This is head and shoulders above Superman Returns - which I think had so much potential in it's attachment to 1 & 2, but ultimately blew it with said attachment ultimately being it's downfall. I have nothing positive to say about that movie, other than it was nice to see the Superman titles once again. Actors, wrong (apart from Langella who is a favourite of mine). CGI, terrible. Story, wrong - I mean, come on...!?! A story about a maybe Superboy, Supes stalking Lois at home, getting *****-whipped by an inferior Lex Luthor, and then lifting a Kyrptonite continent into space? I know I'm talking about the new film in terms of belief, but Returns was supposed to honour the Reeve canon. It 100% did not.
Someone already mentioned that this has gone above the heads of many a critic, and I agree. The familiarity of Returns helped boost it's ratings, with everyone getting all misty eyed over Routh's similarity to the recently departed Reeve. That's all the talk was when he was announced, during production, and after viewing the movie. The reaction to the first leaked pictures of Routh as Kent was a media hysteria.
Iron Man 2 sucked - no two ways about it. What a let down, but still visually engaging because they have that CGI nailed. Iron Man 3 just plain pissed me off, but I thought it better than 2 without the impact of 1. Could have been better, but the support character development, particularly Pepper, carried it more than 2.
Thor is another one in the Man of Steel vein, but it is a story that is embedded in folk lore, fantasy and magic - elements we seemingly associate more with than aliens. I still like Thor, because it is the first proper big effort for the character, Asgard was well conceived, but the Earth story was not good enough.
The thing with Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor that made you overlook there individual failings was their collective greatness in ultimately setting up The Avengers. The Easter Eggs were the main talking points, the connected world and storyline made you pay attention and think ahead to what was coming next. We had context to this movie, and we couldn't wait for what comes next. The Marvel cinematic universe has been very well executed on screen.
With Batman, we all really knew from the start (despite the lack of confirmation), that there was going to be a three picture story arc. It's what we expect of all these comic book movies these days, particularly as they have so much back story to choose from. The arc gives Batman it's context in his own DC world. There was never a need for other movies to link on or tie up, and I'd say we weren't really looking for it given the issues with JL and Returns. At the time, we just wanted good Batman movies. Period. Plus, the origin story had never been captured on screen yet, so this was a win win situation for the new franchise.
The critics for MoS haven't forgotten the cinematic canon from before, and the majority grew up with that canon. This is literally an 'alien' depiction of Superman for them, and I dare say they are pissed off because it's not what they expected. Trouble is, no-one told them beforehand, that this really ISN'T a movie about Superman. It's about Kal-El.
I don't think the ratings will rise much more, simply because critics read other critics reviews, and some bias will play into the new reviews because some thoughts or inklings one reviewer may have had are actual issues for other reviewers. It gives more meat to the bones of their issue. Agreeing on the good points is a given, so the mentality behind a positive review is too simple. How do you describe something you've never seen before and that blew you away? "I've never seen anything like this before, and it blew me away." How do you describe something that wasn't right or not what you expected? "I didn't like this because....I was expecting....(and continue to pour our what you expected - the Superman movie you would have written or directed, because everyone has done that in their head)."
It is what it is - an EPIC movie about iconic characters. There are three people in one here - Kal-El, Clark Kent & Superman. We've now met the first one, and we're waiting to see the other two in all their cinematic glory.
You know how I felt after watching this? I felt like crying....crying because a long lost friend has finally come home
