of Zod's army when he lands on Earth, there only seem to be three or four that exit the ship? Why does Superman choose to fly to the other side of the earth to destroy the world machine, while he can do more good fighting the machine in Metropolis and save lives doing it? Most importantly, why does Superman not try to limit the damage done to Metropolis during the final battle?
Now I could forgive this, all of this, and call this maybe a six out of ten movie, if not for the final factor. Superman KILLS Zod. He just murders him, snaps his neck to save a family of four. First of all, after the thousands of deaths your fight has caused, why do those people matter so much? I kid, Superman is supposed to protect all people, but also never supposed to kill anybody. He is supposed to be able to find a way out, that why he's SUPERMAN. He is a symbol and an ideal, something to strive toward, which we can't and shouldn't do if Superman falls to what we would do in that situation. The idea that this makes him more modern shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the character by Goyer and Nolan. Superman is supposed to be better than we are, in mind and body, to say that he would do that, and that someone could give him no choice is an insult to the character. To the inevitable sequel, I say this, SUPERMAN DESERVES BETTER.