Not even Superman could save this film!!

Rating: 1/10 (27 March 2016)

This is a such a confounded mess, I don't know where to begin & if I can end. It tries so hard to replicate the impact of the Original Superman 1978 but is just a product of its' time. A time of a complete cultural darkage.
First of all, the script no doubt appeases the comic-fans' desire to hear all the boring nerdy details of Superman's origins, but for those who aren't obsessed with comics, there's nothing even vaguely interesting in this script that we can compare with our own experiences. And these lines ARE dire! I mean, really bad beyond belief! "You're a monster Zod, and I'm going to stop you"!! There are too many moments like this which have your eye-rolls inducing a headache!
________ Visuals: As per this era, everything is saturated, all colour is reduced, the camera shakes constantly & the CGI has you so disconnected with reality - you cannot possibly care what happens on screen. In fact, the best moment in the film is when Clark has some real-life interactions with kids on a school bus which inevitably has to be pushed out of the water by Superman. Heaven forbid there's one moment in this film that isn't a set piece.
__________ CGI Mess: The CGI is sterile, shiny, pristine, over exposed, overused, intrusive, boring to look at, & represents the key-problem with action in modern films. You never felt for one second in Richard Donner's original that this was a film showcased by technology. Man of Steel is so reliant on technology that there is nothing that can save the film. Once you begin to see just how cartoonish & overblown the effects are, the film looses all grip on reality & its' relevance quickly diminishes. I'm not saying Superman is real, but everything around him.. planet earth IS real. Or it's meant to be. But it all just looks like computer game cutscenes. Technology is destroying our films, & if you or anyone can't see this just because trend has blinded you... this is going to have major repercussions once the flame dies down.
__________ Audio/Sound: The sound in this film is a constant onslaught of noises, Sound effects & bland music just as sterile & characterless as the the visuals. There's a reason why John Williams doesn't need to use heavy Feral Drum Percussive Thrashing in his scores. And that is because he doesn't need to compensate for a lack of perfection with a desperate reliance on volume. His scores sound emotionally charged & yet delicately fervent today. And he has never capitulated his inimitable sound to participate in generic trends. I hate this constant banging of drums in scores today. It sounds so servile. So pathetic. The tone of a true coward composer who's talent has been crushed by the desire to perpetuate & infatuate themselves for the good of money. There's not ONE cue in this car crash of a film which inspired me, stood out as exemplary, or was memorable enough to last with me even after the film. Except maybe the constant thrashing of those drums.
The rest of the sounds are piled on top of more sounds & so on. Until its such a convoluted mess of stems. You really can't appreciate what you can't hear clearly. But there's not much to appreciate anyway, because of how digitally crystal clean cut everything is. Part of what invites you into the creative process is picking up on tiny details; human imperfections, vulnerabilities & mistakes! But everything creative here has been hidden, & locked away in the stone cold insipid ramifications of the digital age. Killing everything artistic & making sure everything is dull.
_________ Performances: When the film isn't too hell-bent on set pieces & trailer fodder, sometimes the actors are permitted to speak. Seldom are they ever allowed to bare resemblance to our own mundane lives however! Because the film has so much action to thrown at you, there is little time for character development or levity. Everything is uttered as though it were for the trailer. And once again, you aren't allowed to get close to these people. Their lives don't resemble our own for just 1 minute, & you end up.. as always... not caring what happens. How can you? How can you care for characters you don't know personally?
The achievement of a truly great film is its' ability to make you feel as though you are right there in the movie! You see yourself through the eyes of these people by relating their experiences to your own. You forget it's not real & is just a movie as a result of how pitch perfect & clandestine all the production techniques are. This is the kind of skill that only the best directors possess. And very few master. (Stanley Kubrick is the best example)
This is the epitome of "all things gone wrong". The film constantly reminds you that everything on screen is not real. The people are not real. Even the lens which is attached to the camera is not real. Everything has a digital effect on. Whether its a shaky blur, RGB alteration, deep contrast contortions, what ever. The end product has me utterly disconnected emotionally with everything going on in this calamity.
This truly is a darkage we are being exposed to in Blockbusters. But that just makes it even more apparent that we should all be looking towards smaller budget films for entertainment. New talent which doesn't need a quarter of a million dollars to create tension. As Shakespeare once said "Full of Sound & Fury, Signifying Nothing."
I condone this awful film & those who made it. Christopher Reeve is turning in his grave. And considering he was palsied for the latter part of his life; that is quite an achievement. Avoid. 1/10.