I guess even Superman IV was better than this one

Rating: 3/10 (28 June 2013)

There are 1400+ reviews of this movie already, so there's no point in writing one extra, really. But I'm doing it anyway because I'm mad as hell. This movie is so bad, I felt robbed and deceived at the same time when I left the cinema.
Superman is my hero. I loved what Richard Donner did with the first two movies. Superman III was corny but great fun, Superman IV was a terrible mistake mainly caused by minimizing the budget. Superman Returns had its flaws but at least was a movie with a heart. And it used the original John Williams music (theme) of course. Man of Steel has none of the mentioned things above.
Zack Snyder's movie relies pretty much on the special effects and has an ordinary rumble as a finale. What is this? Rocky in space? In Superman II our hero at least tricked general Zod into a trap and then defeated him.
There's a lot not to be liked in Man of Steel. Krypton looks like it was stolen from Chronicles of Riddick, there's no spark between Clark Kent and Lois Lane and what kind of hologram is the dead Jor-El (Russel Crowe) anyway when Clark meets him? One with all his memories restored and one capable of properly responding to all the actions of Clark Kent? Not realistic. And if this was the only way for Clark to meet his real parents why was his real mother not resurrected like that? Well, at least Russel Crowe doesn't sing in this movie.
People praise Man of Steel for its visuals. The movie costed about 225+ million dollars but somehow they couldn't afford to use a tripod, because most scenes were shot as if they were meant for a documentary. In The Hunger Games the shaky cam at least had a purpose (to suggest violence and avoid a R rating).
The movie ends with a lot of action. These scenes look great, but why are there so many of them? Once you've seen one of them you've seen them all. Ever heard of the expression Less is more? Or did Michael Bay second unit these sequences?
I guess a Christopher Reeve-like new Superman movie would have failed at the box office. So maybe director Zack Snyder did it right by choosing for this dark but realistic approach. The box office success of Man of Steel proves him right. But this is not my Superman. I miss the nerd Clark Kent. I miss the laughs. Why does Superman take itself so seriously? But overall I miss a heart. Watching the movie I didn't care about Clark Kent, Lois Lane or Superman anymore. It made me even long for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, by far the worst Superman movie ever made.
But let us end on a positive note. Man of Steel was humourless and bad, but it's still way better than a turkey Green Lantern. And I must confess that Henry Cavill's body was really super. But wouldn't it be nice if Zack Snyder skipped Man of Steel 2 and focused on Dawn of the Dead part 2? Because that's a movie I would really like to see!
3/10