I'd say I agree with every single point in that AICN review.

Wait for it to come out on rifftrax. Avoid paying full price.

Just because The Debt gets bigger every day, he thinks everyone ought to pay attention to him.

Wait...

What I mean is, I enjoyed the movie very much.

Saw it tonight. It's 58% on rotten tomatoes doesn't do it justice. I was pretty much just giggling throughout the movie.

My take. Spoilers throughout.

I didn't hate it, but I had some serious problems with it. First, what I liked:

1. The visuals were incredible. The scene where Superman is punching Zod half a mile down the road and the flying to catch up and hit him again... fantastic. The world engine gravity pulses. Faora's lightning fast ownage of the military. Awesome.

2. People seem to not like the crab boat/oil rig scene, maybe it's the abruptness of it coming immediately after Kal-El's ship arriving. I loved that scene. I wanted more scenes like that.

3. Krypton. Not how I would have ever pictured it myself, but hey it's an alien planet, so I'll buy it.

4. Cavill's Superman and Shannon's Zod. They looked the part and (aside from a few poorly written lines) nailed their performances. The scene where Superman finally breaks Zod's neck to prevent him for torching that family was really well done.

What I didn't like/ had some issues with:

1. The tone. People are saying it was too "serious". Seriousness wasn't the problem. It was way way WAY too dark. It felt to me like they were trying to make Batman Begins with a different character. It worked for Nolan's Batman because Batman and his whole story is dark. Superman's isn't.

2. No one knew who the **** Superman was when SHTF. By the time Zod showed up, there shouldn't have been any question in the minds of the people that Superman was on their side. Again, that story line worked for Batman. It didn't work here.

3. The Jesus stuff. I didn't turn me off, but I have a very different interpretation of those scenes. Superman is an alien, and he knows he's an alien. Which means he probably knows that (in his universe) Christianity is BS. But where does he go at a pivotal moment? To a church to talk to and get advice from a priest. To me, that wasn't making him out to be a Christ figure as much as it was to show how much respect he had for humanity, and how complete his assimilation was to Earth.

4. Too many falling skyscrapers and overall destruction. They make for awesome movie visuals, but if you were a resident of Metropolis, how much would you really trust Superman after that?

Bottom line: I think they tried too hard to make a fourth Batman movie and missed the point entirely.

[This message has been edited by Dr. Teeth (edited 6/16/2013 10:30p).]

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Superman is an alien, and he knows he's an alien. Which means he probably knows that (in his universe) Christianity is BS.

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Or maybe the point was because he's an alien, he knows it's not BS?

I'm surprised to see so many people wanted more of the same Superman/Clark Kent story lines. I LOVED the movie and thought the story was great.

Easily my favorite Superman movie. Compared to the others with Clark Kent taking off his glasses and disappearing to save the world only to return to Lois & Jimmy who were wondering were Clark went - this story was much better.

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Just because The Debt gets bigger every day, he thinks everyone ought to pay attention to him.

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This thread is filled with opinions, but apparently I cant voice mine without derision. Meanwhile we should all pay attention to your opinion because its so thoughtful.

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This thread is filled with opinions, but apparently I cant voice mine without derision. Meanwhile we should all pay attention to your opinion because its so thoughtful.

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I apologize, I really was trying to make a joke. The debt is getting bigger and we should actually be paying attention to it.

The movie part is, like you said, just another opinion in a thread filled with them.

I liked it, quite a bit. I didn't walk out of it with the same feeling that I had after Batman Begins, which was I could not wait until the next one. But nevertheless I will be looking forward to the next one. I think some of the disappointment from viewers might come from them comparing it to the entire Nolan/Batman trilogy. You can't do that, this is just the first. Is it as good as Batman Begins? Not quite, but I think, like TCTTS wrote, they didn't give me enough of Superman becoming the man he was, in both senses. By that I mean, not enough of what drives him as a person and not enough development of the "Superman" identity he takes on. Batman Begins packed more of an emotional punch that let you connect with who Bruce Wayne really was, what drove him, and how got to the point of being Batman. Not enough of that here.

