First of all, somewhat sarcastically, this movie might has well have been named "Superman Begins," because it was essentially Batman Begins but for Clark Kent instead of Bruce Wayne.
That being said, as far as re-telling the origin story goes, this film does enough new ideas with Krypton that I forgive it for re-telling an origin story that everybody in the target audience already knows. It works.
OK, bad things first.
Shannon was annoying. His voice seemed to keep changing throughout the film, which was really confusing and annoying. But overall, the actor was just annoying. I get that they wanted to distinguish him from Terrance Stamp's portrayal, but still.
Amy Adams failed to impress me. Besides giving her a camera and following the Superman trail, she didn't really come off as a reporter. It wasn't essential to the story, or to her character.
Which leads me to, these characters were so one-dimensional. I didn't care about Lois. Or Perry White. Or Jimmy Olsen (oh, wait, that's because he wasn't in the movie). Jonathan Kent's morality and the dilemma he and Clark face is super simplified. Maybe they assumed enough people watched Smallville to know more about that. Faora was a killing machine, but we don't know why.
Zod is the worst. And he's the worst because the writers knew that he was one dimensional, they knew that he didn't have proper motivation, so they wrote in an excuse for that. "He's like that because he was programmed to be." That's not a great villain. That bothered me so much.
As minor as it may be, why was Superman's chest hair crawling out of his suit? Is that supposed to look good? Surely the costume designers could have made the suit fit tighter to the neck. Or something. Who made that call? Am I the only one bothered by this?
Also, the Kryptonian USB stick. As lame as it was, I went along with it, until the whole "it doesn't work! Why doesn't it work! Oh, it's because this needs to be slightly turned. Fixed!" So stupid.
I miss Jimmy Olsen.
Now on to the "large" complaints.
1. Felt too much like a remake of Superman II and not enough like a fresh new installment to reboot the franchise and kickstart the DC Cinematic Universe. The villains were essentially the same: Zod, right hand woman (not technically Faora in the 1970s, but super-duper similar), and mute muscle force that accompanies them. They get locked in the Phantom Zone at the beginning, get freed, and try to take over Earth. Then Superman stops them. Felt very similar.
2. Too much focus on aliens/first contact. I know that this was Snyder's intention, so some of you may disagree with me on this, but when I want to see Superman, I want a superhero movie, not an alien invasion movie. If I want that, then I'll watch an alien movie. Superman has become an icon of the Superhero genre, a symbol of comic fans everywhere, and this film was less a superhero movie and more an alien sci-fi flick. The Avengers had aliens, and ships, and invasions, but it wasn't the focus, it was part of the feel of a superhero story. The focus on aliens, the technology, Kryptonian animals, spaceships, it was all too much for my tastes. Not enough of Superman being an ideal, or his morality, he was just trying to stop the evil man killing people.
3. I hated how Jonathan Kent died. I don't buy that scene at all. First of all, Clark could have saved the dog without using powers, so Jonathan should have never gone back out there. Secondly, I've got enough faith in humanity to think that somebody else in that crowd besides Clark would have tried to go out and help him. Thirdly, Jonathan wasn't given enough development for me to buy that he would rather die right in front of Clark and Martha instead of Clark saving him because it might potentially set some people wondering. Finally, I don't believe that Clark would have let him die. I don't care if he thought Jonathan wanted it that way, he would not have just let his father die when he could have saved him. I much prefer the death method of the heart attack, something not even Clark can stop.
OK, now on to positives.
It was visually stunning. Which should be a given since Zack Snyder directed it.
I like the idea that the Fortress of Solitude is a ship. It makes more sense than an ice crystal castle that nobody notices but Lex Luthor can find easily. Good decision there.
Faora was fun to watch. So quick and merciless, that was a nice effect to see rather than just brute strength.
The story was very well done in explaining how he finally finds out about his history, and how Zod et. al manage to show up right at that time. I was angry at first at the convenience of that, but then they actually explained it in a believable way with the distress call activation. And explaining how the Zod Squad escaped the Phantom Zone.
I liked that he killed Zod. Now, I don't want Superman to lose his morality, and become a killing machine. But I hate when superheros are like "dude no way I totally can't kill him I don't do that" and everybody else is like "but dude this guy is totally evil and he definitely needs to die" and he's like "but I CAN'T!" I think the writers did a good job of finding a way to make it necessary, so he had to do it, but it was unavoidable, and he hated doing it, and was horrified by it.
References. Now, I'm not a DC fan, and I've never read a Superman comic, but I know a lot of the cinematic and television history. I loved seeing the LexCorp sign on the trucks, and though I missed it, I read that "Wayne Enterprises" appeared on the satellite that was destroyed near the end of the film. And having Lana Lang and Pete Ross, even in small roles, was nice to catch.
I also enjoyed the Christian themes in the film. These range from the obvious (meeting with the pastor) to the subtle (Superman being 33 when Zod arrived), and the general (Superman being sent from the "heavens" by his father to save mankind).
Overall I liked the film. Jonathan's death was really the only thing that I completely disliked. Everything else I can live with.
I really think that a sequel, picking up after mankind has accepted that there are aliens and its no longer the main focus of the story, could be mind blowing.
7.5 out of 10
In recent film context: Avengers > Amazing Spider-Man and Man of Steel > Iron Man 3 and Dark Knight Rises
