I was amazed on emerging from the cinema that the film wasn't much over two hours. Too many films drag their showpiece confrontations on and on IMHO. I don't really have any great desire to evoke the presence of Richard Donner over all who follow but there was more heart lifting epic majesty in the 4 minute 'helicopter scene' from 1978 than there was in half an hour of the very noisy destruction of Metropolis. In it's favour I think MoS had a good cast and a very good lead, but it didn't engage me and in fact I was getting restless long before the collateral damage started to play out.
Have to applaud Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder for somehow making Superman Returns and Supergirl suddenly seem like much better films in the pantheon of Super flicks.
I found the drabness of it visually - design wise - Superman's muted costume for example - a weird and self conscious move away from the positivity of the character and the vague shades of the Gigeresque at odds with Superman being it's own distinct thing.
Maybe there is a good superhero film in the recent trend for them, but the bits I've caught on TV of things like the Hulk, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X Men whatever... all look much of a muchness. I freely admit that it might well be that my taste has just changed because the vast majority of genre blockbusters - in the modern style (character over plot, effects over dialogue) leave me cold.
Prometheus on the other hand at least feels somewhat like Sci-Fi used to be, and looks amazing in a realistic way.
Seriously I couldn't sit through Man of Steel again and I'm not sure what they could do in promoting a sequel that would get me back.
