Inconsistent

Rating: 6/10 (21 November 2013)

An interesting but inconsistent reboot of the Superman franchise, Man of Steel definitely better than Superman Returns but there's nothing that different or new here to make it worth the time. This new script places a lot of emphasis on the Krypton story, with a long introduction segment with Russell Crowe who does a solid job as Jor-El, and Michael Shannon who provides a very good and human General Zod.
On the plus side, Henry Cavill is the best Superman since Reeve and he gives the character a lot of humanity as well as charisma; although, the Clark Kent persona doesn't appear until the end, and I'm not sure he can pull that off. Amy Adams, on the other hand, is very vanilla as Lois Lane, bringing none of the character's zest or passion into the role. Since she's already in love with Clark and knows who he is, we don't even have the sexual tension to look forward to in the sequel. The script isn't as flawed as other Nolan films but it's still messy; visually, it looks good but not as stunning as other Snyder films.