This is THE DEFINITIVE Superman movie. With truly spectacular cinematography, a heartwarming coming of age story, enthralling action and perhaps the best superhero movie soundtrack ever from Hans Zimmer, this movie hits every beat for Superman fans new and old.

As a DC comics fan growing up, the critical response to this movie prevented me going to watch it at the theatre. I mean who wants one of their favourite superheroes being "humourless", "too violent", and "not epic enough"??? Well, I can truly sit here now having said "lesson learned". Never again will I allow critical response to prevent me from experiencing something I had waited a lifetime for. I will never get to see Man of Steel in the theatre, and this movie was shot for the big screen. Some of the shots are truly beautiful, especially when he wakes up in the ocean with whales, and when he learns to fly in the snowy mountains.

The story is often criticised for not having the kookiness of the original four movies with Christopher Reeve - and don't misunderstand this for hating on the first few iterations, I have nothing but fond memories of growing up with those films - but I challenge anyone to watch those movies now and claim that they still hold up. A truly great movie as well as standing the test of time, has rewatch value, and Man of Steel is one of the few superhero movies that I have watched time and time again. This requires a great story.

The story of this movie focuses on a boys relationship with his fathers, and his coming of age through those guises. His cautious and protective Earth father who tought him the morality and goodness we expect from our Superman, who sacrificed himself in order to keep his sons secret; and his Kryptonian father who encouraged him to embrace his difference and be the man Earth needs him to be.

A bonus is that the relationship between Lois and Clark doesn't seem forced. You get to see how she is a great investigative reporter and through her reporting she discovers Superman's true identity. By protecting it, you can see Clark's appreciation and the weight of not being able to talk about it to anyone - something that bothers him throughout the great flashback scenes as wonderfully portrayed by Dylan Sprayberry and Cooper Timberline - being lifted.

The character development of the antagonist, General Zod is done in a way other superhero movies can only be envious of. The message that this character, like all other Kryptonians are born with a specific purpose, in this case to protect Krypton at all costs, comes across well. From his perspective he is the superhero of his own story, trying to save his planet and his people, and that is the truest of tests for supervillain development.

And this brings me to the epic and controversial (for some reason) third act. [spoiler] As mentioned earlier, Superman has a strong moral code instilled in him by Jonathan Kent, which is shown throughout the flashbacks. Any observer who doesn't see that Snyders portrayal of Superman has the most morality of any Superman in cinematic history is simply not paying attention. He doesn't spin the Earth backwards to rewind time just to save his girlfriend like in the original, and he doesnt go back to Smallville and hook up with Lana because the love of his life Lois is ignoring him a little bit like in Superman III. That Superman, despite all of his displayed morality (e.g. where he refrains from fighting the bullies) feels he must kill General Zod is one of the most powerful moments in superhero movie history. He repeatedly begs Zod to give up his quest to destroy Earth and humans now that his quest to return Krypton has failed. Zod makes it clear as day that he will NEVER give up, and that he will destroy humanity at all costs as an act of revenge. What was Clark supposed to do? He was left with no choice! Add to this the fact that Zod's laser beams were inches away from killing a whole family, Superman reluctantly had to break his neck. Yet unlike other superheroes he did not gloat in victory, the pain and anguish in that scream that follows is filled with the heartbreak of breaking both his moral code and killing one of the few other fellow Kryptonians in the universe. [/spoiler]

Overall, this movie gets better every single time I watch it. If you haven't watched it since it came out and had mixed feelings the first time, please give this movie another try without the immediate negative reviews that were extensively covered in the media at the time of release. It truly deserves it. Man of Steel is THE DEFINITIVE Superman movie.

