Superman: Flying into trouble

Yep, the Man of Steel's wardrobe is certainly a far cry from the shocking red and blue fancy dress costume which the iconic Christopher Reeve pulled off with such aplomb 35 years ago.

This latest adventure is brought to us by director Zack Snyder, whose previous in-your-face offerings include the testosterone-fuelled Greek war drama 300, psychedelic Sucker Punch, and the rather muddled comic book adaptation Watchmen.

The no-holds-barred theme continues here, but this also has the fingerprints of genius Christopher Nolan all over it.

He's one of the producers, and there is no mistaking the similarities in tone with Batman Begins, which introduced Christian Bale as a dark knight fit for the 21st century.

In terms of storyline, there's nothing here that audiences haven't seen before – or that fans of the sequel Superman 2 in 1980 won't be familiar with.

In a rather protracted prologue, we first learn of our villain's backstory as General Zod (Shannon) and his sadistic right-hand woman Faora-Ul (Traue) stage a coup on their doomed planet of Krypton.

Respected scientist Jor-El (Crowe) manages to escapes the melee and, realising his planet and his people are facing extinction, despatches his only son Kal-El, the planet's first natural-born child in centuries, to earth with the help of wife Lara (Zurer).

"He'll be an outcast, a freak. They'll kill him!" she weeps.

"No, he'll be a god to them," Jor-El assures her.

Zod and his accomplices are eventually captured and banished to the Phantom Zone, but we just know that's not the last we're going to see of them!

Meanwhile, light years away, farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent (Costner and Lane) raise the crash-landed infant and christen him Clark.

From an early age, they realise he's different from the other children in the ordinary town of Smallville, but encourage him to hide his other worldly talents. That's easier said than done, of course, when you're Superman and have such a strong desire to fight injustice, and stand up for the oppressed.

When Clark rescues intrepid reporter Lois Lane (Adams) during an investigation into an apparent alien spacecraft, he finds it increasingly difficult to remain anonymous.

She agrees to keep his super hero alter-ego secret until war-mongering General Zod (told you we hadn't seen the last of him!) escapes the from exile and hovers ominously above Earth, issuing a chilling ultimatum to Superman: "Surrender within 24 hours or this world will suffer the consequences!"

There's no place for innocence or nostalgia in this no-holds barred, bombastic re-imagining of Superman, which spares no expense with the pyrotechnics or brutal fight scenes; to the point, in fact, where some of the set pieces begin to feel rather tedious and overblown.

Channel Islander Cavill has the rugged good looks and impressive physique, and although his performance isn't as wooden as Brandon Routh delivered in the 2006 reboot Superman Returns, he still lacks emotion.

That's not entirely his fault, to be fair, since for the most part, the role demands little more than chisel-jawed defiance, or unbridled rage.

This Superman cuts a troubled, complex, and sometimes downright ponderous figure. Thankfully, Amy Adams is on hand to repair part of the damage, giving us the most multi-dimensional take yet on Lois Lane, a zillion times more appealing than the totally miscast Kate Bosworth's wishy-washy version last time out.

Movie heavyweights Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe leave their mark on the movie too, the former as an entirely believable all-American everyman, and the latter as a steely and noble father whose preachings at times have echoes of his most famous incarnation, Gladiator's fearsome warrior Maximus.

As General Zod, Michael Shannon is neither as theatrical nor as eccentric as his predecessor in the role, Terence Stamp, but the more rational, melancholy take on the character may come across to some as rather underwhelming.

A little like the film itself, in fact.

It's not a bad movie, nor a particularly boring one.

It just takes itself a teeny-weeny bit too seriously, and isn't in the same league as the other two recent franchise continuations, Star Trek and Iron Man.

The 1980s campness has been well and truly banished, for sure, but so too has a little too much of the charm.