James Gunn's Superman: My review.
I always try and avoid early reviews for superhero and comic book films, preferring to go in cold and without any preconceived notions. That is what I did for James Gunn’s eagerly awaited reboot of the SUPERMAN franchise, and I’m glad I did. I liked Gunn’s work on the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY franchise, but a little less so for THE SUICIDE SQUAD, and I will hand Gunn this, he knows how to make a comic book film, often fully embracing the goofiness of the Silver Age of comics. His films aren’t grim and gritty, nor are they comments on what a burden it is to be a super hero, or what a curse it is to have super powers. He may deal with serious themes, but he never lets us forget that being a super human, or a metahuman in the DC universe, can be a lot of fun. James Gunn knows why we read comics.
What I liked about SUPERMAN:
As far as I’m concerned, the best thing Gunn does is that the film jumps right into the middle of a DCU where super heroes and super villains are common place, and totally dispenses with the origin story. Clark Kent already works at The Daily Planet, and Lois Lane is already Superman’s girlfriend with full knowledge of his alter ego as a reporter. Other heroes like Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mister Terrific, exist and fight giant monsters, or whatever super menace that rears its head. This is how you do it.
David Corenswet is an excellent Superman, and a very good Clark Kent (who is not in the story that much), even if Gunn did write a few scenes early on that make him look whiny. Corenswet makes a good guy interesting, not always easy to do. Rachel Brosnahan is a worthy successor to the other great actresses who have played Lois Lane. Lois is smart and tough, but she is not turned into another insufferable girl boss who is smarter than everyone else. That’s become a tired cliché.
A good comic book movie rises and falls on its Big Bad, and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor more than fills the bill. This Luthor, an insecure and megalomaniacal tech billionaire (sound familiar?), is truly evil. A petty man out to destroy a heroic and brave one because he can never be the latter is a good take on one of comic’s most famous and durable villains. This Luthor has a particularly cunning and cruel plan to enrich himself at so many others’ expense, and there is not a trace of Gene Hackman’s wily used car salesman persona in Hoult’s performance, and that is a good thing. Hackman was fine in his day, but Hoult’s performance is thoroughly grounded in the here and the now, and his comeback to Superman in the finale confrontation is a great villain’s justification. Too many bad guys turn out to be misunderstood, or victims of trauma, and it has become a tired trope.
James Gunn has a real knack for taking C-list characters and making them stars in his films. That is what he did in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and THE SUICIDE SQUAD, and he does it again here with Nathan Fillon’s Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, and Maria Gabriela de Faria as The Engineer. It’s a case of putting the right actor in the right part, and letting them shine onscreen. Gathegi nearly steals every scene he is in, and Fillon is just right for playing Guy Gardner as the jerk he is in the comics. And Skyler Gisondo is a standout as Jimmy Olsen, who in this film, has a more important role in the story than just comic relief.
Somehow, they made Krypto, the Super Dog, work in this story, he’s one of the best things in the movie.
The pacing, for the most part, is pretty good, except for some static scenes early on, such as when Lois “interviews” Superman. That scene veers uncomfortably close to cringe inducing. The film is a brisk two hours and some small change, and the throw the viewer into the deep end at the start works well. Gunn, who wrote the screenplay, keeps things moving, and builds momentum by letting us know Lex Luthor’s devious plan, and why Superman is particularly vulnerable to it. And the film really delivers on the action, whether it is super heroes fighting a kaiju, or Superman throwing down with Luthor’s Raptors in the sky. We want to see Superman throwing down and using all of his power and might against a super threat, that is really what we buy are tickets to see. Superman has that in spades in the third act, and again, that is how you do a comic book film.
But there are some things that didn’t work for me in James Gunn’s SUPERMAN:
A clone? Really? I don’t have as big a problem with that trope as some, but it feels hacky to go there this early in the reboot. Supergirl? Sorry, but she has always been a lame character as far as I’m concerned. Wendell Pierce, a good actor, has too little to do as Perry White. It has been pointed out by others that Neva Howell, who plays Ma Kent, sounds like a character on Hee-Haw, and I have to agree.
But the biggest problem with this new SUPERMAN is the tweaking Gunn did to the back story of Jor El, played by Bradley Cooper in a cameo. This really goes against the grain set down by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster way back in 1938, and I think longtime Superman fans are really going to have a problem with it. For me, it is not as egregious as that scene in MAN OF STEEL where Clark Kent stands back and lets his father die in a tornado (though he clearly had enough time to rescue him), but it feels so unnecessary here. I kept expecting it to be corrected in the finale, but it never happens.
Is this Superman too “woke?” Well, he is if you are a supporter of Vladimir Putin type tyrants, as one of the secondary villains clearly is modeled on, or who believe the future belongs to techno billionaires with God complexes, and the fate of the rest of humanity is to live in their shadows.
We’ve come a long way since Richard Donner directed Christopher Reeve in that truly awesome first big screen appearance of Superman. That film is justifiably legendary, and beloved. And the road since then has often been filled with contention and disappointment. It is too early to tell where James Gunn’s interpretation falls, but my first impression is very positive. Where should the series go from here if there happens to be a sequel leading to a franchise reboot? How about tackling Braniac and the shrunken city of Kandor, it’s never been done on the big screen before, and I’d like to see James Gunn try his hand at it.
