I still think the ideas at play in Man of Steel were pretty good, for the most part, but it's just that Goyer's way too sketchy as a screenwriter. "Pa Kent dying in order to keep his son safe." Not a bad idea on paper, but then you filter it through the lens of "Pa Kent gets his leg pinned trying to save the family pet and gets sucked into a tornado while his son stands idly by," and you want to gag.
"Superman not being able to save everyone" and there being "collateral damage when Titans fight." Okay. I can roll with that. When filtered through the lens of "let's have Superman run Zod through a 7-11 populated by people he's probably known since childhood and cause it to blow up because he's upset that they threatened his mom, but really because we have to find a place where we can fit our 7-11, IHOP, and SEARS endorsements in, so that we can recoup half our budget," once again, blurgh.
Over the years, I've come to realize that that has to be the only reason for the battle of Smallville. Simply put: you can't sell adspace in a corn field. Which, speaking of endorsements, can we all just give a hand to Pete Ross? Because that really has to suck. Going from being the Vice President of the US in one continuity to being the manager of an IHOP as some sort of gag...that guy needs all the support he can get.
Then, of course, we get to "Clark needs to be careful in order to protect his secret and himself." Enter "Goyer-vision," Jonathan Kent straight-up tells Clark he should've just sat there and let a bunch of 12-year olds drown to protect his secret." That's not Pa Kent. It's okay for the man to be uncertain, as he's an average guy thrust into an extraordinary situation, but for him to even suggest that the situation with the greatest loss of life could be preferable to Clark saving kids totally goes against the grain of everything Pa Kent has always been: Clark's role model and a man of true integrity.
And I think the biggest problem is that all of this stuff, inevitably, causes more problems. Like Zod's death. I don't think people would have minded his killing Zod to save people nearly as much, had he been putting forth more of an effort to save lives earlier on. I've defended the movie before and said, well, he saved the pilots, and the guys on the oil rig, and Christopher Meloni, and all that's a great start, but, literally, the battle of Smallville was Superman's fault, more than anyone's. He could've driven Zod to any number of unpopulated venues (it's ****ing Kansas, for God's sake; there's thousands of acres of farmland in Smallville, alone).
Then, there's the kiss with Lois. I get it, it's not a Superman movie unless Superman connects with Lois on an emotional level, but here's a thought "why not just roll it into the Metropolis montage at the end?" Clark Kent comes to the Daily Planet, and while he's there, he asks Lois if she wants to grab a cup of coffee. She gives him the whole "sure, Superman" wink and nod, and that's the end of it, but taking a break to get some nookie while a genocidal maniac with the power of a god just sits there waiting for you is a little much.
Even still, though, after all that, I still thought it was a decent movie, overall, and I believed the good outweighed the bad, for the most part. Suffice it to say, I think it's a smart move going ahead with Goyer, as he's far too hit and miss to be a key player in building this universe. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Snyder is as good as his script, and, if Terrio did a great job, then, I think this movie will be just fine.