But loved the fight scenes and loved Cavill as Superman.

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Or maybe the point was because he's an alien, he knows it's not BS?

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what?

In thinking more about all of the destruction, I'm ok with it depending on how they handle it in the next movie.

I was appalled as well initially at how much destruction they caused, but after all the machine's purpose was to dramatically alter the entire planet. And Zod even came to detest the humans because they stood in his way of a new Krypton - were you expecting him to be more careful and start his terraforming in a remote, unpopulated place? If the writers had done that, everyone would have had the same complaint - "well, wasn't THAT convenient!"

If the writers of the next movie set it up properly, they can use the massive destruction for multiple purposes.
One, it can instill in Superman a stronger sense of urgency about protecting humans as well as the threat he poses to them by just being on the planet.
Two, it can cause anxiety in the humans about having a "protector" who might just cause more harm by his presence on this planet than he does good.

Just like the Batman franchise, the next movie will be pivotal in determining whether this one will be awesome, or just ok.

In reference to the concern for all the damage...I think you have to realize that Superman is still in the process of discovering his powers and learning his own strength. Prior to his faceoff against the Kryptonians, he had never been challenged physically by another person. I would not be surprised to see them address this issue on the sequal just as FL_Ag1998 mentioned. This is also a great opportunity to increase Lex Luthor's wealth exponentially with the amount of construction required to rebuild Metropolis. I'm really interested to see where this story goes and how they go about introducing Lex Luther (in the 2nd or maybe the 3rd installment).

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/14/david-goyer-tells-me-about-his-plans-for-and-problems-with-the-man-of-steel-sequel/

The early rumors of MoS 2, Justice league, Batman, Wonderwoman, etc.

I loved this movie. I have never been a Superman fan because I really just hated all the movies before this one. What made me really excited going in was all the negative reviews about there not being enough of the Daily Planet, Lois Lane, etc.

I also have no idea the background of Superman so I really liked the time spent on Krypton and seeing how he got to earth.

I think the destruction of Metropolis in that last fight first kinda irked me, but ultimately I was thinking about it - and this is what would happen if this type of fight ensued. I think I was taken aback because no Superman movie before this one (that i've seen at least) shows the destructive force he can have just being himself, let alone him fighting another one of his race. My only thought would have been to have the scene take place where maybe one building goes down and some other destruction but ultimately take Zod to an aerial battle or at least to a more remote area.

I wish there would have been at least a hint to the second movie. I can't wait and I think it will be really interesting to see what the critics say when the next MoS is set in their precious world of what the old movies were - Daily Planet, etc.

Was good, was worth the price of admission. Thought it was a little too long, some of the action scenes/destruction could have beenshortened a few minutes here & there and you wouldn't have lost anything.

Re: all the destruction... then, in that scene in the museum or whatever where he kills Zod, all of a sudden he gets the rage needed to actually kill someone, and does. What about all the millions of people that were dying out there with all the collapsing buildings? What about them? Just seemed... odd.

Kinda wish they had used like... the crew of the Time Bandit for the fishing boat scenes

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I think the destruction of Metropolis in that last fight first kinda irked me, but ultimately I was thinking about it - and this is what would happen if this type of fight ensued. I think I was taken aback because no Superman movie before this one (that i've seen at least) shows the destructive force he can have just being himself, let alone him fighting another one of his race. My only thought would have been to have the scene take place where maybe one building goes down and some other destruction but ultimately take Zod to an aerial battle or at least to a more remote area.

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Agree

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were you expecting him to be more careful and start his terraforming in a remote, unpopulated place? If the writers had done that, everyone would have had the same complaint - "well, wasn't THAT convenient!"

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That would have been rather easy... make a mention of the engine needing to be at the magnetic poles and have the fight in Antarctica. The Smallville fight with Faora could have served as the "destructive power" demonstration.

