Movie Reviews: Man of Steel, 3D, 143 mins, 12A - Scottish Daily Record

YOU can always rely on Zac Snyder to deliver a visual spectacle. From Sucker Punch to 300, he's the director who can always be relied on to serve a visual feast.

Alas, he's also a director who can always be relied on to put style ahead of substance. Get past the thunderous set-pieces and technical wizardry of his £143million Superman reboot and you're left with very thin soup indeed.

Essentially a composite of 1978's Superman and 1980's Superman II, the film begins when Jor-El (Russell Crowe) sends his baby into space just before planet Krypton explodes.

Fast forward to modern Earth and the child has grown into Clark Kent (Henry Cavill), a drifter desperate to keep his superpowers a secret.

Our hero is forced to suit up, mind you, with the arrival of fellow Kryptonian General Zod (Michael Shannon) who's intent on destroying humanity. Man of Steel is never boring. We're treated to gunfights, an exploding planet, an oil rig collapsing in flames and a young Kent pushing a stricken school bus from a river – and all in the first half-hour.

The action is then swiftly jettisoned as we learn more about our hero's turmoil, highlighted in flashbacks to his Midwest childhood and his relationship with his adoptive Earth dad (Kevin Costner) and a burgeoning relationship with Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams).

While Cavill can't match the screen presence of Christopher Reeve and Adams is no Margot Kidder, both are reasonably convincing as is their burgeoning romance.

Then, just as things get interesting, characterisation is shredded as Snyder unleashes the big guns for a finale straight from the Michael Bay "more is less" school of film-making.

As Superman goes head to head with Zod, we're never far from a spaceship crashing downtown, a road being ripped up or a skyscraper toppling.

Lasting a good 45 minutes, it quickly goes from exciting to plain exhausting.

In the end, Man of Steel flies without ever soaring.