RJ Writing Ink

Superman Review

It’s been twelve years coming now, but I can finally say it: we have a Superman movie that feels like a Superman movie!

I’ve always been a big Marvel fan, but I’ve also had a lot of respect for DC and its IPs. And while I got to see Marvel dominate the 2010s, I also had to see DC try too hard to catch up, only to largely miss the mark and crash and burn. Considering how DC had already done what they were trying to do in cartoon form a decade earlier, it was beyond frustrating. By the time The Flash came out (and I didn’t see it), I was glad to see the reset button get hit. It was time for DC to do what they should’ve done and start over. And while I didn’t care about who it was, I think putting James Gunn in charge was a good move.

His work on Guardians of the Galaxy was enough to give me a little confidence in him. And I am glad it did, because when I went to see Superman for its IMAX fan event at my local AMC, I was in for one of the best movies of the summer. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it was the best Superman movie since the 1978 film with Christopher Reeve. And I am prepared to die on that hill!

A Revised Universe

Since this film is a reboot of Superman on the big screen, one would think that this first film would reestablish his origins. However, since the DCU is a soft reboot of the DCEU, it chooses to start things with Superman already having three years of hero work under his belt. In fact, the opening crawl reveals that in this rebooted timeline, metahumans have been a part of society for three hundred years, meaning they’re already well-established as a part of society.

Some people might complain about the decision not to revisit Kal-El’s origin story, but to me, it feels like the right call. It’s like what Marvel did when they added Spider-Man to the MCU. They were betting that at that point, everyone already knew his origin story, thus making retelling it a waste of time; and they were right. We have had at least two films telling Spidey’s origins in the last fifteen years. We didn’t need a third!

At any rate, that’s not the most interesting aspect of the film’s opening. Remember that scene in the trailers where Superman’s lying bloody on his side in a crater in Antarctica? Normally, that would a scene reserved for the halfway point of a film. But here, it’s the opening scene, with the title crawl revealing Superman just lost a fight for the first time. And then he has to deal with Krypto’s doggy antics before being dragged home to heal.

A More Classic Superman

The trailers had already made it a point of emphasizing that this version of Superman, played by David Corenswet, would be different from Henry Cavill’s grimdark version. He’s kind, optimistic, and always wants to do the right thing, regardless of the consequences. The film manages to do a great job of continuing to demonstrate how nice David’s Superman is. At one point while fighting a Kaiju, he takes a moment to save the life of a squirrel that was in danger! That’s how much he cares about the lives of others! Superman has often been jokingly called the big, blue Boy Scout, but unlike Cavill’s version, he lives up to it! And while I know some fans, especially those who like Snyder’s films, are going to complain, I think it’s the right decision.

If you’ve read my blog, then you know how I’m a big fan of My Adventures With Superman. Part of it is because of the show’s overt anime influences, but another part of it is because it feels like such a breath of fresh air. Ever since Batman Begins came out twenty years ago, it feels like DC has largely been trying to recapture the grim and grounded aesthetics of the Dark Knight trilogy. Ultimately, that’s culminated with shows like The Boys and Invincible, each with their own corrupted version of Superman.

It’s no secret that Homelander and Omni-Man were inspired by Superman. Homelander was created to be his universe’s version of the hero, while Omni-Man seemed to share his alien origins. However, what I think some people have forgotten is the fact that the two are meant to be corrupted copies of the real deal. Omni-Man is a soldier from a militaristic culture like the Saiyans. And Homelander? He’s a product of what happens when a soulless corporation tries to raise a hero without the emotional support they need: a menace! And while there are versions of Superman that wind up being evil, they’re ultimately the exception rather than the rule. But that isn’t what who Superman generally is at the end of the day, and MAWS and James Gunn both seemed to want to remind of this.

James Gunn Just Gets Superman

See, James Gunn and My Adventures With Superman? They get it. They’ve looked at all the versions of Superman that have come before, and they understand the root of his character. A main theme of MAWS, in particular, seems to be the debate between idealism and cynicism. Superman serves as as the argument for idealism, while his enemies like Amanda Waller represent cynicism. Waller, in particular, is so quick to declare that Superman is evil that she sees his altruism as an act for something sinister he has planned. Whereas General Lane ultimately realizes that Superman is as nice as he says he is, Waller just doubles down on her beliefs even when everyone else is saying she’s wrong. And by the end of the second season, she’s been humiliated and forced to watch as Superman invalidates everything she believes to be right.