In fact, to be honest, I think it was too convenient to have it in Metropolis. It could be ANYWHERE on the planet... but just randomly in Metropolis?

I still think the movie's biggest problem is that they didn't establish Superman as the hero before Zod arrived.

Yeah, kinda like all the Supervillians in Spiderman attacking New York, or Gotham in the Batman movies. I'd be fine with a more global Superman, with Metropolis just simply his "home base", but with all the *****ing now about lack of Daily Planet/Metropolis/Lois Lane, imagine the uproar if they diminished Metropolis' role even more.

And I agree about needing establish Superman more before throwing him into battle with Zod. I felt a little cheated of getting to see him "grow into himself".

[This message has been edited by FL_Ag1998 (edited 6/17/2013 9:07a).]

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Thank you mysterious heroes. The value of the Gemerald you saved is slightly greater than the cost of the damage you caused to this museum. A net gain for our great city!

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This is also a great opportunity to increase Lex Luthor's wealth exponentially with the amount of construction required to rebuild Metropolis.

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Good point. I noticed that the name on the tanker truck Zod kicked at Supes (that he sweetly just kind of hopped over) had the name Lexcorp on it.

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then, in that scene in the museum or whatever where he kills Zod, all of a sudden he gets the rage needed to actually kill someone, and does.

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This was my only gripe with the movie. They fight for like 30 minutes straight, never able to inflict any sort of damage on each other, then all of a sudden he's able to just snap Zod's neck and kill him? Just seemed pretty weak. Other than that, I really enjoyed the rest of the movie.

If you plan to eliminate an entire race from a planet, it makes sense that you would start where the largest population is. It also added a time parameter to the plot. But I guess it should have copied Avengers, which copied Star Wars, which copied Independence day, where you just take out the mother ship and all the little bad guys stop working.

I think the destruction of Metropolis is one of the only ways to build a realistic Lex Luthor as an enemy of Superman. He just watched an alien destroy his city. You can see why he would have a healthy paranoia about Superman and want to use his resources to help build defenses to stop something similar from happening again.

It's much more believable than this is just an evil rich guy.

Wow...a whole lot of negativity running rampant in here. From what I can gather, it's all because he isn't Batman and this wasn't Batman Begins or Dark Knight. Just because Nolan was involved as a producer doesn't mean this needs to constantly be compared to the Batman films. Superman isn't Batman...their origin stories couldn't be more different. I'm not well versed in the full DC origin story of Superman, but I don't think Pa Kent even really died in a tragic way in the comics. This incessant need to compare this film to Nolan's Batman films just doesn't make sense to me. One is a regular guy, filled with rage and a unquenchable thirst for justice after the death of his parents, who goes abroad to learn all different types of fighting and then uses his unlimited cash to create his suit and gadgets. The other is an alien from another planet, who thanks to our sun has unlimited power and abilities. Aside from being in the Justice League together, these guys aren't even on the same playing field. And I say this as one of the biggest Batman fans around.

Other complaint seems to be that he didn't "earn" the suit? I think some are placing a bigger emphasis on the suit than is necessary. That just seemed to be the outfit of the El family. All male Kryptonians seemed to have that blue suit with the family crest on the chest on underneath whatever they were wearing. Also, we don't really know how much time he spent on that ship and how much he learned from his father before the suit was given to him.

There's something nagging at me inside that I didn't like about the movie but I still haven't been able to put my finger on it. On the whole I really liked the movie and enjoyed the story and how they told it. The destruction was ridiculous, but as some others have said, that's how it would go if 2 all powerful guys like them fought it out. I would like to think that the destruction that was being caused by the world generator (was that the name of it?) had caused many people to already flee those buildings and they were throwing each other and flying through mostly empty buildings. There likely was a large number of deaths though.

As for the comment above who couldn't understand why it took him until the end to break the neck, I think the point was that Kal didn't want to kill anyone. That's why he cried out in such anguish after he did it. That was the only option he had with Zod trying to kill that family.