Get started on my horror trilogy at BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Find CADEN IS COMING: A Southern Vampire Epic on Wattpad at: https://w.tt/3ESmQXK
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
https://bit.ly/47dOR5N
Visit my Amazon author's page at: https://amzn.to/3nK6Yxv
What I liked about SUPERMAN:
As far as I’m concerned, the best thing Gunn does is that the film jumps right into the middle of a DCU where super heroes and super villains are common place, and totally dispenses with the origin story. Clark Kent already works at The Daily Planet, and Lois Lane is already Superman’s girlfriend with full knowledge of his alter ego as a reporter. Other heroes like Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mister Terrific, exist and fight giant monsters, or whatever super menace that rears its head. This is how you do it.
David Corenswet is an excellent Superman, and a very good Clark Kent (who is not in the story that much), even if Gunn did write a few scenes early on that make him look whiny. Corenswet makes a good guy interesting, not always easy to do. Rachel Brosnahan is a worthy successor to the other great actresses who have played Lois Lane. Lois is smart and tough, but she is not turned into another insufferable girl boss who is smarter than everyone else. That’s become a tired cliché.
A good comic book movie rises and falls on its Big Bad, and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor more than fills the bill. This Luthor, an insecure and megalomaniacal tech billionaire (sound familiar?), is truly evil. A petty man out to destroy a heroic and brave one because he can never be the latter is a good take on one of comic’s most famous and durable villains. This Luthor has a particularly cunning and cruel plan to enrich himself at so many others’ expense, and there is not a trace of Gene Hackman’s wily used car salesman persona in Hoult’s performance, and that is a good thing. Hackman was fine in his day, but Hoult’s performance is thoroughly grounded in the here and the now, and his comeback to Superman in the finale confrontation is a great villain’s justification. Too many bad guys turn out to be misunderstood, or victims of trauma, and it has become a tired trope.
James Gunn has a real knack for taking C-list characters and making them stars in his films. That is what he did in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and THE SUICIDE SQUAD, and he does it again here with Nathan Fillon’s Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, and Maria Gabriela de Faria as The Engineer. It’s a case of putting the right actor in the right part, and letting them shine onscreen. Gathegi nearly steals every scene he is in, and Fillon is just right for playing Guy Gardner as the jerk he is in the comics. And Skyler Gisondo is a standout as Jimmy Olsen, who in this film, has a more important role in the story than just comic relief.
Somehow, they made Krypto, the Super Dog, work in this story, he’s one of the best things in the movie.
The pacing, for the most part, is pretty good, except for some static scenes early on, such as when Lois “interviews” Superman. That scene veers uncomfortably close to cringe inducing. The film is a brisk two hours and some small change, and the throw the viewer into the deep end at the start works well. Gunn, who wrote the screenplay, keeps things moving, and builds momentum by letting us know Lex Luthor’s devious plan, and why Superman is particularly vulnerable to it. And the film really delivers on the action, whether it is super heroes fighting a kaiju, or Superman throwing down with Luthor’s Raptors in the sky. We want to see Superman throwing down and using all of his power and might against a super threat, that is really what we buy are tickets to see. Superman has that in spades in the third act, and again, that is how you do a comic book film.
But there are some things that didn’t work for me in James Gunn’s SUPERMAN:
A clone? Really? I don’t have as big a problem with that trope as some, but it feels hacky to go there this early in the reboot. Supergirl? Sorry, but she has always been a lame character as far as I’m concerned. Wendell Pierce, a good actor, has too little to do as Perry White. It has been pointed out by others that Neva Howell, who plays Ma Kent, sounds like a character on Hee-Haw, and I have to agree.
But the biggest problem with this new SUPERMAN is the tweaking Gunn did to the back story of Jor El, played by Bradley Cooper in a cameo. This really goes against the grain set down by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster way back in 1938, and I think longtime Superman fans are really going to have a problem with it. For me, it is not as egregious as that scene in MAN OF STEEL where Clark Kent stands back and lets his father die in a tornado (though he clearly had enough time to rescue him), but it feels so unnecessary here. I kept expecting it to be corrected in the finale, but it never happens.
Is this Superman too “woke?” Well, he is if you are a supporter of Vladimir Putin type tyrants, as one of the secondary villains clearly is modeled on, or who believe the future belongs to techno billionaires with God complexes, and the fate of the rest of humanity is to live in their shadows.
We’ve come a long way since Richard Donner directed Christopher Reeve in that truly awesome first big screen appearance of Superman. That film is justifiably legendary, and beloved. And the road since then has often been filled with contention and disappointment. It is too early to tell where James Gunn’s interpretation falls, but my first impression is very positive. Where should the series go from here if there happens to be a sequel leading to a franchise reboot? How about tackling Braniac and the shrunken city of Kandor, it’s never been done on the big screen before, and I’d like to see James Gunn try his hand at it.
Get started on my horror trilogy at BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Find CADEN IS COMING: A Southern Vampire Epic on Wattpad at: https://w.tt/3ESmQXK
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
https://bit.ly/47dOR5N
Visit my Amazon author's page at: https://amzn.to/3nK6Yxv
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