Superman
by James Gunn, Jerry Siegel, and Joe Shuster
I was really excited going in to see Superman, wanting it to be a technicolor, hopeful answer to superhero movies, one that would be more uplifting than recent fare. While the movie tries to do that, it’s also kind of a mess and unfortunately the best scenes have been shown already as clips in the trailer. I would recommend renting Superman when it comes to streaming services, but save your money when it comes to theater viewing.
One thing that the movie does well is casting. David Corenswet makes an excellent Superman (we rarely see him as Clark Kent), Rachel Brosnahan is perfect as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Holt chews up the scenery as Lex Luthor.
When the movie opens Superman has been in the public eye for three years, acting as Metropolis’ number one firefighter. He doesn’t fight crime so much as save people (and animals) from a variety of threats. He vows never to kill unless it’s absolutely unavoidable.
Superman isn’t the only metahuman in the world. There are other superly-abled people including the Justice Gang, made up of Mr. Terrific, the Green Lantern and Hawkgirl. What distinguishes him is that he’s the only alien on Earth, which can make him a little scary. He’s invincible and here to do what?
The first part of the film shows the world, even Lois, struggling with this. Is this guy for real? Is anyone actually this nice? He doesn’t even use swear words. No one can be that wholesome, right?
Which is what Lex Luthor is trying to prove. Luthor is obsessed with Superman, almost to the point where you wonder, is this a sexual thing? Many fanfics will follow this movie, I’m sure. Holt does a stellar job of making Luthor fixated on Superman (to the point of a vein bulging in his forehead) without it becoming comical. He’s deeply disturbing.
Luthor wants the world to hate Superman as much as he does (allegedly, I kept whispering ‘just kiss’ in the theatre) so he plots a smear campaign against our hero while simultaneously debuting some metahumans who work for him (The Engineer and Ultraman) who can fill Superman’s red boots.
The beginning half of the movie asks viewers, are we so cynical that we can’t believe someone this wholly decent exists? And it’s a good question.
Unfortunately the second half of the film devolves into a CGI chaos and the question is never answered to satisfaction.
The second half of the movie reminded me a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy which Gunn also directed. There’s a lot of brightly colored, explosive action happening along with some wise-cracking, but it’s pulling the viewer away from where the movie could really shine, substituting big, epic battles for character development. Corenswet, Holt and especially Brosnahan are so good that they’re wasted on chores like
In the beginning of the movie Lois questions Superman about his involvement in international conflicts. Who does he represent? Can someone who is invulnerable and as powerful as he is intervene in a budding war and remain neutral? It’s this great, tense scene and then we just kind of forget about it.
Then that gray area goes away and…
… later the bad guys invade the good guys and it’s all dumbed down to the Green Lantern knocking over tanks with giant hands flipping the bird.
Aside from Lois, the rest of The Daily Planet staff are reduced to caricatures. Perry White makes pronouncements while puffing a cigar, the sports reporter is a jock-bully, Cat Grant is mostly cleavage and a terrible wig, and for unknown reasons every single woman has the hots for Jimmy Olsen (to the extent that it’s used as plot device). Superman is saving the world and those zany reporters are flying around in Mr. Terrific’s…flying thing. It’s not great.
The fact is the three principal actors have the chops to make a really compelling superhero film that asks questions about heroism and inherent decency and if such things are possible in a cynical and divided world, and all of that development and tension was squandered for gags and big fight scenes. It was such a bummer.
Honestly, the best part of this movie is Krypto the super dog. Krypto is not a Good Boy. He’s not even trying. He’s what happens when you give a terrier superpowers and he’s hilarious and wonderful, but not enough to save the film.
I’m hopeful there’s a sequel to this film and that Gunn gets it right, because there is so much potential with the actors playing these characters. In the meantime though, save your popcorn money.
I really enjoyed this movie, but also can’t really disagree with most of this review. It was a bit disappointing that the solution still ended up being Superman punching things, when I can’t help but feel like thematically it would have been stronger if his appeal to the Engineer and Ultraman had panned out, for example.
Still, a movie that clearly believes in being unironically good, even in this age of cynicism, that’s also colorful and funny and embraces comic book campiness, was pretty much exactly what I wanted.
We haven’t completely ‘cut the cord’ yet, and they (Paramount) usually air (and rotate) these movies on TBS and TNT via OnDemand within a year or so of their release. So if ever feel like it, I might check it out then, like I did with Blue Beetle.
I was happy to hear that pet adoptions have skyrocketed because of Krypto.
I respectfully could not disagree more. It was an A for me and I think it was the best Superman movie since the first Christopher Reeve move.
I didn’t think the gray area went away at all…it literally informed every move Clark/S-Man made (or didn’t make). I also loved the message that good wins out, even over your supposed destiny, if you choose it.
Did it delve into a lot of fighting & explosions? Yes. But it’s a comic book movie. I read many, many Superman comics in my day and they all had those things. Maybe minus the snark of today, but they were all there. That’s kind of the point of these books (and movies). Most were/are written by men, and mostly read by boys, who wished they had that kind of physical strength. I’m also an action movie junkie so that may well have played a part in my love of all the fighting.
Krypto was one of the best parts of the movie and I hope he’s in the next one. Which, by the way, will be about Supergirl, hence her brief appearance in this one.
When you say “terrible wig”, do you mean it’s ugly, unconvincing, all of the above or something different?
@Mikey the wig looked like something you would buy at a discount Halloween store. It almost felt like there was supposed to be a joke about it that got cut