Got around to watching MoS a second time and it comes across a lot better. Angry Joe was right that it was worth a repeat viewing. Certain things were happening at such a frenetic pace it was harder to figure out what was good and what was bad.
Two things that still ended up looking bad were most of Feara combat one liners. The timing of her evolution remarks was botched by the editor and the delivery was poorly done by the actress. The difference between the way that Captain threw back her words at death back her exemplified the editing and acting problems.
I liked Zod on my first go and now I love the character as much as Jor El. The complaints people had of him being so Shakesperean are accurate about his mannerisms but when you take in all of the Kryptonians his delivery and performance was excellent within the way these aliens express themselves.
The Perry and other reporter scene standing by their coworker trapped in the rubble still comes across poorly. Some people have tried to argue that it's a way of showing how it is supposed to address the theme of Clark/Kal not being capable of being everywhere but he has to learn to rely on them looking out for each other. It's a nice sentiment but the movie lacked internal debates on TV or between characters about what it means to be human in a potentially hostile universe. There was a lot of build up for Clark to mull over these ideas but nothing for the people of Earth.
One scene that stood out a lot better was Clark seeking out advice from the priest. The questions asked and the ambiguity of the lessons he and humanity was working on the fly was neatly handled.
The biggest plot point that was improved upon when watching the second time was why Krypton fell even though they had created colonies, why the El's only saved their son and why Zod had reached certain points of failures.
The Kryptonians for all their advancements trapped themselves into a self-defeating end when they decided to mandate population control with selective brainwashing on their newborns.
They did it because resources to support their population was ever dwindling and it needed to be conserved. When Zod recounted how he traveled to the dead outposts the one we get to see the settlers had died fighting an unknown force. When Clark explored the scout ship everyone died in their sleeping chambers which implies there a huge demands sustaining Kryptonians even when dormant. Expansion was always a risky proposition. So working with the planet they already thrived on wasn't a terrible idea.
But what did them in was the social re-engineering that dictated what roles newborns would take when the elderly passed away. Both Zod, his troops and Lara and Jor were a product of that engineering. Kal's parents knew they were part of a failed experiment and to continue living with their son would put at risk the chance they took to break the mold their people had created for themselves. Zod and soldiers themselves just shows how flawed the social engineering was as they were willing to throw away super powers just so they could relive their former glory.
The best action scene in the film was when Superman smashed Zod through the power plant chimneys. Not only did it look incredible, but it signalled the first time Clark had actually raised his hand against anyone, and he did it to protect his mother ("you think you can threaten..."). A powerful, emotive scene choreographed to perfection.
The fist fights, for me however, were forgettable. I've seen super heroes punch people into buildings before and I'm not sure that's why people go to see a Superman film anyway.
I agree about the emotional punch of telling Zod to back away from his mother but I disagree about any of the other fist fight scenes aside from that being forgettable.
When Feara and Supes threw down in the Ihop it was a great sequence of attacks. It also stood out because her clumsily delivered one liners about evolution.
Also when Feara went DBZ on the soldiers was in their first encounter was excellent. Aside from those three moments the hand to hand choreography declined from the standards that was set.
