Man of Steel

"It is ceaselessly fascinating how the specifics of the decades-long battle between comic book giants Marvel and DC are continually reflected in their respective film adaptations. While Marvel have had great success in both comics and movies by exploring the human, relatable side of their heroes, they could never quite achieve the culture-dominating status of DC’s best-known characters: Batman and Superman. Superman’s grand, mythic nature is both his greatest strength as a character and his fatal weakness. Man of Steel can’t quite overcome this, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun watching it try."

"Gloomy, with little of the genuine wonderment the very name “Superman” calls to mind... less would almost surely have been more."

"A bracing attempt to bring the legend back into contention that successfully separates itself from other Super-movies but misses some of their warmth and charm."

"Everything [is] almost lost in the last 45 minutes, when Mr. Snyder piles on the hammering special effects, becoming yet one more director gone disappointingly amok."

"This is a great, big, meaty, chewy superhero adventure, which broadly does what it sets out to do, though at excessive length."

"This film is pulled in different directions, delivering satisfactions without managing to be completely satisfying."

"There’s big, and then there’s this Superman. Although it does go over the top toward the end... mostly plays it smart by mixing its action deck-of-cards style."

"It aches for more depth and warmth and humour, but this is spectacular sci-fi — huge, operatic, melodramatic, impressive. It feels the right Superman origin story for our era, and teases what would be a welcome new superfranchise."

"More space opera than superhero movie… by effectively denying Superman his defining traits—his complex relationships to duty and humanity—the movie robs the character of any depth or agency."