My updated review of the movie:
After 2 hrs and 13 minutes of pre-title sequence, the movie gets rolling with some bombastic music while the credits play. Then the Superman logo appears and the movie is over.
I kid, of course.
During my most recent re-watch of this movie I was struck by how little I agree with those who say it does something wrong with Superman. Here's this guy, who's thrown into a world that is ugly, and cynical, and absolutely filled with liars and horrible people (basically, 2013 Planet Earth), and despite every single person in his life feeding him lines and lying to him and trying to force his hand and make him do this or that, he carves his own way and you can see that deep-down he always knew what that way was going to be. He was always going to help people and could never sit idly by while the innocent or weak were threatened or harmed. He was only given pause as to his exact course because both of his fathers thrust a burden upon him that he was never quite prepared for: Jor-El with the fate of the entire Kryptonian race, and Pa Kent with the decision to hold back the use of his powers until he deemed people were "ready".
He really does become the lone beacon of hope in an ugly, horrible, cynical world, and it's done in such a way as to not be campy or corny or sound like Superman is either just feeding humanity lines or acting superior.
There are a couple of things I wish were done differently that would have helped my opinion of the movie greatly (and these are just LITTLE things that would have made a BIG difference in my mind):
-Having Jor-El get the upper hand on Zod for a second in order to get the launch of the ship done is okay, Jor El has a weapon and Zod is unarmed, but having Jor El beat the piss out of Zod irritates me and makes all the stuff about Zod being trained as a warrior from birth seem a little hollow.
-The lazer-beam standoff at the end...very little change, but I'd have put one of the characters we've actually seen in the movie in the line of fire there. It doesn't have to be Lois, but that would be my preference, giving Superman even more reason to do what he does because even though he loves humanity and has adopted us as his own, he is IN LOVE with Lois, and couldn't bear to see her come to harm. But yeah, just ANY character we've met previously in the film so that we, the audience, can care a little bit if they die.
Those two little changes could be applied to the film almost exactly as is and the entire thing would play a lot better for me. Then, a bigger change, in getting rid of the tornado scene and changing it to the traditional heart-attack, would make it a near-perfect film that just plays a touch on the lengthy side and could be trimmed here or there for better pacing.
As-is, I find it to be a low-end 4 outta 5. It's not as good as any of the Nolan Bat films, but it might be my next favorite superhero movie after that. Maybe Avengers...
This movie is one of the MAJOR reasons I will remain optimistic about the DC film universe despite what I hear; I hated so much of the news and rumors swirling around this film and then loved it. I remain hopeful that with at least the creative vision from its producers in tact, we continue to see a universe expand in further compelling films.