One of the most frustratingly underwhelming experiences I've had in cinemas

Rating: 4/10 (2 July 2013)

After watching Man Of Steel, my opinion of pretty much everyone involved in a creative capacity was substantially lowered. To see the product of such a talented collection of filmmakers, many having created films I've thoroughly enjoyed, be so joyless and feel so unfinished and rough around the edges and blunt, is very disheartening. Ultimately after the film was over, it really felt like I had watched an imitation of a blockbuster film, made by people who just didn't know what they were doing, or trying to say.
The movie is technically brilliant. CGI is superb. It was shot on film using anamorphic lenses, which I really appreciate for the look it creates. But what the film actually captured, and what the CGI was overlaid on top of, the actual movie, the story, is a flatline. The filmmakers just strung together a bunch of trailer shots and told Hans Zimmer to "do that thing you do", and that is it. There is no substance here. There is almost no character interplay, so many scenes basically only has two characters interacting. There is no effort from the filmmakers to actually weave the characters in the film into an engaging storyline, playing multiple characters off each other, exploring the dynamics of superman having two father figures. Superman has only sporadic dialogue, of which only a small percentage actually has substance and isn't just written to be a cool soundbite for the trailers.
The rest of the film is just a blur of CGI destruction imagery you would be hard pressed to differentiate from Transformers or Star Trek, which I was devastated to realize while in the cinema. The last 3rd of the film is in essence a particle effects demo from the effects houses involved.
I really cannot recommend this film to anyone. If you haven't seen a few previous films that destroy cities on massive scales it might still be a novelty you won't regret spending money on, but for anyone who wants to watch a movie with characters that engage you emotionally, stay away until you can watch it free of charge. Considering the film wanted to explore the character, and the huge possibilities that lie with Clark Kents dual heritage, where he belongs, who he is as a person, this film is one of the biggest creative failures in recent memory.