Zach Snyder’s “Man Of Steel” is significantly better than I expected, though not nearly as entertaining as it could have been.

That’s probably one of the most weasely summations of a film that I have ever written, but it’s fitting.  Much is riding on “Man Of Steel” because if it succeeds – and early returns are making that look very likely  – it will be the opening salvo in Warner Bros. finally getting a Justice League film off the ground, which they hope will follow in the steps of Marvel Studios’ “The Avengers.”

If I can digress for a moment.  There are a few problems that DC/Warners need to take care of.  The most important being that – assuming that “Man Of Steel” is a success – the Batman franchise needs to be relaunched because “The Dark Knight Rises” seemed to be the penultimate chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy.  Then there’s the fact that the other members of the League, like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow don’t even yet “exist” in the DC Movie Universe (though Green Arrow, now christened ‘Arrow,’ has a series on the CW that takes all the “super” out of superheroes and villains in the name of some not very realistic realism) and Green Lantern failed at the box office.

There’s no law that says Warners has to follow the same plan as Marvel Studios, which released films that featured their most powerful (as well as popular) members of the Avengers before the film that featured them all.  Though not following such an approach means that DC forfeits the “halo effect” that such an approach brings.  For instance, it’s widely believed that one reason that “Iron Man 3” was so successful was that people thought of it as a sequel to “The Avengers,” as opposed to “Iron Man 2” which many consider to be the weakest of the series.

The first half-hour or so of “Man Of Steel” takes place on Krypton, which looks remarkable.  The production design by Alex McDowell creates a world that’s more unique than any that I have seen in a long while.  The tech looks vaguely alien (and “Alien,” especially the design of the breathing units the Kryptonians wear) , insect-like and strangely organic, as if whomever designs cars for Hyundai took it to the next level, and began to work on buildings and flying craft.

In fact, the transition from Krypton to Earth is a bit jarring, and not nearly as welcome as the filmmakers may have assumed.

In that transition, we are soon introduced to Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), whom at this point in the film is a bit of a hermit, seeking information about his real parents.  I should also mention that the storytelling device used by Snyder is pretty intriguing, in that instead of telling Kent’s story in a linear fashion, he does so based upon events that unfold in his current life.  For example, he may fall down, then suddenly he’s in some sort of flashback.

It’s a little odd at first, but grows on you.

Superman’s human parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) remind me of Ben and May Parker from Sam Raimi’s ’Spider-Man’ trilogy, except that they make some really odd decisions, one of which results in the death of Jonathan Kent.

There’s also some religious iconography squeezed in that is so obvious that they might as well have had a neon sign saying “Superman Is Christ.”

What weakens the film are that the battles that take place between Superman and General Zod (Michael Shannon), or Superman and Faora-Ul (Antje Traue) that never seem to end.  What is at first interesting, becomes a bit dull after awhile.  Then there’s the fact that the time could have been better spent fleshing out the Kents, to name one better use of the time.

Though the worse things that the makers of “Man Of Steel” do – seemingly in an attempt to make the character more dark or edgy – is to kill someone, which many make Superman more flawed (perhaps in an attempt to make him more human and relatable), though in the end what it does is make him lesser so because if a person with the power of a god has no other choice to kill when things become difficult, what hope do the rest of us have?

Viewers should keep an eye out for the ‘Lexcorp’ truch when it appears later in the film, if only because it feels significant somehow.

You’ll also notice that whenever you see a cell phone, it’s more than likely a Nokia, which is interesting, seeing that Nokia has barely 5 percent of the US cell phone market.

I understand that it’s product placement at work, but it was just a tad obvious.