Superman and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros Pictures
Directed by James Gunn
James Gunn may be a fantastic filmmaker, but no one has managed to recapture the magic of the Richard Donner films; not even Christopher Reeve who tried to make the fourth film into a passionate a poignant message for the world, though I’d still take Superman IV over Man of Steel any day. Sure, the franchise has been reliably bankable which is why Warner Bros isn’t about to give up on it yet, but for Gunn to go after this white whale is a show of supreme confidence, and possibly the kind of show-off move you’d want to make if you were also entrusted to shepherd an entire movie studio towards relevance again. I trust James Gunn to pull it off, but I’m still crossing my fingers all the same. Can James Gunn make us believe that a man can fly while also putting him in a good movie? Let’s find out!!
Whether you know him as Superman, Clark Kent, or Kal-El (Davud Cirebswet), the Big Blue Boy Scout is three years into his career and is doing what he can to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people invested in the world not being better, so he’s come under fire for stopping a war between the US ally of Boravia and the neighboring country of Jarhanpur. Until now, he was the golden boy who could do no wrong and looked good in Tik-Tok videos captured by the citizens of Metropolis, but with this foray into a politically charged conflict, he’s drawn a few side eyes from ostensible allies such as the Justice Gang composed of Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and, most distressing of all, his own girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) whose worried he hasn’t thought through the implications of such action and how it could come back to haunt him. She’s not wrong either as Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) has been gunning for him for years now and sees an opportunity to turn the public to his side, so with the help of his corporate drones and a few powered-up henchmen, he starts a smear campaign against Superman and even infiltrates his Fortress of Solitude to uncover more secrets. Are there problematic and terrifying skeletons in Kal-El’s closet that could keep him from being the hero he wants to be? What else does Lex Luthor have up his sleeve beyond the mud raking, and will it bring further chaos to international conflict that Superman tried to stop? Most importantly, who’s gonna feed Krypto if something happens to him!?
Believe the hype on this one, folks, as it’s not just a good Superman movie, but one of the better superhero movies in the Post-Endgame era. There’s no great secret to this movie’s success, though I wouldn’t blame you if you thought that had to be the case, given how badly Warner Bros has been fumbling the franchise up until now. Gunn brings his strengths as a writer and director to this project and lets it be a fun movie first. Warner Bros has been weighing Superman down with unnecessary baggage for decades, and every failed attempt can at least be partially blamed on the studio wanting the movie to be more than just a Superman adventure. We aren’t directly referencing the Christopher Reeves movies, we aren’t bloating the production with exposition about the character’s cultural significance, and while the tendrils of the DCEU can be seen throughout the movie, it takes the Marvel approach and leaves them as background texture rather than the main focus of the story. The inclusion of a half-assed Justice League is one of the better jokes in the movie with a couple of also-rans that wouldn’t look out of place in a Black Adam sequel, but Gunn’s affinity for lovable losers and redeemable jerk-bags gives them a strong sense of personality and presence rather than just filling up space and marking points on the Superhero checklist. It allows the world to feel big and alive in a way that keeps the plot from overwhelming the characters that are the heart of this movie; from Lois Lane and Clark’s loving yet contentious relationship to the sinister yet desperate machinations of Lex Luthor. None of the super powered fisticuffs or diabolical scheming would matter if there weren’t those strong interpersonal connections between our characters, and Gunn once again manages to tie an extensive cast together in a heartfelt and hilarious fashion.
