[spoilers]

It had some cool stuff in it FOR TRAILERS, yes. Cool tidbits.

But the plot was ridiculous: Jor-el shoots their race's only hope through space because he doesn't want Zod limiting which genetic lines are allowed to live (a weak attempt to connect Zod with primal villain Hitler; except Hitler wasn't fighting against people that were LITERALLY destroying the planet), Zod is out to terraform a planet that gives his race super powers into the more harsh environment of Krypton (they even say that Kryton has less fertile land and such), and then Superman kills Zod over a group of people that could have walked out of the way of his heat vision.

The characters had little personality: Faora tells Superman that he will be defeated because he has compassion/"morality" ; like she's some sort of robot, Lois shows personality for about one scene before becoming a plot convenience for the rest of the film, Superman himself is a little on the bland side, and Zod's personality is "GRRR!"

There's a couple of interesting lines and parts in the film, but it doesn't make up for such a weak plot and lame characters.

@Silent

"Jor-el shoots their race's only hope through space because he doesn't want Zod limiting which genetic lines..."

Jor-El stated that their race is lost, they had become too self absorbed and it is implied that most Kryptons were instilling "aristocrat" like destinies for their children using the codec. No farmers, builders or anything that would help the planet grow. This is why Jor-El wanted his son born naturally.

"Zod is out to terraform a planet that gives his race super powers into the more harsh environment of Krypton."

I never saw Krypton as a harsh environment, if anything Earth would have been harsh for Kryptonians when they didn't have their suits on. It was mentioned that Clark as a baby had extreme breathing problems and it almost looked like he would die as an infant. Not to mention the pain he went through as a child when his powers were developing. Zod even says this to Jor-El, that he doesn't want Krypton's children going through what Jor-El did and this is why he wants to terraform the planet.

Faora is a soldier, so basically yes, she is a robot. She's cold and brutal and only follows the general's orders.

Zod was great, his motivations were awesome as suppose to Superman II's Zod who just wanted to take over the world. Which was even made fun of because when he did he was sitting in the White House bored afterwards.

My problem is Man of Steel didn't develop Superman's character enough. We still don't enough of the character's personality as most of the movie was just him on a journey and BLAM, now he's fighting bad guys. A lone sequel could have made up for this but now with them shoe horning Batman and Wonder Woman in, that is out the window as we will never get another proper Superman movie ever again.

"In short Jor-el ensured Krypton lived, even if it was just through Clark. How'd you miss all of that?"

I said "Jor-el shoots their race's only hope through space because he doesn't want Zod limiting which genetic lines..." How did you miss THAT?

"Of course!!! He was made for the soul purpose of ensuring Kryptons survival! Kryptononians are MADE with a pre-set mind set and a pre-set job. "My very existence, is for my people". He was basically a robot"

Then explain Jor-el. Explain why there's so much conflict on Krypton if everyone is robot minded. Zod having a completely single mind with no logic whatsoever might be plot convenient but it makes a very boring villain. And no superhero is complete without well done supervillains.

""and then Superman kills Zod over a group of people" *Facepalm*"

Take quotes out of context much? The whole point is that he made the decision at such a low point. The family is "trapped" between an exit and a heat beam 10 feet away and Superman doesn't so much as say "move!"