So...Man of Steel...

[MinisterofDOOM]

Nowhere NEAR as good as I had hoped. And, as I'd feared, Zach Snyder filled it with too much over-the-top and not enough down-to-earth. Not only was it kind of in-your-face overbearing, but there's also no way in the deepest depths of Hades that this Superman could EVER coexist with Nolan's Batman. The last ~1/3 of the movie is pure comic-book spectacle that's entirely at odds with the Nolan/Bale Batmanverse.

Overall, I like the new origin story. I like the focus on Krypton's history, and the accompanying sci-fi backdrop. I like the new Zod. I like the new Lois Lane (not helpless). I like that they give Superman's powers a semblance of scientific basis. And I LOVE the fact that there's not even the faintest sign of Lex Luthor (easily the single worst Superman villain in history, but somehow the most used and best recognized). And this is by far the best depiction of Superman AND Clark Kent to appear on any screen so far--a naiive, caring, self-conscious farmboy who happens to have looks and superpowers on his side even if he's not quite sure how to best use either.

I didn't like the EXECUTION of the overall plot. The dialog was really muddy at points. And there were a lot of people being mystically well-informed on events they missed, such as: how are the other Kryptonians fluent in English? A lot of other minor plot details just getting magicked-over, too...in hopes that the spectacle of flying, armored Kryptonians would distract the audience.
Amy Adams was distractingly bland. But some of the blame lies with her dialog. But she just didn't pull the character's weight regardless.
Harry Lennix is just as bad as I remember him being in the Matrix sequels.
Lawrence Fishburn does a decent job of playing a confusedly-written, two-dimensional character.
And why do we care what's happening to the Daily Planet staff PARTICULARLY when the Kryptonians attack Metropolis? Following three barely-characters around isn't interesting and somehow manages to drag down the scope of what's happening...instead of seeing a city in peril, we see Laurence Fishburn being chubby in an alleyway.
The other big complaint I have is: this movie does nothing to solve the whole "glasses fool the whole of Humanity" problem. In fact it makes it worse. TONS of people see a glasses-free Clark (NOT Superman) doing superstuff. And yet he still bothers with the alter-ego (glasses and all). Nonsensical and silly. It'd have been better if they just left the glasses out and implied that the suit was enough to fool people. It's no more sensible than glasses, but at least it's not POINTLESSLY so.

The last 1/3 of the movie is EXACTLY what a Superman movie needs to be. It's what was missing from every previous Superman movie. The problem is that somehow, despite being both fun to watch AND exactly what I wanted to see, it managed to drag on a bit. It was fun. Any little bit of it on its own would be fun. But as a whole, it was kind of a drag.

When people talk about comic book movies not being true to their origins, I laugh. There are so many different variations of every comic book hero that there's no right or wrong. That said...this is the most true to the comic background out of any non-animated Superman to hit any size screen so far.

Still the best Superman movie of all. But that's really not saying much. The Christopher Reeve ones were abysmal, and Superman Returns had a hot Lois Lane and a great Lex Luthor, but still fell flat.

Next movie needs to have Lobo as the villain. If that happens I won't care about the dialog. I'll be too busy enjoying badass invincible spacebiker awesomeness. He'd make for a good Justice League villain, too, since he's run into Batman a few times as well.

[jbracy7]

Well I have not seen it,but the nolan batman would pwn this duper dude,fist full o green rocks you flying nerd. But for real it looks better than I hoped

[TurboSauce]

I completely and wholeheartedly agree with MoD. Once.

[alms24sebring]

All I read was the very first sentence lol.

[zacmil]

I actually watched it last night, and I've got to agree, while it didn't quite live up to what I was hoping for, Man of Steel wasn't exactly a bad movie. That being said, I was the only one in my family who enjoyed it at all, and I'm far from being what you would call a Superman fan. My dad, who has read the comics off and on since he was a kid, didn't really like it at all.

[Bubba1]

As far as Superman villians go, I figured MoD woulda been an Otto fan. But Since you and MoD are perhaps among the few here that probably saw all the Superman movies/shows. Which actor was the best Superman?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Otto, the supernatural-obsessed Nazi guy? Meh...he's another Lex Luthoralike: smart and resourceful but not well suited as a counter to Supes. Yeah, it's fun to see people fighting him in more subtle ways, but in the end all he has to do is punch them in the face and he wins. Not all that thrilling as a matchup.

Of course, I don't recall Otto ever falling back on a cheesy robot suit and reducing himself to armored brawls with Superman like Lex Luthor does half the time these days. So he's got bonus points there.

[Bubba1]

Otto, the supernatural-obsessed Nazi guy? Meh...he's another Lex Luthoralike: smart and resourceful but not well suited as a counter to Supes. Yeah, it's fun to see people fighting him in more subtle ways, but in the end all he has to do is punch them in the face and he wins. Not all that thrilling as a matchup.

Of course, I don't recall Otto ever falling back on a cheesy robot suit and reducing himself to armored brawls with Superman like Lex Luthor does half the time these days. So he's got bonus points there.

Sorry, I meant Otis, Lex's faithful assistant and snappy dresser:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffBrgQ9TE_g[/youtube]