A complete waste of time.
If you are a comics fan, and for some reason you still haven't seen this one, save a few hours of your life and pick another movie.
In the other hand if you are not a comic fan, but still want to see a nice superhero movie, check out the ones made by Christopher Reeve almost 40 years ago, you wont be disappointed with those.
This movie has an impressive cast, that's the only reason why I seen it completely, I think for respect of them, but i was so close to stop watching it, and be the first one in my life i did not finish, that's how bad it is.
The options were endless for a superman movie, and even more considering this is supposed to be a dark superman, for me he is more like a reckless one, but they decided to put a ton of super mega FX, which are not convincing at all, and have two semi-gods destroying JUST one city while battling with their superpowers and dont have an scratch in their faces or they immaculate customs.
Lois Lane appears in every single moment with the correct answer or with a brilliant idea of how to stop the bad guys or to be requested in the presence of the powerful entities that came to conquer the world and exterminate the human race to create a new Kripton, but yeah, she needs to be there.
I cannot continue the critiques because I would need to start spoiling the movie and that's something I dont like to do, but i did advice it on the beginning of my review, if you still decide to see this awful movie is on your own mental health risk.

I really hope that Superman vs Batman: Dawn of Justice is not as bad as this one is.

Overall this movie is great! It has flaws but it still delivered. For instance, they didn't really explore the loving side of Superman that is the reason for saving humans. But i get it that this could just be a different interpretation of his motives. The relationship between Clark and Lois was almost spontaneous and didn't really develop. Not to mention there was so much action! Sure this is Superman and he deserves a big movie, but that action is just so mind numbing and distracts from the plot. I really did like how they explored Clarks childhood just enough to give justification to his emotions. Although there are criticism about the ending, I thought it was well made. Clark spent his entire youth listening to his father to control himself and he had to learn to make a tough decision. I think this movie has a lot of potential for a sequel if they do it right. I look forward to being able to look back on this and watch it as part of a trilogy and not a stand alone film.

The cast is well chosen but the Amy Adams as Lois Lane. Not that she performances bad but she is just not Lois Lane.

Smart choosing to focus in Krypton. Probably, the less repeated story told about Superman.

You can really feel Christopher Nolan's touch in the script and, probably, that's the problem. It is just too similar to Batman Begins. Also, the script repeats Batman's stupidities like the way in which Klark Kent father dies or feeling that Crowe, Superman's father, has everything under control, even his own stupid death.

Tons of FX with incredible fights that may feel exhausting for some but that I think are totally justified in this character.

The OST is again in the hands of Hans Zimmer that keeps abusing of the drumming and grave sounds.

All in all, still looking forward for the next movie of this reboot.

I guess I am being stubbornly traditional here but this was not really the Superman that I grow up with. I am sure that a lot of people are not going to agree with me on this one but personally I was not overly thrilled with this movie.

Sure, if what you wanted was a wild action ride and unchecked destruction then this movie will most likely satisfy you. However, as a “Superman” movie it just did not feel right to me.

The original story is tweaked and tinkered with too much. The Kryptonians, not only General Zod and his minions, are portrayed in a quite negative light. Superman himself project a hugely negative aura. Lois Lane gets to meet Superman and learn who he really is before he even starts to work for The Daily Planet. And so on and so forth…

The first part of the movie with the back-flashes, with Kal-El just trying to hide, getting bullied etc. is just sad and even boring. It is not until General Zod arrives that things starts to get going. However even then they continue to tinker with things. Apparently it is now enough to breathe Krypton-like air for him to lose his powers. This is just so wrong. Actually, the entire bla bla when they try to “explain” his powers is just dumb. There is an established story behind Superman. Even though it is fantastic and unscientific just stick to it. It is a fantasy comic character after all. Leave it at that. The story itself is not bad but it is not Superman.

Having said all that, when the fighting starts, the special effects and the action definitely have a high “coolness factor”. Superman and General Zod wrecks more havoc than half a dozen Godzillas with a bad case of hangover. Actually the level of mayhem is bordering on the ridiculous but it was fun to watch. Unfortunately I have to admit that this was my enjoyment of this movie, to watch the special effects.