not bad

Rating: 8/10 (18 June 2013)

Looks like we'll need to wait a little longer for another Superman film to match the standards set by Richard Donner's Superman. But this film isn't bad.
It's definitely better than Bryan Singer's Superman. The strengths of this film are what Superman Returns lacked: a great cast, a good script, an interesting story, and a powerful music score.
The cast, particularly Russell Crowe, is what saves this film. All are great for their roles. There is even some chemistry between Henry Cavil and Amy Adams, although they don't spend much time together. Unlike Richard Donner's version, this one is less about Superman and Lois than it is about Superman fulfilling his purpose in life.
It's hard to imagine a Superman film without John Williams' memorable score but Hans Zimmer manages to come up with something unique, just as grand and nearly as hummable. It's a powerful, uplifting score befitting of a Superman movie with some very distinct themes. Though the score isn't quite as complete as that by John Williams-- not many music scores these days are-- it's very adequate.
Of course the special effects are great. But they're nothing we haven't seen before. Some of them seem to have been inspired by the Matrix films. But that's fine. Most big budget films have such high quality special effects than they cannot differentiate from one another simply by special effects alone. They need to have-- do I dare say?-- a good cast, story, script, character development, etc. Fortunately, this film has most of that.
I understand this version is supposed to be a grittier, more down to earth Superman. But ironically, it ends up being less realistic than Richard Donner's Superman. It is a little darker but darker doesn't necessarily mean more realistic. It spends too much time on the negative aspects of growing up and too little on the positive. A kid with all those powers can't be all that bad, can it?
Also, this film has more of a science fiction feel which takes us even farther away from reality. It presents us with too many alien ideas, strange technology and technical details that we have a harder time to believe the setting is actually present day on earth. All these alien ideas and details should've been kept in abstract terms as they were in Donner's Superman.
I would've liked to see more interaction between Superman and Lois Lane. And I would've liked for General Zod to appear in later films, not at the beginning, as was done in Donner's version. With General Zod, a man with the same powers as Superman, already appearing in this film, it's hard to imagine there could be a stronger, better foe for Superman without getting weird. There's talk about other aliens like Braniac appearing in the sequel but I'd hate to see the series go off into the deep end into science fiction fantasy.
Basically, Sneider's Superman is a combination of Donner's Superman 1 and 2. Donner's Superman was lightening in a bottle. It appears there will never be a Superman film as good. Special effects do get better in these remakes. Can you imagine Donner's Superman 2 with today's special effects? I'd love to see that.
All in all, Sneider's Superman is a good remake. It has a strong cast, good script and catchy original music score. It has most of the elements that made Donner's Superman great.