Man Of Steel, NOT Superman

Rating: 4/10 (8 July 2013)

Now we know why it was called Man Of Steel, and didn't have "Superman" in the title. Because Superman wasn't Superman. He was an alien called Clark Kent/Kal El with great powers who didn't know exactly what to do with them or himself. On one hand told by his adopted father that he was here to do great things, and yet on the other hand told by the same adoptive father that he should conceal his powers, even if it meant a bus-load of school kids drowning in a river. Really? REALLY?
When we think of Superman, we think of the guy in the blue suit who helps/saves people: A Hero. This guy wasn't really that. He was just a dude with some great powers who wondered form town to town occasionally helping people when they needed help, never staying anywhere for more than a few months. LAME! Here are the problems with the movie:
1. The acting was bad. I'll say mostly because the actors didn't have anything to work with. I love Amy Adams, but her Lois was flat, wooden, and one-dimensional. She had NOTHING of the spark and spunk that Margot Kidder brought to the role (which is surprising from someone like Adams). Same with Lawrence Fishburn's Perry White. There just wasn't anything there. There was NO distinction between the character of Clark and Superman because, as stated, there was NO Superman. His first appearance in his suit happened just before he started battling the baddies (Zod and friends) which came probably 2/3 into the movie. The characters lacked charisma and personality. In short, they lacked.... character.
2. The characters didn't really blend well together. There was no chemistry between Lois and Clark. None of the banter between the characters that made their relationship so enjoyable in the original '78 film. They were essentially strangers, yet somehow were suppose to have feelings for each other. There wasn't the dynamic of Clark wanting Lois, but Lois wanting Superman, but Superman BEING Clark, but not letting her know. Again, the characters and their relationships with each other were just plain flat. Spoiler Alert: Lois knows that Clark is the superpowered alien from near the moment they met.
3. Uber-destruction: Waaay too much, and needless, destruction in the fight scenes. Seriously, every time someone hit someone else, they went flying through buildings essentially destroying them, time after time, to the point where it just got downright boring. PLUS - the real Superman wouldn't have allowed the destruction to continue. That was, in fact, a plot-point in Superman 2: he LEFT the fight because it was putting people in danger. Here, there was absolutely no regard for the human lives whilst first Smallville, then Metropolis was being destroyed.
4. While Michael Shannon did a fine enough job playing the "evil" baddie, Gen. Zod, he was no way as good as Gene Hackman's Lex Luther, who was a bad guy that you liked because he was fun. This Gen. Zod was played straight and was just another evil bad guy. He didn't even have the subtle flair that Terrance Stamp brought to the roll.
Overall, as a stand alone, I probably would have given the movie a 5, or maybe even pushed to 6, but because it pales so much in comparison to the original Superman movie, which was a FAR more enjoyable viewing, I knock it down to a 4.
The good points: It LOOKED good. That's about it.