Disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (23 June 2013)

So normally i am a Zack Snyder fan (and in recent years, let me tell ya, that hasn't been easy to defend with most!) I loved "DAWN OF THE DEAD", enjoyed "300", really liked his adaptation of "WATCHMEN", and....well, did like the action sequences in "Suckerpunch"... (admittedly it was a weak flick in other areas..)
Going into "Man of Steel" was hoping for the best, and i came out with what arguably dukes it out with "Suckerpunch" as Snyder's worst film.
Saw MoS in 3D IMAX, and let's get this off the top right away, the 3D was terrible. It added nothing to the movie, other then pretty much draining it of all colour.
I did like Cavill as Superman and Shannon as Zod. Heck, i liked Crowe as Jor-El as well. The Krypton stuff was pretty interesting to open the movie.
I think i had real issues with the writing. Everything seemed unnecessarily convoluted when it came to the powers of the Kryptonians. So it's the atmosphere that gives them super powers? But their suits still give them super abilities, too? On the ship, when Jor-El adjusts the atmosphere to give Clark his powers back, shouldn't the entire ship have been filled with choking super-freaks with heat vision shooting all over the place?
I also really disliked the death of Jonathan Kent. Poorly conceived and written, and actually does more to HURT the character of Martha then anything else. For the rest of the movie any time she is dishing out advice to Clark all i can think is "Don't listen to her, remember she sent Jonathan back for the dog!"
My final gripe is with the Lois/Clark dynamic. It was rushed and poorly executed. It doesn't help that Adams is way too old for the part. I like her, and think 10 years ago she would have been great, but she is too old for Cavill. There was just no believable chemistry between the 2. When she says "it's all downhill after the first kiss", all you can think to respond with was "it wasn't really flying to begin with, honey."
The action sequences are murky and confusing (though that may be due heavily to the terrible 3D conversion.) There's a lot of CGI of explosions and buildings getting demolished, but the shots are from such a distance that it's hard to tell who or what is causing it..
Overall, pretty disappointed in this effort. I think Cavill could serve as a pretty good Superman down the road... Hopefully the next movie gets it right?