Awesome

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2013)

The music from this movie is just magnificent. The first thing that came to mind as I walked out of the movie was to get the original sound track. It is definitely on the same level as the top tier OSTs out there and I'd highly recommend it. I listened to bits and pieces of it prior to the release and ended up buying it right after seeing the movie. Flight and Goodbye My Son are my favorite.
The effects were absolutely amazing, as expected from a Zack Snyder film. One of my largest criticism of superhero movies is the poor transition of comic book speed. For example, in X-men if the characters displayed the speed of their comic book counterparts, it would've made the movie feel so much more true to form. We expect them to be superhuman, and speed is a huge part of that. In Man of Steel, Snyder definitely makes us feel and experience that comic book speed. Furthermore, he does it in such a way that it doesn't feel out of place or simply too bizarre to be true. It is beautifully done and you feel like you're watching a real life character that has super speed.
Snyder is quite ambitious with the movie, and there is a whole lot of story to be covered. They try so hard to fit everything together (the story of Krypton, his growth from a boy to a man, relationship with Lois, his conflict with himself, his conflict with Zod) that I think this is where there is some loss of execution. It feels like they cut out portions of a movie to make it fit into a 2.5 hr movie, and by doing that they lost a lot of story transitions that might have made the flow more natural. With the proper transitions, the movie would have been PERFECT. Without these transitions, the movie seems slightly choppy, but definitely more acceptable in terms of run-time (Would people have accepted watching a 3.5 hr+ Superman Movie?). It is, however, still very good without these transitions. I loved it.
This incarnation of Superman is somewhat darker than what people might come to expect when they hear the name. I definitely enjoyed the departure from the conventional happy-go-lucky, Mr. Perfect, Superman that has previously dominated the movie industry. The Man of Steel embodies characteristics of several less-known incarnations of Superman, and I think it was a great to see it (Spoiler: He behaves human and shows anger, hostility, also having to actually kill). I did not think this was bizarre or completely far out, as it was in-line with my knowledge from the comics/animations. However, I suspect this might bother those who think Superman should take a traditional cookie-cutter Mr. Perfect role.
I think the fact that he isn't a perfect being, is the reason this movie is great. Being raised in our society, do we really expect a man to be immune to emotion (e.g. Superman Returns)?
Overall, I think it was a great origin story of Superman and look forward to seeing the sequel(s). In addition, I'll be seeing it a second time at IMAX 3D!