Just talked about this for about an hour on the Golden Briefcase podcast, should be up tomorrow, and we ended up circling around to the "Batman Begins" comparison a lot of people seem to be making:
The conception of what Superman can be, cinematically, is very, very tied to the Donner films. To the point when, if you say Superman, people will probably instinctively hear Williams' theme in their heads. That was 1978. We haven't gotten a version of Superman SINCE that has really veered away from that initial interpretation, so there's been basically three and a half decades worth of that conception settling and solidifying and encasing itself in nostalgic amber. Sure, there's been comics & cartoons that have come since, but a lot of them end up sampling/homaging the Donner films in their own ways, so that interpretation stays relevant, even as people try to move out from its long shadow.
When Batman Begins first hit - it was liked. But not loved. People admired it, but weren't blown away by it. I really do believe that's partially due to the fact that, for a LOT of people, their idea of what Batman could be in a movie was solidified by what Keaton/Burton did in 1989. That was Batman to a large extent. Luckily for Warners, the gap between Batman and Batman Begins was nowhere near as long, and the character wasn't AS fiercely connected to that 1989 movie. So while it wasn't a huge victory at the time, people, via DVD in the intervening years, came to appreciate the movie for what it was, and Batman was allowed to move out from under Keaton/Burton's shadow. Only later did a lot of people see the seeds that were planted for what the character COULD BE in a movie, and that was realized for a lot of audiences in The Dark Knight.
Man of Steel has a longer shadow, and a more rigid history that it has to try to break from with this film. Batman had an easier time of it. Man of Steel is a different interpretation, it seems, and that WILL take some adjusting to for some people. It's possible we're watching that happen right now, as people are literally jarred loose from their conception of what "Superman" can be in a movie, in the same way "Batman" did.
Or it's entirely possible this is just another dramatically thin Zack Snyder movie that doesn't sit well on first viewing, and doesn't get any better on rewatch, like 300 or Watchmen.
But I do think that if there are comparisons to be made with Batman Begins, they might fall along the lines we brought up on the show.
