Casting aside; I really didn't like the story. For the most part Superman is well known and people know of his history. There is no reason to reboot the franchise all the way back to Krypton. In a movie about one guy, there are too many supporting characters competing for screen time. The New 52 look is not for me either. I mean I get the decision to make the New 52 costume, but it's supposed to be Kryptonian armor... not weirdly textured stretch fabric. The story is full of terrible decisions that make a mockery of true fans.
The first thing wrong here is that for some reason Jor-El and Krypton are a huge part of the movie. The time they used in the movie to show us Superman's biological father and his struggle on Krypton could have been used to develop other characters like Martha, Lois, or even Superman himself! Looking through DC comic book lore Krypton, Jor-El and Lara are tiny blips of the Superman mythos. The movie jumps from Superman's ship to him as a fully grown man on a boat a full twenty minutes after the film starts. In that twenty minutes there is very little that adds to the story other than making Jor-El look like some sort of white knight/scientist hybrid who is an engineer capable of creating a ship that can travel through space, and keep a baby alive AND in stasis, a biologist capable of determining the effects of yellow sun's radiation
on Kryptonian cells as well as being able to deduce the intelligence of
a species based on a glance at the skull and brain, and an
astrophysicist capable of finding a habitable planet within his son's
reach, as well as a bad ass hand to hand combatant being able to take out up to three armed assailants, marksman AND stunt man who is capable of jumping off a building after a small explosion, extensive breath holding, and riding a flying mount through a massive dog fight. None of the action sequences were important to the story and they take up the bulk of the time used in the opening of the movie. It is just action for the sake of action, and it's one of the biggest storytelling sins because impossible plot holes are created and never addressed.
Jor-El, Lara, Perry, the two army guys, Dr. Emil Hamilton, and Pete Rose are all unnecessary characters for the story to move forward and be about Superman. The only reason I can tell that Jor-El was even in this movie was because they wanted to homage to when Marlon Brando played him in the first movie. Why else would such a small character be played by Russell Crowe? I think Brando playing Jor-El is equally stupid, but I digress. Gouging out such a large role in Man of Steel for Crowe is just a mistake. In most adaptations of Superman's back story Lara is only mentioned in passing as his father's wife or as his birth mother, but since Jor-El plays such a large role in the movie Lara becomes a necessary character. Perry White is a bit more necessary to verbally spare with Lois; Laurence Fishburne is too heavy of a hitter for the role. His presence dominates over Amy Adams in their scenes. Another problem is the scene we first meet Perry, at the end of his chiding (which was underplayed) should have been a moment to humanize him in a fatherly way to Lois. This would have made me feel worried for him at the climax of the movie instead of indifferent. Hamilton and Rose could have just been anyone else. Pete Rose is Clark Kent's boyhood friend and knows of Superman's powers... but he brings nothing to the table. Hamilton I assume they'll use for something down the line, but in this movie his role is pointless. It just as well could have been a no name character saying those lines.
Jonathan and Martha Kent have gone through various stages of being alive or dead in Superman's back-story, but Clark just watching his father die is bull. He should have had a heart attack like in the comics and television show. The hand up stopping his son? Come on! That's so cliche! Besides that we haven't seen Jonathan Kent enough to actually care about him dying much less see what kind of impact the time he'd spent with Clark made.When Jonathan dies of a heart attack it was after he was established as a huge role model for Clark and the fact that it was a cause that Clark had no way of preventing, thus making a character with so many powers powerless and easier to identify with emotionally.
The two fight scenes with Superman and the Kryptonians are full of action, but there is still a problem. If at all possible Superman takes his biggest fights away from people. He at least tries to minimize property damage as well. In the movie his first big fight is through downtown Smallville wreaking most of it with untold casualties inside the buildings! The fight was contained within that downtown area so what should have happened was Superman fighting them in the fields around Smallville reducing the risk of bystanders getting harmed and being able to cut loose and focus on the fight. The Metropolis fight is just a bag full of nope. There's no way Superman would fight IN the city. It's too much damage, too heavily populated, too many people to save during the fight. Zod is too intent on fighting Superman. Zod chases Superman around the city fighting, throwing, and destroying nearly everything they touch. As a side note, every time someone gets thrown through a building an explosion doesn't happen. Zod doesn't go out of his way to harm random bystanders so it should be easy to lure the fight to a more remote location.
Lois Lane finding out Superman and Clark are one in the same. One of the great comic book reveals is 50 minutes into the movie. Thirty if you exclude the super long prologue. He's barely even Superman at this point. Hell... he's hardly even Clark Kent! Yet some how Clark who knows about his powers, and to keep them secret, has left a trail of stories and myth right back to his hometown. He was smart enough to create a fake persona, but a snooping reporter easily just finds his father's grave. I think I find it easier to believe that he wears glasses and a suit and no one recognizes him.
Finally at the end. The New 52 sucks. Sorry. The art direction and story blow. Enough about that. This movie was all about over the top action because it could happen, but no other reason. The rhythm of the action is terrible. The pacing of the story is to tell the audience only what they need to know when they need to know. There is too much wasted time on superfluous action and having a chopped up time line that is completely unnecessary. That time should have been used to make connections with fewer characters to the audience. Unnecessary telling of pointless detail that given half a thought makes no sense. The "S" shield stands for hope. He says it all smug like he didn't just find that out. No thanks I'll pass on swallowing that tripe. In the end the movie comes down to being about the "super" part of Superman and it becomes difficult to connect with him. Goyer has said that the major theme of the movie is "first-contact" and about him being an alien. That makes it difficult to connect to if you're human, and Man of Steel fails at this task.
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