Movie review: Superman

[ozma914]

Three things were clear to me after watching James Gunn's version of "Superman":

 First, every future version of the Superman story, be it movie, TV show, or animated, should be required by federal law to utilize John Williams' 1978 score. They should even include the sheet music in the comics.

 

 

 Second, that dog stole every single scene it appeared in.

Third, James Gunn understands comic book movies.

This latest version of Kal El's story starts in mid fight, with Superman getting the worst of it. Gunn wisely avoids still another version of the origin story: It's been three years since Superman donned his colorful outfit, complete with underwear on the outside. As Clark Kent he's already a star reporter, dating Lois Lane and perfecting his alter ego. But as Superman he's overstepped his bounds by interfering in a foreign war, giving everyone's favorite arch-enemy, Lex Luther, the chance to sink his reputation.

Luthor's master class in villainy causes Superman to not only lose public support, but to question himself and his reason for being on Earth. Also, he can't get that darned dog to behave. Soon Supes is hitting rock bottom, part of Luthor's master plan.

 David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan fit right in as Superman and Lois, and in general the supporting actors do great. I had a little trouble warming up to Nicholas Hoult as Luthor, mostly because his voice was so different from Gene Hackman's, but by the end he was perfect. (Although the character's motivations seemed particularly petty, even for him.) Like Krypto, Nathan Fillion steals every scene he's in as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, a kind of anti-Superman from a personality standpoint.

 

 

 

 Milly Alcock has a fun cameo as a new hero, and Fillion's Gardner made for a great comic trio with Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl.

Speaking of those characters--the "Justice Gang"--that's one of the things Gunn does very well. He knew better than to jam major heroes like Batman or Wonder Woman into the first movie of a possible future franchise. Instead, he made a deep dive into comic lore for supporting characters who could be both interesting and fresh. When's the last time you saw Metamorpho in a live action show? I barely remember him from when I was reading comics.

 

 

 

Gunn also understands what made Superman great to begin with, and he took the character back to the beginning, to even before Christopher Reeve times. Superman isn't dark. Superman is a Boy Scout. Not only does Superman wear his underwear on the outside of his costume, he pauses in the middle of city-wide destruction to save squirrels. You want to enrage him? Kidnap his dog.

This is what makes "Superman" a great movie. It's a throwback in the best possible way, and it shows that  truly nice guy can still be the hero of the story. Not only that, but a movie starring that character can still be fun.

We can only hope this is the beginning of a universe every bit as entertaining as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, back in the day.  

 

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Comments

[graycardinal]

I very much liked 95% of this movie...

...but I was left puzzled, confused, and somewhat distressed by one aspect of the ending.

Did we or did we not see that there were a sizeable number of people inside Luthor's pocket universe besides Metamorpho and his son - a bunch of other prisoners, and also people (other than the combat bots) doing assorted physical labor round and about the superstructures that had been built inside the pocket universe?

And if we did see all those people, what are we supposed to assume happened to them when Mr. Terrific used the power of higher math to close the exit (and maybe destroy the place entirely; I wasn't too clear on whether or not the inside would implode when the portal(s)s were closed)?

Which is to say, if that's what the movie showed us, then it also showed us a bunch of people that Superman didn't make any effort at all to save. Which is a really disturbing thought, given the emotional axis of the movie.

[ozma914]

That's a good question, I missed that plot hole. My best guess is that they wrote or even filmed a scene in which that's explained, but it got cut for time or pacing reasons. From an in-universe standpoint, it's pretty clear that this Superman wouldn't just allow that many people to die (or any Superman, really, even the darker ones). My guess would be that only the exit was destroyed--and that probably wasn't the only entrance Luthor had constructed, since he'd want escape routes available. So Superman and his companions went back to get everyone out at some point.