I believe that any story within reason, any plot, or any idea can work and be successful in a movie. It may require some very clever writers and a great director, but you can take a homeless man bathing in pig vomit and turn that into Oscars. Obviously that's an extreme example, and the writes have their work cut out for them, but that's the beauty of art: the perception of something can be altered favorably by the gifted.
I bring this up, because I'm okay with most of the inherent flaws in this movie. It has limited character interaction and development. But that's okay, but because it's more plot driven for the first 2/3. Not a lot of humor, but it managed to avoid the dull spells without it. The common 'love story' element was missing for most of the film, then suddenly rushed to climax, but it wasn't intended to be the major aspect previous Superman movies had it as. Again, out of context these are summer blockbuster faux pas's, but with creative talent, it can work. And it did.
So what could have brought it down a notch for me? It's human nature to overrate drama. I mean this in a positive light. When it's a close football game, people tend to think that the last 2 minutes decided it, when in fact any moment in the second or third quarter had equal impact on the outcome. Yet, watching a QB drive down a field and score, or perhaps fail miserably (TONY ROMO), makes for fantastic television. An average team playing an inept team, and then running out the clock for the last quarter and a half isn't memorable, even if the rest of the game was. You'll most remember the games where you were excited right up until the clock runs out.
Inherently, movies are similar. A really great movie with a sour or unfulfilling ending can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Imagine if the last 5 minutes of Prometheus explained in detail why the Engineers made humanity, and why they then wanted to destroy them? A lot of people would stop complaining. You rarely see people upset with what happened in the first 75% of that film, because it was mostly good. But because the last few scenes they saw were sour, it alters the entire film. If the beginning was bad, you could get over it. If the middle was slow, you at least had the high octane ending to look forward to.
How many people here had a problem with stuff that happened in the first hour and a half of Iron Man 3? Some overused humor? Too Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? Okay, but it was still an entertaining movie. 1 twist with the main villain deletes 90 minutes of fun cinema. Those other scenes still happened. They were still good. But it doesn't matter, because you didn't like the ending. And now that movie only receives ire.
And then, Man of Steel. One of the most compelling, most dramatic plotlines for a movie like this is despair. How can the hero defeat the undeniable odds of inevitability? Whether it's a crazy 8-appendaged scientist making a star inside the New York city limits, or a muscle-bound henchman toting a nuclear bomb around the middle of Gotham City. If the hero doesn't stop him, all hope is lost. We NEED them to win. And often times, it will be ugly. You know they'll come out on top, but it's the journey you paid to see, how many bumps and bruises they get before they do it. Spider-Man saving the train. Batman getting out of the prison. These are great scenes because the heroes are weak and had to overcome their weaknesses. Man of Steel absolutely had this. He valiantly destroyed the World Engine, came up with an elaborate plan to send the Kryptonian ship into the Negative Zone, and save everyone on Earth. The only problem was... that wasn't the big finale. The drama was over, but the movie kept going.
What's the 'Why'? That's what this all comes down to. Why? Why were they fighting in the middle of Metropolis? Why did Superman and Zod end up killing nearly as many people as the terraforming itself (conjecture)? So why do the end up bar brawling for the last 10 minutes of the film? Zod says, "I'll never stop!" or something to that effect, and then he lunges at Superman. He doesn't actually openly attack any civilians until Superman puts him in a choke hold, and even then it was only to teach Kal-El a lesson. So it's obviously his anger was directed at Superman. "Why didn't Superman lead him out of the city?" You hear this a hundred times, and because Zod was only focused on Kal, it makes sense. But that's not even why I'm writing this.
Again, what's the reason he's attacking Kal? To kill him? Get vengeance? And then what? His ship is gone. There was no proof Kryptonians can survive in outer space, as Kal was out there for, at best, a few seconds. So Zod is stuck on Earth. What if he kills Kal? Does he just go around the planet punching 6 billion people until he's killed everyone? Remember, his objective wasn't to end humanity, it was to start New Krypton. Humanity's end was simply a byproduct of this. He was a born military commander, he reminded us of this many times. His goal in life was not solely a psychopathic murderer, that's what made him such a great villain, he was sympathetic. If he killed Superman, it would have made zero sense for him to just start raging on humanity, there is no goal in that. The only real thing he could do would be to knock up as many women as he can, and recreate the Kryptonian race that way. But with how they outlawed natural birth, I don't even think that was an option.
Ultimately, this is another one of 'those' posts. They probably killed more people with their roid rage grudge match in the middle of Metropolis than Zod would have if he killed Superman. Obviously, keeping Superman around would save more lives in the future, but it ended the movie on a downer for me. I understand tying up the Zod loose end, but it really felt like they just wanted to spend a lot of CGI money on needless exposition. I don't mind Superman killing, and I don't mind a 'kill 1,000 to save 1,000,000' approach, as long as it's written well. But I just didn't get the point to destroying more of Metropolis after the big win. To show him punching to appease fans? It was on pace to be a great 8/10, staple comic book movie, but ended up as a 7/10. Still fun at the cinema, but not the cream of the crop.