Fantastic movie despite the critics hate

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2013)

At first I was nervous to go see this movie. The critics hated it for the most part. Honestly, I can understand why. The story wasn't the focus of this movie. Zack Snyder's movies are all about visual interest. Nolan, I think, on the other hand is about story and realism.
I was interested in the beginning to see how they would balance it out. I think critics had this idea it would be like the batman movies mixed with the Avengers. It's not really. It's a visual masterpiece. Well, maybe masterpiece is a strong word to use, but the visual special effects are amazing. I personally think they are the best I have ever seen. If you are going to see this movie, realize that you are going to see a movie with a ton of special effects and they are the thing Snyder cares about the most.
The movie does a back and forth between the past and present day. Nolan really takes over the story when it shifts to the past. The past drives the current story and it does it well I believe. Without spoiling anything, the past shows why Clark Kent has become the man he is today and it doesn't hold much back. There is going to be a large battle scene at the end, the critics noted it was over 20 minutes long. It probably was, but I like to think it was well done. Critics, and a lot of people have an issue with the ending, once again not to spoil anything, it gets dark. I think people expected this to be a super kid friendly movie, it's not. I don't know what gave people this idea, but with Zack Snyder and Nolan working together, you had to expect it to be a darker, more realistic movie.
Could the story have been better? Maybe. But for what that movie was, it was the perfect story for it. Could the special effects been better? No way. That's really what you're going for.
It's a good story, nothing phenomenal, but a great looking movie. It's not a kids movie and you shouldn't expect it to be. It deals with how people have to make choices and the lines are never black and white and where that grey is, is what makes Man of Steel a great superhero movie.