James Gunn’s Superman is an overstuffed reset of the DC Universe that suffers from trying to juggle too many balls at once, often at the expense of its title character. That said, when Gunn threads the needle and brings the elements together, the results are great fun. The film isn’t afraid to be goofy as it unabashedly embraces its comic book nature. Whereas the Richard Donner original bent over backwards to ground itself in reality to make us believe a man could fly, here, a man flying around with superpowers is probably the least weird thing in the movie.
Gunn eschews the standard origin story by dropping us right into the action. (Although that often makes it feel like a sequel, which doesn’t help the overall feeling of déjà vu.) Superman (David Corenswet) has ruffled the government’s feathers by taking sides in a war between two countries, if only because he was trying to save innocent lives. Meanwhile, tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is using his seemingly unlimited resources in order to bring the Man of Steel down.
The main drawback in Superman is that Superman often feels like a supporting player in his own movie. Gunn is a veteran of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad, both known for their big, colorful casts. It’s as if he felt more comfortable with a big cast and made Superman just another face in the crowd. There’s “The Justice Gang” (who are not quite The Justice League yet), including Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) is Superman’s cellmate when he’s imprisoned inside a “pocket universe”. Luthor has other “Meta Humans” like The Engineer and Ultraman, whom he uses as bodyguards. The various superhero battles are fine, but kind of pale in comparison to some of the other superhero movies we’ve seen lately. (I also found it odd that the finale more or less rips off The Lego Batman Movie.)
The best part is Superman’s dog, Krypto, who steals every scene he’s in. Gunn isn’t afraid to get weird with a major IP, which is refreshing. Having a flying dog in the mix offers some levity to the film and gives it a personality that sets it apart from the rest of the pack.
Corenswet is quite good as Supes, but you wish the film gave him more opportunities to show his stuff. His Superman is blissfully naive and always does the right thing, even if his actions have consequences that he’s unprepared for. He’s especially good in his scenes with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. The scene where she interviews him is quite different than the one in the 1978 original as she mercilessly grills him for his actions. It’s one of the bright spots in the movie and it’s a shame the duo didn’t share more scenes of this caliber together.
In fact, it sometimes feels like Hoult is the real star as Lex Luthor probably gets as much, if not more screen time than Superman. The good news is he’s excellent and his ruthlessness and single-mindedness makes him a detestable villain. The scenes of him in his base of operations surrounded by techies trying to help him defeat Superman are unique and the ways he uses social media to discredit Superman is novel. (The revelation of who is running his social media smear campaign is one of the biggest laughs in the movie.) Sara Sampaio’s Miss Tessmacher is a lot of fun too.
It’s 129 minutes but honestly, I wish it was longer. It would’ve been nice had Gunn allowed the film to breathe a little bit here and there. Even then, the prevailing sense of fun keeps it firmly in the win column. While I kind of missed the sense of grandeur Donner and Snyder brought to the character, Gunn’s brand of earnest goofiness is spot-on for this interpretation of the character.
Many of my quibbles might not even matter upon repeated viewings. It’s just that there’s a lot to take in for a first-time watch (especially some of the tinkering of Superman’s backstory). However, Corenswet is the goods, and I can’t wait to see him flying high again soon.
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