Slapped together art house film with a big budget!

Rating: 6/10 (16 August 2013)

*WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!*
Where to begin? The first 15 minutes of the film felt like I was watching some alternate version of Vulcan which borrowed some animals from Pandora and technology from the Matrix. Russell Crowes performance was solid and kudos to the costume designers for some amazing and original work! Biggest moment in the intro is when Jor El says to Zod "this is madness!" My God I nearly choked on my popcorn! I was expecting a small disclaimer from Zack Snyder to appear alongside Gerard Butler in some outlandish Kryptonian costume yelling "madness? THIS IS KRYPTON!" and then proceeding to kick Zod into the Phantom Zone...but alas... It did not. The whole middle section of the film felt like a disjointed and quickly splashed together retelling of the life of Clark Kent. Apart from the poor CGI work on Kalel's burning body it felt more like an art house film on Kent's life. The entire time I sat there thinking to myself 'how is he going to shave his face?' I didn't get to find out. According to the film his beard magically disappears when he places the superman costume on. The middle of the film was done in such a way that you had to know at least something about Superman to connect the dots, thus eliminating the fact that this film is supposed to be a reboot. Moving on. The 3rd act of the film found for a partial redemption to the somewhat boring plot line so far. If there's something Snyder knows how to do, that's carnage. This film deals that in spades. Though I found myself siding with General Zod as he was only working for the best interests of his people. Very well written character. Mini rant coming up. If I have to sit through one more film where a person who has a fast approaching object falling towards them like say... Oh a building collapsing.... Don't JUST STAND THERE AND STARE AT IT, MAYBE LIKE RUN FOR YOUR LIFE? Anyways!!! Ancient Kryptonian tech... LOVE IT! But are we really to believe that every colony established by an advanced race such as the Kryptonians couldn't sustain itself? Wtf happened??? So Louis knows Clark Kent is superman. So it's really confusing when Clark Kent begins working at the Daily Planet and meets Louis for the first time... Now maybe it was a hidden thing of yes I know, but i won't acknowledge it, but could have fooled me. Looked like a full fledged non recognition. The biggest credit I give to the film is Superman taking a life. The biggest no no in Superman morality. It showed a superman who did what had to be done to save people.
After an interesting and informative opening, a disjointed and slapped together middle, and a carnage fueled and some what excessive conclusion, The Man of Steel failed to provide the reboot it so desperately needed. Though enjoyable and having its moments, it failed to live up to the names associated with it. With that said, hope remains for the film. Maybe with some repeated viewings it will grow on me.