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Writer/director James Gunn’s Superman re-boot is intended to start a whole new era at DC Films, wiping clean the dark, dreary, and financially unrewarding slate of movies started by director Zack Snyder with 2013’s Man of Steel. Gunn had a mandate with this new film — make it bright and cheery like a Marvel movie, a contrast to Snyder’s work in every way; and set up a whole new slate of DC films. There are few films with as much riding on this Superman movie. Warner Brothers needs it to save them from financial ruin, and Hollywood needs it to reinvigorate a box office still atrophying from the impact of 2020’s Covid pandemic and the scourge of streaming platforms. Just as Superman is expected to save the day every time he suits up, so too is Gunn’s re-boot expected to save DC, Warner Brothers, and the theatrical movie-going experience.
Superman is a significant departure from previous iterations. It is not an origin story. In fact, it’s very much the opposite, dropping us into a story that has been in progress for some time. Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet) is already romantically involved with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and she knows about his alter-ego. While neither actor gets completely out from under the shadows of Christopher Reeve or Margot Kidder from Richard Donner’s eternally superior 1978 film, both are very well cast and have terrific chemistry — so much so that I wish they had more scenes together. We care about Clark and Lois because of how well written and well acted they are, and this is one of the film’s greatest strengths.
Superman is not the only superhero (or ‘metahuman’, as the film calls them) on the block. The world has a trio of others who call themselves the ‘Justice Gang’, surely a precursor to the ‘Justice League’ if DC Films gets the chance to develop this universe further. Nathan Fillion is a bit of scene stealer as a snarky, sarcastic version of the Green Lantern. Edi Gathegi is memorable as one of the most begrudging superheroes yet put to the silver screen, a tech-savvy, emotionally unavailable curmudgeon called Mr. Terrific. The trio is rounded out by Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), who gets little screen time and feels like an afterthought. Having too many characters is a frequent failing of superhero movies, but these three function remarkably well here, filling in for Superman when he’s spread too thin or otherwise unable to rush to the rescue — which is uncharacteristically often.
One of the most striking and potentially controversial aspects of this movie is that Clark/Superman represents a more modern, grounded, and egalitarian masculinity. He’s not indestructible. Far from it. While he’s hard to kill off entirely, he can be bruised and he bleeds. The film opens with his first defeat ever, crash-landing in the arctic and seemingly at death’s door. He spends much of the film in various states of recovery. And not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, too. He struggles under the weight of expectations on him — from his birth parents’, his adopted parents, the public at large, and Lois, a girlfriend who challenges him as much as she respects him. Whether or not they can love each other while simultaneously disagreeing on important issues is one of the film’s nascent, emotional through-lines that I wish were a bit more pronounced — a message our world needs now more than ever.
Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult, is a master manipulator in the film. He coordinates world affairs, including the government’s attempts to reign in Superman’s free will, as well as international war between two fictional countries for nefarious reasons that become clear as the story progresses. More interestingly, though, Luthor controls the press and social media surrounding Superman with a constant swarm of drone cameras that chase after the Kryptonian’s every move. He livestreams Superman’s actions to the world with pervasive negative spin, shaping world perception. Essentially, he’s trying to ‘troll’ Superman and ‘cancel’ him. I found this one of the most salient, compelling and original ideas in the movie, one that makes it very much a Superman of our time.
Luthor has a revealing final showdown with Superman in which he exposes the inferiority complex that motivates his dastardly deeds. The confrontation is surprising, showing Luthor in tears, shame-ridden in the shadow of someone he perceives to be impossibly perfect. It gives Superman the opportunity to denounce his alien ‘perfection’ — or dare I say, the crippling weight of traditional masculinity? Superman proclaims his humanity to Luthor, which includes his vulnerabilities — fear, uncertainty, shame, regret — everything we’ve seen him struggle with throughout the movie, things men have traditionally not been allowed to express. It’s a moment that makes us reconsider what this film has truly been about — about a man, the most iconic man in popular culture, trying to find a way to fit in and be of service in a world painfully struggling to redefine masculinity in the bewildering wake of feminism. I think a lot of men in the audience, especially younger men, will identify with this modern update of the Superman character. Older, more inflexible viewers may find it off-putting. This subtext isn’t obvious, but it was enough for me to latch onto and appreciate. It’s something to distinguish Superman from other superhero movies and perhaps make it worthy of repeat viewings.
Will this Superman save the studio and the box office? Probably not. Will it successfully relaunch the DC cinematic universe? Possibly, though certainly not with a ‘bang’. But it is a good film, a largely conventional summer movie that at least flirts with groundbreaking potential. If you’re a fan of Zack Snyder’s more brooding version of Superman, you may not like Gunn’s brighter, slightly goofy, comic book spin on the material. I found it refreshing and more suitable for the character. One of the goofier ingredients that absolutely works is the addition of Krypto the Superdog, a caped critter who’s challenging for Superman to wrangle, but ultimately a hero in his own right. The pacing is rapid like a Star Wars movie. The film almost feels too short, like it needed another ten or twenty minutes to breathe and settle. The first third is the strongest, since it centers the most on Clark and Lois. It gets a little less interesting as it goes, as the plot overwhelms the movie with more conventional action sequences (is there anything we haven’t already seen before?) and an abundance of computer-generated imagery. Its strong, aspirational characters and meaningful subtext carry Superman over the finish line, though. As proven in his Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Gunn knows character and casting win the day, in superhero movies more than any other genre. Bottom line: It’s worth it to spend a few hours with this Clark and Lois.
With Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Tessmacher, Neva Howell as Ma Kent, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Pa Kent, and Maria Gabriela de Faria as a villainous pawn of Lex Luthor’s named The Engineer.