Good Superman film, but has its weaknesses

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2013)

In the hands of a decent director, and a good cast, my expectations were high with respect to this reboot of the Superman series. Superman Returns attempted to create a not-quite direct sequel to Superman II and unfortunately, and somewhat inexplicably, failed. Out of the ashes of that project comes the reboot, or what happens to films when they have an iconic character or storyline that could make Hollywood a lot of money, but a sequel for whatever reason is out of the question.
First, the pros - Cavill is quite possibly the best actor to don the cape. This does not mean he is the best Superman by any means...that title belongs to Reeves if only for the fact that his innocent charm makes up for his lack of acting capabilities. Zod is the greatest villain in the earlier films. Michael Shannon does an okay job with the character, but he is not as fearsome as Terence Stamp. Still, he brings some humanity to the role of Zod that was lacking before, but unfortunately we only catch a glimpse of that humanity, and by then our patience has worn thin. The story is good, and the narration is pretty good. I was not bored...until the last half hour or so, which brings me to the cons.
Apparently, for a film to be considered epic, it must be of epic length. This is fine, as long as there is no filler. For this film, I am actually hoping for a Director's Cut that takes stuff out rather than puts stuff back in. The final half hour of this film could have been removed without losing anything. It was unnecessary, and even anti-climactic. The action sequence at the end inspired only nausea for this reviewer, and a sense of relief when it finally ended.
Next - Lois Lane. Superman films have struggled with the character of Lois Lane now that Margot Kidder is out of the picture. Amy Adams is a good actress in her own right, and I feel like she could have been good in this film, but was given little opportunity to do so. Plus, I really don't like what they did with the story of Lois and Superman. There was a certain humorous arc that was present in Superman I, II, and Superman Returns that is absent in this film and which will be absent in all subsequent films.
All that being said, this film is worth watching in theaters. It is immensely entertaining, has a great cast, and is in the hands of a capable albeit over-indulgent director. I hope they do a sequel, and I hope, as it was with the original series (again, in my humblest of opinions), that the sequel is even better than this one. There is obvious room for improvement, but I believe that the filmmakers have accomplished their goal of introducing Superman to the 21st century audience. Now that he's here, the challenge is keeping him here.