I'm only a man in a funny red sheet

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2014)

From the opening scenes on Krypton where we see Jor-El being an action movie hero fighting, shooting guns, and riding flying dragons, it's clear this will be like no other Superman movie before...for better or worse. This is a tough review for me to write. I waited a long time to do it. There are two parts of me at war here. The movie fan didn't think it was that bad. The Superman fan hated it beyond belief.
The cast is good. Henry Cavill and Amy Adams were much better than I expected. They had nice chemistry, which I liked. Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, etc. are all fine. The flashbacks are the better parts of the movie. That was kind of what I was hoping the movie would be. The present-day stuff varied in quality but got progressively dumber as the movie went along. The special effects are mostly good, although the fight scenes between Superman and the other Kryptonians seem like choppy insertions of video game animation. The codex plot device is a stupid addition to the story and one can only assume it was thrown in with the hope of seeing it pay off in a future sequel, which may not ever happen. The script gives lip service to hope, etc. but it's all mired in gloom and bleakness. Drab, depressing, with very little happiness. The last hour becomes mindless destruction. Don't even get me started on "that moment." It enrages me just thinking about it.
As a sci-fi action summer blockbuster, I can't deny it's well-made and entertaining on that level. As a Superman movie, it's heartbreaking. Gone are the days of "you will believe a man can fly." No more inspiration. Now it's Superman in the 21st century: brutal, cynical, dark, self-absorbed. He's not even allowed to wear the traditional costume anymore, presumably because of infantile "underwear on the outside" jokes from braindead teenage boys (in age or just in mindset, no difference) raised on dark anti-heroes who have no sense who Superman is and what he stands for. Or rather, stood for. Anyway, off my soapbox. It's not a bad movie, judged solely on its own merits. But characters this iconic don't exist in a vacuum so it's very hard for me to look at it without comparison. See it and decide for yourself.