Gunn and the guys in charge of MAWS must have been doing their homework, because this is who Superman is as a character. It already shows in MAWS, but Gunn’s Superman film does it even better. He has David play who Superman is at his core: someone who wants to do the right thing.

Some, like Lois, may call his decision to stop a war to be reckless and violating rules and procedures, best shown in the trailer with their mock interview. But as that trailer showed and the film expands upon, he’s not doing it to flaunt his power. He’s just the kind of person who doesn’t waste time on red tape when doing so could mean more people dying. When he wants to do the right thing, he won’t let anything stop him. In other words, he has no tolerance for bs, and that’s something I think is a good thing.

Like a Shonen Protagonist

Beginning in my tween and teen years, I spent a lot of time reading Shonen manga like Naruto and One Piece. One of the reasons why I like them so much is because of how honest and straightforward characters like Naruto and Luffy are. They know they’re in complicated worlds with complicated problems that need solving. And while they recognize that they’re not the smartest people in the room and can’t always understand the complexities of what’s going on, they habe a different kind of wisdom to them.

They’re naturally good people at heart, and when they see something going wrong, they don’t take too long to think about what to do. They just go ahead and do it. Luffy, in particular, is smart enough to understand that the simplest solution can be the best one: finding the root cause of the problem, and beating it up. Superman is way smarter than Luffy, but at the end of the day, he does the same thing. And as shown in MAWS and this movie, that winds up not only being right, but something the world needs to remember right now.

Superman is an Immigrant

Besides criticism from people who liked Snyder’s version better, the new Superman film has gotten its fair share of flak for being “too woke.” A big reason for that is because a big part of the film is centered on the fact that Superman is a refugee and an immigrant. He came from another planet as a baby and has lived in the US almost his entire life. He is as American as they come, but critics claim Gunn put particular emphasis on that fact. And while I was a little preoccupied with enjoying myself, I can see where they’re coming from, and why that would get flak. Immigration has been a hot-button topic over the last few years, especially since we got our new/old President.

In the months since then, I’ve seen plenty of news about deportation and detainment of immigrants, and while the sources might be biased, that doesn’t change the fact that all of this is still happening. They just want to be entertained when they see a movie and not have to think too much about. But the thing about storytelling is that the best stories are often the ones that give their message without being too overt about it. And Superman does that.

I can’t possibly understand all the legal issues that goes into immigration rules and policies, and I doubt I will. But I didn’t see any of that in the Gunn’s Superman film. Maybe it was because I was spending too much time enjoying the story l, but I fail to see why people would complain about it being woke. Is it because some people dont like immigration being associated with an American icon, and thus America itself? News flash: Superman has always been an immigrant. America was founded by immigrants. Almost everyone in America is descended from immigrants.

Maybe the fact that Superman is bringing that up at such a volatile time in our history is Gunn’s way of trying to tell us something. That underneath all the fog and haze and politics, we should remember to treat each other with basic kindness and decency. Because at the end of the day, Superman is about being a decent person to everyone for the sake of it. If people think that’s woke or too political, that’s their opinion. It doesn’t change the fact that Superman is still a good movie, and a lot of it is thanks to the cast.

David Corenswet Owns Superman

There have been many people who have played Superman over the years, and many have their favorite. I’m partial to Tim Daly and Jack Quaid’s voice work, and I think Christopher Reeve is the definitive, live-action version of the hero. However, if I had to pick a close second, I think my choice would be David Corenswet.

David absolutely clinches it as both Clark Kent and Superman. He instills into the character a lot of the adorkableness found in Jack Quaid’s performance while also giving him the air of nobility that comes with being Superman. While some people like Cavill’s performance, and again, I appreciate his attempts to be more grounded and realistic, Superman is still Superman. He’s generally going to be a larger-than-life Boy Scout, and needs to reflect this. And David does this in spades. He combines the dignity and nobility that Christopher Reeve brought to the character with the adorkableness that Jack Quaid gives him in MAWS. Most important of all, though, he gives the character the sense of humanity that he should always have, and this is best shown in his interactions with Lois.

Rachel Brosnahan is Great as Lois. And Jimmy was unexpected!

