Harking back to the Christopher Reeve days, we open with Superman's origins on the advanced, but nonetheless doomed planet Krypton, where scientific genius and all-around badass Jor-el struggles to save something of his planet in spite of the more violent and eugenic efforts of military commander General Zod.
We flash forward thirty years and more, then flash back through the interim to see how Kal-el, raised as Clark Kent, was taught to control and conceal his abilities, due to his Earth-father's fears that he would be rejected. Then, in short order, he finds a piece of his Kryptonian heritage, Lois Lane of the Daily Planet finds him and General Zod finds Earth.
And yes, that is the right order. In fact, in this film, Lois Lane identifies Kent as a mysterious hero who has cropped up around the world before he really dons the cape and becomes Superman (a name not used until the final third).
In many ways, it's a shame it's wrapped up so quickly, as this is in many ways the most interesting part of the film, with the final act being mostly a series of superpowered slugfests between our embryo Superman and Zod and his goon squads; impressive, but not as interesting. The scenes of Clark wandering the world, not yet aware of his true heritage, and struggling to reconcile the need to help others with the need to hide his powers.
Overall, however, it was a film that I enjoyed, albeit that some of the action scenes were a little hard to follow - Supes' new look is dark enough to sometimes be hard to pick out from the villains if you're a bit colourblind - and very, very loud. I also appreciated seeing the occasional 'Lexcorp' logo crop up.
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