The movie experience wasn't bad enough. It had some good moments. However, yes, it's not one of the most spectacular films. The reason I wanted to watch is I want to enjoy Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Justice League to the fullest. You can do that too, as I'm sure this won't completely disappoint you. It was a little dark, but pacy enough and not slow. The movie wasn't spectacular but Brandon Ruth definitely was. The story was on the average side, however, since it had its moments, it can't be considered poor!

There have been critics who have been stinting in their praise for this movie, but others were quite condescending. This film is far from a masterpiece, and definitely not the best of the Superman franchise, but it was fairly solid considering what it could've been. First off, visually it looks amazing and I thought the special effects were extremely good. Same with the music score, full of those familiar motifs and some new haunting ones too. While Lex Luthor wasn't portrayed as the cold, shrewd yet somewhat lovable villain Gene Hackman played so memorably in the original movies, Kevin Spacey the competent actor he is played him very well. Also Bryan Singer's direction was able and had just the right edge, and I was intrigued by the film's concept. And I have to say, some of the action scenes were very exhilarating. However, there were elements that could've been better. One of the main problems I had with the film was the pace, I found it unusually slow and there are scenes like Clark listening in on Lois and Jason that dragged on for too long. And maybe I am in the minority who felt that it could've been half an hour shorter, and that the script was clunky at times. Also, I wasn't taken with the two leads either. Brandon Routh is handsome and he is charming but he isn't charismatic enough as Clark Kent/Superman, and Kate Bosworth left me cold as Lois. In regard to these two, the relationship between the two characters was underdeveloped. All in all, a solid and visually enthralling film, but it is let down by uneven pacing and a clunky script. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Bryan Singer's much-heralded continuation of the SUPERMAN series turns out to be a vacuous, poorly-paced nonentity of a movie that adds absolutely nothing new to the genre – aside from some nifty, state-of-the-art special effects – while rehashing lots of genre clichés and staples and some poorly-contrived laughs at the same time. For some reason, Singer decided to pad out an hour and a half movie with an extra hour of people standing around talking, lots of incident surrounding the diabolical Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane – making the viewer question why anybody would love her character – and plenty more, well, routine stuff. I'm a fan of comic book adaptations now, but Singer fumbles the ball completely, preferring to concentrate on plot rather than action – pretty much the opposite of the tightly-woven and utterly entertaining SPIDER-MAN flicks.

Things begin on a particularly bad footing, and people who are unfamiliar with the Superman story will find themselves scratching their heads in confusion. An idiotic scene of a boyish Clark Kent jumping high into the air through a cornfield brings back unfavourable memories of HULK and it's not until an admittedly entertaining run-in with a jumbo jet that the film really begins to move. However, the comic-book hero staple – fighting bad guys and crims – is almost non-existent. The film's best moment, in which Superman faces a thug with a Gatling gun – the biggest I've seen on film – seems to be over far too fast and there's not a great deal else in the film in the same spirit.

Brandon Routh is perfectly able in the role of the titular hero, and he's nothing to complain about. While he's overshadowed by the late Christopher Reeve, he proves to be a dashing hero for the millennium. Not so the awful Bosworth, whose blandness sucks life from the movie. James Marsden – coming over from his role as Cyclops in Singer's X-MEN films – is equally wooden as a major supporting character, while Frank Langella must be reminiscing over his youthful roles of the 1970s as he's given nothing to work with here. Kevin Spacey lifts the movie as the ultra-villain, Lex Luthor, but he's too 'nice' and charming for the part; you end up sympathising with him when you really shouldn't be. Parker Posey is as awful here as she was in BLADE III.

The film progresses in a run-of-the-mill fashion, with only a couple of entertaining moments. The first sees Superman losing his strength – darn that Kryptonite – and taking a vicious beating at the hands of Luthor's thugs. This scene feels like it belongs in a different movie. The second is the admittedly spectacular finale, in which Superman levitates a whole continent and throws it into space. While the special effects are superb, the characterisation and plot isn't, and as a result you can't get worked up or excited about any of this stuff. Style over substance is the best way to describe this disappointing wannabe-epic.