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Other complaint seems to be that he didn't "earn" the suit? I think some are placing a bigger emphasis on the suit than is necessary. That just seemed to be the outfit of the El family. All male Kryptonians seemed to have that blue suit with the family crest on the chest on underneath whatever they were wearing.

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By "the suit" I really meant "becoming Superman." And most people seem to agree. It's anti-climatic, and the pacing of it is totally off. Though, I will give it another try at some point this week to see if works any better the second time. I seriously doubt it will.

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Also, we don't really know how much time he spent on that ship and how much he learned from his father before the suit was given to him.

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That's part of the problem.

Yea, if you have to rationalize issues with a film with "Well, we don't know..." then that's a sign of weak writing and storytelling.

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As for the comment above who couldn't understand why it took him until the end to break the neck, I think the point was that Kal didn't want to kill anyone. That's why he cried out in such anguish after he did it. That was the only option he had with Zod trying to kill that family.

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The comic book Superman hardly ever killed anyone back in the day. He was anti death penalty, and would have sent Zod & Co. back to the Phantom Zone.

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Also, we don't really know how much time he spent on that ship and how much he learned from his father before the suit was given to him.

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That's part of the problem.

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Exactly. We want, really, from a storytelling point of view, NEED to see these aspects of his life.

I thought the timing of him becoming superman was fine. He spent (essentially) his entire life not understanding why he was different, where he came from, struggling to control his desire to react in anger to punk kids and adults alike, and generally searching for answers. Then he finds the genesis ship, finds his dad and his dad tells him "this is why, so you can be better."

So now he knows, but still doesn't understand his strength. We get the rest of the movie to experience his growth as superman with him.

If you want to complain about the tornado scene, that's fine, bc really I agree...take the dog with you in the first place or let it go. No use risking for that

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The comic book Superman hardly ever killed anyone back in the day. He was anti death penalty, and would have sent Zod & Co. back to the Phantom Zone.

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When Kal-El's ship (and Kryptonian Command Key) impacted the World Generator to send everyone back to the Phantom Zone, I would assume Kal-El loses any future access to the Phantom Zone. He at least didn't have the option to send General Zod back at that point after the portal closed, so the only option was to kill him. General Zod was never going to stop.

I took no issue with him becoming Superman in the way it was depicted. I know I'm in the minority here, but since they went out of their way to show that he is an alien, I felt that him "becoming superman" was about him finally knowing where he was from. I felt like he put on the suit to finally stop blending in with the crowd and pretending he was human, not putting on a superhero costume to go save the world.

All in all, I really liked it. I loved that they minimized the hokeyness of Lois Lane and the Daily Planet. I really liked Zod, his cohorts, and the scenes with Zod and Jor-El. In fact, this iteration of General Zod dwarfs the previous to the point where I can't even compare this movie with Superman 2.

On the superhero continuum, I would put it ahead of Thor, on par with the Avengers, and below the Batman movies and Iron Man.

saw it this weekend and enjoyed it immensely. far from perfect, but miles above 58%.

i really think most people that have problems with it either A) compare it to much to Christopher Reeves series or B) Compare it too much to Nolan's Batmans.

Thought it was a solid B+

Not as good as Batman series but better than most Xmen & Avengers movies (excluding IM1 & First Class)

I had similar complaints on the emotional pacing of the story and some pieces felt rushed.

I loved the massive destruction in the final fight scene. As I understand it, Lex Luthor isn't pure evil as much as seeking a counter weight to Superman since he is so incredibly powerful (similar to the Phase 2 initiative from Avengers). A final fight scene that destroys half of Metropolis clearly sets up that storyline in the sequel.

Thought it was excellent. Cavill, Crowe and Shannon were very good. They should have used Lois more. Flashblacks was a neat way to tell the story and see some of the struggles of what it was like growing up. Thought Costner did a good job as Pa Kent.

I liked it better than any other superhero movie out there besides TDK.

Plus, Zimmer was great as usual with the score.