Even for those of you who are only in this for the action and destruction, the movie delivers as well as any of the Zack Snyder films; more so, in fact, as the shedding of the grim and gritty aesthetic allows for more fantastical uses of Superman’s. Snyder’s vision for the universe was dense and foreboding; always feeling like important things were happening that didn’t matter. This is less realistic, but feels infinitely more relatable. Despite the destruction at the end being comparable to what we saw in Man of Steel, it never feels gratuitous or exploitative. Even with all the devastation surrounding him, Superman still takes time out to save individual people; something that wouldn’t be realistic in the strictest sense of the word, but the world that Gunn crafts isn’t beholden to such strictures. There’s never a question if that one person Superman is saving will hold him up from saving thousands more, and there’s never a moment where a problem is so big that the fate of individuals ceases to matter. That’s not to say the movie is free from dread, despair, or genuine peril, as it does go to some dark places; especially with the political messaging that underpins the entire plot of the movie. It’s perhaps a sign of the times that such a simplistic and obvious moral has inevitably stirred up some controversy from certain obnoxious sectors of our society, but this is a character that has always fought oppression in the comics and whose creators have fought oppression in the real world through his stories. If Superman protecting children from an invading army has ruffled your feathers, then I’m not sure why you’re watching a Superman movie in the first place. The Superman radio show directly confronted the Klan back in 1946; the politics of the character shouldn’t be news to anyone. Still, in contrast to the much more serious mind films before it, the darkness never feels unearned or excessive. Let’s not forget that Gunn comes from the shock and shlock horror scene and could have easily outmatched Snyder in terms of gratuitous violence, but perhaps being immersed in that world has given him a proper respect for that kind of filmmaking and writing, and few filmmakers can balance their movie between the grim and whimsical like he can.
With all that said, and as much as I’m singing this movie’s praises, it’s not a perfect film and I did find a few things in there that felt a little uneven. The plotting is a good place to start as it can sometimes move a bit too quickly, especially in its earlier moments where it’s establishing the status quo. A few of the story turns move faster than a speeding bullet and fail to have as much of an impact as they were clearly aiming for, but given the broad scope of the movie, it’s understandable that a few stretch marks would show up here and there. The bigger problem for me was Superman himself which comes maddeningly close to being a perfectly realized update to the character as David Corenswet performance and James Gunn’s script are very strong in this movie, but there is something missing from both the actor and the writing for Superman that falls shy of the character’s greatest incarnations. On the positive side, the film writes him to be a lot more relatable and human than almost any other interpretation that wasn’t trying to be outright subversive. Superman is often called the Blue Boy Scout because of how highly he holds himself up and how rarely he waivers from his moral code, but this Superman is still young and isn’t quite there yet; feeling a little too invested in what others think of him and flying of the handle at points when the more polished versions of him would maintain their cool. I appreciate this approach to the character and I think we can thank Gunn for it as he has a knack for writing flawed yet lovable characters. That being said, I just didn’t get that sense of radical empathy that Superman should have and that has made him such an iconic character. Again, this makes some amount of sense as he’s still fairly early in his career, but there are moments where he takes decidedly un-Superman like actions where I would have expected, or at least hoped, for his true uncompromisingly helpful self to shine through. I’m fine with him being a bit whiny about social media or even yell at people who treat him poorly, but for this movie to be in the conversation of best Superman stories, there has to be a point where he put himself between justice and humanity; refusing to do what everyone else would say is justified because it would hurt someone, even if they deserve it. I’m not just comparing this to the Christopher Reeves version either, as My Adventures with Superman manages to capture this aspect of the character perfectly, and for me, a proper Superman is one who you scoff at for being corny while secretly wishing you could be that unequivocally kind to everyone.
Warner Bros has spent three decades struggling to a get Superman movie off the ground, but as is the case with most stories about the man, the drama does not come from Superman himself but from how everyone else is behaving around him. No one said that a Superman movie had to be more than just another superhero movie, and yet Warner Bros felt the need to attach an unrelated agenda onto each of their failed attempts. Gunn went into this movie unafraid and with a clear vision; backed by a studio that’s been kowtowed into complacency and desperation after a solid decade of missteps. Is this the best Superman movie ever made? I wouldn’t say so, but the fact is that it doesn’t need to be, and it will surely be the best Superman movie for a generation who will have something real to grasp onto. One solid film that connects with people will always be more important than a million unrealized masterpieces, and that seems to be the attitude with which Gunn approaches this newest iteration of the character. It is absolutely worth seeing if you have any affinity for the character, the Superhero genre, or even for Gunn himself because this is a movie for everyone; as a Superman movie should be. It is the Superman movie that we’ve needed for a very long time, but is also just another fun movie from the guy who makes fun superhero movies; nothing more, and nothing less.
The Reviewers Unite 