James Gunn Does Well - Superman Does Good

Well, it’s finally here for everyone to see: Superman.

Editor's Note: This review contains spoilers for the film! 

James Gunn always had an uphill battle ahead of him. Not only did the DCEU die with a whimper, but at the same time, the MCU appeared to be alienating its fans and pushing out content in quantity over quality. While this reviewer might go against the grain a bit (I liked She-Hulk and thought Daredevil: Born Again was a decent start at a new thing) the MCU definitely lost its footing and appeared to be making a huge stumble. It’s ironic, then, that Superman is coming out at a time that the MCU is starting to pick up steam again. 

Superman doesn’t start off well. It’s never good for a movie to go straight into an info dump. This thankfully spares us from another vision of the planet Krypton exploding. But it’s a little bit too much. Even Star Wars’ famous scrolling text didn’t attempt to set up 300 years of backstory. It does a whole lot of telling, and not a lot of showing. But, I get it: we all know Superman, so let’s just dive right into it.

Superman feels like you’re starting to watch a TV show for its second season, without even a visual recap. If it would have started with Superman’s actions in Boravia only to show its real world consequences, we could have been spared what felt like the titular super hero being lectured to about how “doing the right thing” doesn’t always result in the best outcome. 

It might sound like I hated Superman, but despite its weak beginning, it does ultimately deliver on showing its message that doing the right thing is the right thing to do. Superman shows its titular hero making mistakes in very human ways. He means well, and tries his best to do what he thinks the “right thing” is, based on his midwest rural upbringing and bolstered by a fragmented message his Kryptonian parents left him.

ut the messaging is muddled when it turns out Superman was manipulated into doing that “right thing” so it can serve the best interests of the nefarious. Superman wins in the end, but only because he’s Superman–not because his morality wins out. Ultimately, though, it's because the villain was just so villainous he foiled his own plans. 

While the film shows Superman preaching better practices–like when he suggests more humane ways of dealing with a massive monster threatening Metropolis–it falls on deaf ears as the other metahumans around him dispense justice in their own way. There’s even a scene at the end of the film where Hawkgirl commits a political assassination that is very much extra judicial, and while it’s in line with Hawkgirl’s character, it definitely flies in the face of the film’s center message. Gunn might insist this is a Superman film, but it’s definitely an ensemble movie.

Something Gunn does a great job of with Superman is creating a cogent world full of monsters and heroes, if you’re willing to accept it all at face value. Despite what little screen time you get with each of the major players, you get a good sense of what each one of them is about. Again, Despite Gunn insisting that Superman will be a film about Superman, its very much an ensemble film that takes place in an established universe

Lex Luthor is portrayed by Nicholas Hoult who does a great job showcasing Lex Luthor’s evil nature as well as his ultimately pathetic hubris. This version of Lex Luthor isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty, either, as he literally shoots a man in the head in cold blood while trying to get information from Superman. It's a Lex Luthor who has had years to hate Superman, even going so far as to clone him to create this universe’s version of Ultraman.

This Ultraman is hardly a character at all, and more like an automaton that responds to shorthand commands that coincide with predetermined attacks. This is corny and clumsy, and falls apart logically the more I think about it. Sure, Lex Luthor is a genius and obsessed with Superman to the point where he cloned a version of Superman that can respond instantly to a huge library of predetermined attacks, but he doesn’t even seem to understand too much of what’s happening around him. It’s just too unwieldy to accept.

David Corenswet does a good job of portraying the man in the trunks. He’s not naive, but he’s definitely trusting. This is also a Superman that doesn’t appear to be at the height of his powers. He’s portrayed as fallible, and able to be beaten–and a Superman that can actually lose a fight is a little more interesting than a Superman that would be at his full comic powers. Corenswet is also great opposite Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane, who plays the part perfectly.

It’s also great to see some characters like Guy Gardner, Mister Terrific, Metamorpho and Hawk Girl get some live action screen time. Nathan Fillion does a great job as Guy Gardner, and I can’t wait to see more of him in the upcoming Lanterns TV show. And Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific plays a central role in the film’s plot.

Superman is definitely a product of James Gunn–for good or for worse. The first live action film in this new DC Universe can finally be scrutinized by fans, and I don’t think it’s going to be converting any of those in the Snyderverse enclave. And don’t expect Superman to be the mold for DC films going forward. If you didn’t like its ambitious tone, James Gunn himself said that each DC film will be tonally different. Overall, Superman is a fun moviegoing experience. It’s just not the tightest film.

With the new Fantastic Four film coming out in the next few weeks, it appears as though comic book films could be entering a renaissance period. Either that, or it’s the last shot of adrenaline before they crash out and leave our cultural zeitgeist for good.