Man of Steel. Entertaining but no "Super"man.

I went to see Man of Steel over the weekend with my 8 year old son.  He actually started getting a bit bored after about 1-1/2 hours.  In general the movie was entertaining and the flashbacks showing Clark growing up weren't bad.  The explanation of why Krypton was being destroyed and how Kal-El was different from other Kryptonians wasn't a bad twist either.

Although Henry Cavill and Amy Adams were the top billed stars, my favorite was Russell Crowe's portrayal of Jor-El.

Overall this reboot had one of the same major flaws that Star Trek Into Darkness had.  Plot direction.  When you are trying to create a new direction and new vision, don't go back and re-use the same villain from a previous version/movie.  Zod was a great villain in Superman II.  There are lots of other superpowered enemies Nolan and Goyer could have used to guarantee action:  Brainiac, Darkside, Mongul...  Doomsday would be good for a sequel. 


SPOILERS

The scene where Clark's mother, played by Diane Lane helps him start to learn focus so his super hearing and x-ray vision was good and it helped create a temporary vulnerability in other Kryptonians - who were overcome by the sounds picked up by their super hearing and got a bit freaked by the sudden onslaught of odd sights with uncontrolled x-ray vision when their helmets were compromised.  I get it.  Their suits/armor and helmets create a filter, but ONLY for those powers?  They still flew, has super strength, and super speed? 

Also, I wasn't fond of how easily Lois Lane tracked down Clark/Kal-El based on stories and rumors and then called him Clark throughout the movie, went to his mother's house...  Makes it kinda hard for him to setup a secret identity.  Superman himself doesn't make it any more discrete at the end when he knocks down the spy plan tracking him and then tells the General "I grew up in Kansas.  What could be more American?"  Did he have to be that specific?  He could have just commented on his growing up in the U.S. and never trying to seize power.  Zod had helped confirm that mentioning that Earth had been "sheltering one of his citizens." 

Bottom line.  Man of Steel was entertaining, but not super. 

So, 3 movies about Justice League heroes in recent years and only one really measured up?  If the movie powers that be are really thinking of a Justice League movie to match up with X-Men or Avengers success, they need a new direction.  Maybe hire the team that handled Smallville?