At the start of this film, Lois and Clark’s relationship with each other is already well-established, with them already being in a relationship for three months. She’s the only one outside his parents who knows he’s Superman and serves as his anchor to humanity. However, that does not mean that they do not come to blows. This is best shown when the two have time alone together, with the interview from the trailer shown to be every bit as stressful in the actual film.

The two spend more time arguing the morality of what Clark did than answering the questions, and it ends poorly. Their relationship is really on the rocks for much of the film, really. But compared to other incarnations of Lois that I’ve seen in live-action, I think Rachel Brosnahan is the most in-line with what I’ve seen in the cartoons. She’s not Tomboy Lois, but she’s more like the Lois from the DCAU. She’s confident.

The real surprise, though, was how the film handled Supe’s best friend, Jimmy Olsen. I was surprised when I saw that the film had him as this chick magnet! Having never read the comics, I didn’t realize that he was popular with women in there! Though I do ship his MAWS variant with Kara!

Outside of David, though, I think the biggest stand-out has to be Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

Nicholas Hoult Gave us a real Lex Luthor

With all due respect to Jesse Eisenberg, I hated how Snyder wrote Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman. The Lex I knew from watching Superman: The Animated Series was this bald, menacing, and egotistical evil billionaire. But Jesse? I don’t know what he was playing, but it was not Lex Luthor! If anything, it felt more like the Joker!

In contrast, though, Nicholas Hoult got Lex Luthor to a tee. The bald head, the ego the size of a planet, and the irrational hatred of Superman that gets him a spot in the hater’s hall of fame. All of it was there and on full display, as it should come as no surprise that Luthor is responsible for every threat that Superman faces in this film. He even goes the extra mile by kidnapping Superman’s dog and using monkeys to spew out hate for him on social media! And that’s not even the most evil thing he does! He kidnaps this one citizen in Metropolis, Malik, who gave Superman a falafel once. And then he kills right in front of a captive Superman just to hurt him! That is next-level hating!

Nicholas Hoult knocked it out of the park as Lex Luthor in this film. Whoever wrote his lines into the script knew what they were doing. And while the film ends with Lex getting what he deserves ad infinitum, there is no doubt that we have not seen the last of him. Hoult’s performance deserves an Oscar nomination, and his Luthor deserves a place in the haters’ hall of fame! Especially for kidnapping poor Krypto!

Ruff, Ruff, and Away

Krypto the Superdog, aka the best doggy in the universe…is what I would like to say. My only exposure to him was through the 2000s animated cartoon on Cartoon Network, but I know he’s one of the more campy elements in Superman’s mythos. So I was looking forward to seeing him as part of the rebooted canon. Unfortunately, for those expecting him to be a loyal and super smart dog, keep dreaming. Krypto is one wrong move away from obedience school!

This version of Krypto is the kind of dog that would make Marley from Marley and Me proud. He’s an embodiment of chaos, doesn’t really understand boundaries or how to do what he’s told. One of the clips shows him explicitly having torn up the Fortress of Solitude! He’s a very big source of frustration for poor Kal-El, and as someone who has had many dogs in his life, I feel for him. He’s also a big part of the film’s comedy, with his antics clearly designed to make people chuckle. It does help that things can be explained by Gunn being inspired by his own dog, who somehow managed to destroy his laptop. Write what you know, you know! Fortunately, when it comes down to it, Krypto is still a loyal dog who helps save Superman’s life several times.

Superman was Truly Amazing!

So, yeah. I loved the new Superman movie. It’s not perfect and it does throw a lot at us in its two-hour runtime. But it is trying to set up a new universe, and this time, it has to do things right. It has to make up for what was, whether we want to admit it or not, was decade long misfire on DC’s. And in that regard, it manages to do a great job!

Yes, there are people who are going to complain that it’s too woke or too corny, but in case you haven’t noticed, that’s what Superman often is. He’s an optimistic view on mankind meant to inspire us to do better! They want grim and gritty, then stick to Batman! I’ll take my Superman sunny with a side of optimism.

Judging by what people are saying about it, it seems like James Gunn made the right call, too. By the time the movie was over, everyone in the theater was clapping and cheering because of how good it was. That’s an encouraging sign! If the film can keep up this momentum until Fantastic Four: First Steps comes out, it might be a financial success! I may even have to go back for another round, because I don’t wanna wait until it comes out on streaming! This is what we should’ve gotten twelve years ago, and I’m glad that DC is starting to make up for lost time.

I Give “Superman” a 4/5