I grew up in Kansas.....

Rating: 5/10 (29 June 2013)

A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of Earth.
He journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do.
But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.....
There is a good film in here somewhere, a really good movie, but sadly, its lost in a wealth of CGI and poor narrative structure. Snyder has gone for the save route with this, wanting to please everybody, and ruining the mix as he goes along.
The best things about this film is the back-story and the flashbacks. Crowe is great as Jor- el, and harks of Brando when he is on screen, but back to the present, when Crowe is in Superman land he is nothing more than a flirt who walks of whenever someone looks at him or acts as a signpost.
Costner is easily the best thing in the film, and in my humble opinion, I think its the best acting he has ever done. The scenes with him and young Clark are cinematic gold, and if the film would have stayed along these lines, it would have gone into Dark Knight territory, if not more. These scenes with Costner are some of the most heartfelt scenes I've seen in a comic book movie, and you lose yourself in this Small(ville) world. The twister scene is powerful and just shows you what a great movie this could have been.
Then its as if Michael Bay has got onto the set and released his transformers on screen. And it really ruins the film. Shannon, as much as I think he is brilliant, is awful in this, and is a walking trope, his Zod is devoid of anything, at least Terrence Stamp had an element of sarcasm, he is just angry. Buy him a puppy.
Adams is okay, but isn't given enough to do, so gets sidelined, even though she is in it predominantly, she is just there for Superman to save.
The best thing about the present narrative is Cavill, he is great as the titular character, and I feel sorry for him, the script is poor and he feels redundant, but he is genuinely good.
The final third is all noise and bangs, if your thirteen, you'll love the fact that they get thrown through every single building for over twenty minutes, but to me, it was like someone playing Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and me watching, slightly bored.
As I've said before, the final third is like watching Transformers mixed with Independence Day, and its as bad as it sounds.
But it had so much potential, if only they stayed with Costner and Crowe and the Smallville, but no, they went all Bay.
In seven years time, I can see a new movie coming out, and every one will be on the boards comparing this one, just like they are with Superman Returns.
For me, its on a par with that movie, I just hope they give Cavill another chance, he is good..