Impressively bad, in ways I wasn’t expecting
The directing was passable (fascism aside - I’ll get back to that), but the story was meaningless, it was a big nothing, elements that don’t matter (or don’t make sense) after elements that don’t matter (or don’t make sense).
The (idiotic) story (spoiler ahead)
The story starts on Superman’s planet (Krypton), and basically the people mined the planet’s core so much that the planet will collapse. Zod wants the politicians to give the order to evacuate the planet (for obvious reasons), but the politicians refuse for reason (something about having to die on their planet..?)
Superman’s parents send him (as a baby) to Earth with a plot device containing the DNA of all Kryptonians (this is implied to be enough to “recreate” everyone, it’s not explained how or why, but it doesn’t matter).
Zod does a coup, fails, kills Superman’s father (because they fought for reasons) - then is sent to a prison with the people who helped him. This prison is another dimension that you access using a space cone thingy…
Krypton collapses (so yes, effectively the only survivors are Superman and the prisoners - stupid plot has to be stupid).
We then get a lot of useless exposition with Superman as a kid and teenager.
Fast forward to the present time, we learn that Zod escaped that dimension because the plot needs him to and transformed the space cone into a ship because the plot needs him to.
Zod decides to go to Earth to get back the plot device because he doesn’t want his species to go extinct. We also see Superman’s adoptive dad die in a tornado because he broke his ankle to save his dog and decided not to move after that (and refused to have Superman save him because it would expose who he is).
Adult Superman refuses to give it to him for reasons (“Kryptonians had their chance”).
Blah blah fight fight fight
Zod decides that since Superman refuses, he’ll just terraform Earth (which changes things for reason).
-> This is one of the stupidest things about the movie: Kryptonians on Krypton don’t have superpowers because their planet is not next to a yellow sun (that seems pretty stupid to live on a planet that effectively “nerfs” you). Earth is next to a yellow sun, so they get power, and this is supposedly a bad thing because they can’t be arsed to take “control” of them.
Blah blah more fight fight fight
Superman destroys the terraforming device, Zod is then angry for reasons.
Bla blah more fight fight fight
Superman kills Zod (to save some humans who didn’t run away even though they could).
The End
The story and the fascism
Something you might have realized with my summary (or while watching the movie if you paid attention)… is that effectively, the bad guy, Zod, is basically a fascist… and the good guys, Superman’s father/the Kryptonian politicians (and Superman after that)… are as much of a fascist as him.
Zod actually is a good and reasonable guy at the beginning, he wants to save people. The “good” guys just stop him (because they have to die with their planet).
Superman’s parents’ “plan” is to send Superman to Earth with the DNA plot device so that the Kryptonians can basically take over Earth.
Zod original plan when he got to Earth was to get the plot device and supposedly leave (you know, a good thing..? Save a species).
So yes, in this movie, the good guys effectively decide to kill a whole species because they had their chances - and the movie represents them as good guys.
And the bad guy starts almost reasonable then decides to just exterminate Earth (because the movie needs a bigger bad guy than the supposedly “good” guy).
I watched this with a group of people, and the only thought we had while watching the movie was: “Are Snyder/the writers fascists?”
Rating and Recommendation
1/10 - Not Recommended