New Testingstan

Did Superman's origins always contain Jor-El having a fist fight with Zod? And the Kryptonian genetically engineered society? it's seems even more stupid when the guy you bred from birth to be your science guy tells you something sciencey and you ignore him.

Gattaca/Brave New World stuff was just implemented incorrectly -- this also explains why Zod is such a gibbering idiot, and is why superman being the first naturally-born Kryptonian in ages (yeah right) is such a big deal, since he's now free (to fulfil the destiny Jor-el set for him)

he goes to save louis by floating out of the spaceship backwards with his arms outstretching in a cross pose

The crucifixion pose is actually him saying goodbye to his father for the second time, now that I think about it. Really, this is probably the first film to get what Superman is- he's not Jesus, he's God (or alternatively, a golem, but the two are often not particularly distinct). The final flashback underlines this the heaviest- even as a kid, humans are like dogs to Kal-El. But of course, we love dogs. So too, with Superman.

The scenes with the Daily Planet crew are probably some of the best in the film, especially the rescue scene. That's the purest essence of Superman, and this is where the editing shines.

A lot of people are so goddamned mad about the neck-snap (although they don't have a problem with Jor-El and Lois mowing down Kryptonians with laserguns, lawlzers), but the entire tenor of the scene denies nonsense like this ComicsAlliance review: "Either way, the choice is troubling, as the movie neglects to send any other moral message. This is not a movie about truth, or justice, or heroism, or sacrifice, or hope."

Which is why Superman reveals his identity to Lois Lane, helps out the people on the oil rig, turns himself in, decides to trust the people of Earth... or why Pa Kent and Jor-El sacrifice themselves for their son. Or why Perry White pulls Jenny Olsen (~personal headcanon~) from rubble, or why Dr. Hamilton and the pilot sacrifice themselves to pull all of Zod's army into the Phantom Zone. Yep, no moral elements to this film!!

This is also a Superman that thinks and acts globally, that recognizes that saving New York/Metropolis/America is immaterial without saving India/the Third World as well.

This is a movie that's not afraid to make Lois Lane excellent.

Hell, this is a movie that's willing to admit that farmers aren't all fat, mentally handicapped rednecks. This movie owns.

It's just another example of the insane pandering this movie does.

"Superman, you can save them all!" so Superman slowly drifts out of a spaceship looking like Christ for no real reason.

"Superman, you gotta inspire humans!" so they look up in the sky and see Superman punching a guy and decide "fuck it I'm gonna save my co-worker instead of letting her get crushed by rubble".

You can't defend this stuff by saying oh the filmmakers intended this. You can put stuff in films without beating the audience over the head with it. It's like if Lois Lane was supposed to fall in love with Superman so she talked to him a couple of times and then said "Superman, I love you." It doesn't work that way! Except in this film where everything is done wrong and nothing makes any sense.

I ended up rooting for Zod because he was the only interesting character. Arguably the movie could've been fixed with better editing, but the Superman character and supporting cast were boring as hell and I don't know how you fix that in post. I feel like Man of Steel was a much more solid film than Iron Man 3, but I'll watch Iron Man 3 again because the cast is great even when the movie is doing some really stupid shit.

"he's not Jesus, he's God" : isn't it supposed to be the same thing ?

Depends on the liturgy, Oxy. For Catholics, Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are, shall we say, three sides of the same coin. They're different aspects of the same being.

I could get in to the theological aspects of it further, but I'll say this: This movie does get the distinction (and Goyer is WELL aware of this, considering his novels), and the scene that everyone is bitching about (neck snap time) is the proof. Jesus would have sacrificed himself, the holy ghost would have converted Zod, but God? God smites the wicked.

As for the movie, I am skeptical of it because so much feels like setup for Justice League.

Getting from <Our Earth> to <Earth where the Justice League is needed> is not easy. Think about what would have happened if Marvel had released The Avengers without the prepwork!

Farther, rebooting Batman at this point is a bit of a risk, and as a business decision, I would postpone making it until I absolutely have to, this introduces some constraints on my story (assuming that I am prepping for Justice League). The movie must depict the development of Superman's powers. In order to continue to maintain the in/out of continuity question on BB/TDK/TDKR, superman cannot already exist, otherwise the question of "Where was he when Bane went nuts?" comes up.

In order to further continue the ambiguity, the situation at the end of the movie must have drastically changed the "state of play" in the universe. Leveling a large portion of a major metropolis is going to get Bruce Wayne's attention, and I don't think that it would take even a halfway decent writer for him to convince me he came out of retirement because of concern about this new guy.

Thinking on it farther, I think Nolan hasn't made up his mind yet. Saying, "Different Universe" would be simple, but I don't see any suggestion that he's said that. So would saying, "Yup, its the same universe, but Bruce is retired, and we're looking at ways to build the justice league without batman." <-Cue the rotten fruit"