re: Man of Steel was great - no spoilers

I have been waiting for this film to hit for several years and have let my hype rise to "best heroic movie ever" levels. When the mediocre critic reviews began to filter in, I and many others felt a lot of disappointment. I entered my viewing with lowered expectations and left kind of confused with many of the negative accounts. I think many, including myself, entered this updated mythos with our own personal best Superman/Clark Kent preference. I'm personally invested in 10 years of Smallville, so Tom Welling is my "ideal" characterization (many use Reeve as the standard). The initial buildup to his taking the Superman mantle, seemed a little "unearned" as it took Welling ten years to don the tights. I would have preferred more inspection of his moral code development. Once the action took off, I was able to shake my prejudices and enjoy the roller coaster ride.

some of the negatives include:
- Superman's seemingly lack of regard for the safety of human bystanders (collateral damage)during the skyscraper leveling endgame.
- Lack of warmth and hope as compared to the previous movies/episodes. I never got that standup up and cheer feeling due to the human death toll and Clark's final Zod encounter/decision.
- There was actually a little too much action which took some emotional weight from the 45 minutes of final battle scenes.
- somewhat rushed love story
- lack of "Metropolis Clark"

positives:
- good portrayal of the adoptive and biological parents.
- I like the organic Krypton over the Donner ice planet.
- fighting scenes that were lightning fast and well choreographed.
- the heavy use of sci-fi elements.
- faora
- nice sequel jumping off point from the ending.
- young clark smallville flashbacks.
-Jor-El's story integration

With a little more character development, heart, and positive atmosphere, the sequel could be the film the character truly deserves. Definitely a must see film for the technical achievements alone.