‘I’m not playing around, I’m doing important stuff’, complains Superman (David Corenswet) in the midst of a big climactic fight that destructively drags him around Metropolis. It’s the sort of line that is both a fun throwaway in the moment but also the defining ethos of writer-director James Gunn’s approach to superhero movies; where his genre stablemates try to keep the work and play elements of big-budget, big-powers epics in separate tonal boxes, he has always just mashed them together. It worked wonders for the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and the 2021 Suicide Squad, and while it’s not as perfect a fit for his Superman, it’s the sort of messy-but-big-hearted beginning that the new DC cinematic universe needs to wipe the slate clean from the darkness of the Snyder years.
We join this world with Superman as an established hero and celebrity, the world’s most famous and beloved alien and, from the off, Superman is an immediately *busy* film. A wall-of-text prologue sets up the stakes for us (Superman recently intervened in an international conflict without American permission, gaining a newfound controversy and mistrust in the process) before we’re instantly deep in the action. Reports of the film being truly episodic were, for me, overblown, but it is definitely overstuffed, which comes with some casualties.
Most notable amongst these is Clark Kent; we barely ever see Superman out of costume and just hanging out as Clark at the Daily Planet, and it would have been nicer to have more of this human grounding for him, especially as he shares such a breezily enjoyable chemistry with coworker-turned-girlfriend Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). Corenswet is a compelling, easy-to-love Superman but, one scene with Pa Kent aside, we don’t see nearly enough of his Clark to put him up there on the Christopher Reeve-level pedestal.
After the dour Henry Cavill years, though, what a joy to have once again a Superman who is actually a symbol of hope – the moments in which Gunn shows us civilians’ love of and trust in him are all genuinely moving. It’s a sense of fun and joy that also manages to carry over to the action and flight scenes too, Superman actually *enjoying* his miraculous powers in a way that feels refreshingly relatable for a hero and still having to use his wits even with laser eyes and punches that could flatten a god.
He’s not the only one to show off some super-skills though, with a bustling supporting cast of heroes and villains, each with visually distinct power sets. While all this immediate shared-universe setup is a bit in the way sometimes, the actual moments the lower-end heroes get to shine (highlights being Nathan Fillion as dickish Green Lantern Guy Gardner and Edi Gathegi as perpetually peeved tech-wizard Mister Terrific) are undeniably fun. Their powers and costumes look great, leaning all the way into full comic-book silliness, a silliness that allows Gunn to unsubtly draw on real-life issues (the central conflict Superman intervenes in is a clear Israel-Palestine allegory, with Clark unapologetically picking the Palestinian-coded side) without getting in trouble.
It also helps that the villain of the piece is so much fun, Nicholas Hoult stepping into the shoes of Lex Luthor with gusto, bringing out all of the character’s pathetic rage and impotence. Gunn has always been great at making his villains properly villainous (none of the Loki/Killmonger-style sympathetic antagonist stuff that has become far too prominent in modern blockbusters) and Luthor fits right into this tradition, whether he’s holding a baby hostage or having one of his goons beat up Superman’s super-dog Krypto.
Talking of Krypto, prepare for a whole lot of him – this CG mutt might as well get second billing above Brosnahan’s Lois or Hoult’s Lex. It’s through the dog that a lot of Gunn’s Gunn-iest comedic instincts come out and they don’t always land in this more morally forthright universe. Just like any real dog, you can learn to love Krypto with patience, but he requires a lot of it and giving him a more satisfying and complete arc than any of the non-Superman human characters feels an odd prioritisation.
So, yes, Superman is crowded and baggy and prone to disappear down tangents, though it does neatly avoid being bogged down with shared-universe setup, the other heroes and histories here feeling more like natural parts of this world than corporately mandated franchise expansion. It’s also grand and sweet and earnest in the exact way Superman needed to be reintroduced to the public after a string of morose disappointments. It might be messy and have a shaky human core, but Gunn’s love for this character is, by the end, what mostly shines through.
Jack Blackwell – Film Reviews 