Man of Steel: Review (Spoiler-Free)

I didn't go into this movie with very high expectations. The last Superman movie just kind of left me feeling meh. This one was better - one of my favorite movies featuring DC characters - but compared to "Smallville," "Lois & Clark," or any of the recent Marvel movies, it didn't really stack up.

What I liked:

• Minus the shaky cam, I liked the cinematography - camera angles, intentional focus/unfocus, quickly changing point of view to indicate confusion during action sequence.
• The roles were all well-cast.
• The actors performed well and the chemistry between Clark and Lois was believable.
• The background about the characters - also believable.
• Russell Crowe as Jor-El was fantastic and expressive.
• Clark's human parents and some of the scenes in Kansas felt right out of "Smallville."
• The new Superman costume. I thought it was going to look silly or maybe be a bit too tight, but it didn't.
• I felt like it had definite elements of "Serenity," "Thor," and "The Matrix" in there, but it was different enough to be its own movie.
• Chemistry between Superman and Lois.