A good Superman movie, with (hopefully) more to come.
Man of Steel has a lot riding on it. DC's flagship character's movie future hangs in the balance, not to mention whether this will eventually lead to that Justice League movie we're all craving. Despite these massive challenges, I think MoS does more than enough to set up DC's cinematic future.
The film starts on Krypton and allows you to see the things that led to Kal-El being rocketed to Earth. I'm pretty sure Superman's homeworld has not been looked at this in-depth on film before, and that is a good thing. Once the ship lands in a certain farm in Kansas we immediately see Clark in his adulthood and we get his upbringing in flashbacks. I for one loved the flashbacks as they showed touching moments with Clark and the Kents. They show him adjusting to his godlike powers despite being just a boy. One tragic flashback surprisingly made me feel for Clark, and movies don't typically make me feel any sadness.
The relationship between Superman and Lois is handled well enough. It did come off as a bit quick and maybe a little forced, but that is certainly forgivable, and Thor's relationship between Thor and Jane Foster certainly felt more forced, and I liked that movie too.
The action in the movie looks great. It, for the most part, is handled extremely well. A little scuffle in Smallville with a few Kryptonians stands out for me. Although the action was pretty good, I felt it was a tad drawn out in the last battle in Metropolis. Plus, there is a scene between Supes and Zod that may be considered very controversial, but I didn't think it was near as disappointing as Iron Man 3's twist. It made sense and *SPOILER FOR IM3* at least it didn't waste one of Superman's greatest villians.
The movie wasn't as humorous as I thought it'd be. In fact, it was around as much humor as you'd get in one of Nolan's Batman movies, but a few scenes were pretty funny. At least it didn't go over the top with the humor like IM3 did (that had one too many jokes). Oh, and on a final note, I didn't like how they portrayed Clark Kent the journalist in this, but he wasn't shown long, so it's fixable.
Overall, Man of Steel is a very enjoyable movie. If you go in ignoring it's Rotten Tomatoes score (which is undeserved) and understanding it focuses a lot on the alien aspect of Superman, you'll probably like it. Every problem with it, which aren't too many, can easily be fixed in the already announced sequel. I'd say tone down the action a bit, add a little more Clark-Lois interaction, and differentiate Clark Kent the journalist from Superman more. If they do all that, we may have a 4.5-5 star Superman movie on our hands. And keep your eyes peeled for Easter eggs. There's a certain reference to a certain hero. At the end of the day, this movie should please enough people and make enough money for us to finally watch the DC Cinematic Universe unfold. And if that was MoS's mission, it should be a resounding success.
