Great cast, so-so story, too much visual trickery

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2013)

Enjoyed it of course. Not bowled over. The casting was terrific. Oddly most actors dealing with this American icon were not American. But they were well cast especially Israeli Ayelet Zurer as Lara.
The eugenics angle in Kryptonian procreation was a new idea and a bad one. While Michael Shannon was superb as General Zod, that character never appeared in the comics so seemed an artificial villain choice, and his dénouement scene, after all that excessive visual fluff, was muddy. Contrast all those Jack Kirby inspired comic book splash panel scenes with the calm practicality of the Chris Meloni character (who is still L&O's Elliot Stabler), which worked well.
Zod and Jonathan Kent tried to be philosophical about patriotism and heroism and who Clark was. But it was fake philosophy, seemed to me, or was cut short. Half-ass try I guess. "Our viewers don't want ideas they want action" may well have been the operative sensibility.
Interesting plot point that who Supe was became no secret to Lois Lane. But the closing scene she seems clearly to not know that this new reporter Clark was also the Clark she knew as the superman figure (though the Name Superman was not itself clearly marked out in the storyline). Was this a bluff in that scene or did she get Alzheimer's? That relationship and whether she knew or didn't know might be a better starting angle for the next Superman movie than more CGI bee-ess and more Krypton origins and more Luthor shenanigans. How about some real creativity.
Superman on the radio was 35. In this film he was 33. Better than 20-ish like the last two.