In this reality, there’s a saying: absolute power corrupts absolutely. But Superman dares imagine a reality where a being of absolute power could also be a force for absolute good.
With that core concept in mind, I’ve always been primed to be a Superman fan, but no piece of Superman media had really delivered on the ideal of the character I had in my head, and in my heart. After watching James Gunn‘s Superman I feel I can finally be a true-blue fan all the way through.
Like many others, I had my concerns going into this movie, not only because of the struggles to nail the tone of the character in the DC Extended Universe. The trailers suggested that this story would drop us straight into a new DC Universe, introducing numerous other heroes and characters that, in lesser hands, could have detracted from the Superman story at its core.
Instead, Gunn is able to wrangle even the wildest characters and subplots into a relatively straightforward story. As someone who isn’t a comic nerd, especially when it comes to DC, I never felt lost, although some of its most cosmic elements did lose me a touch.
David Corenswet is simply perfect as Superman. He plays the hero as a fully selfless moral compass, with a very black and white sense of right and wrong that butts up against the shades of gray in Metropolis (and our world). Rachel Brosnahan is the perfect Lois Lane to challenge that simplistic morality, not to take away from it, but to sharpen it and reveal its ultimate power.
And Nicholas Hoult continues to impress me, delivering a performance as Lex Luthor that at times leans dangerously close to pure camp but is balanced out by a real sense of menace and capability. This iteration of Luthor despises Superman not for being an alien, but for being an impossible standard. Superman interferes with his all-consuming need for greatness.
If you haven’t heard by now, Edi Gathegi absolutely steals the show as (goddamn) Mr. Terrific, bringing an endless coolness to the character despite his obvious geek status. Nathan Fillion gives him a run for his money, though, as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, who is given many of the best comic relief moments. Isabela Merced is good as Hawkgirl despite not getting quite as much to do as her “Justice Gang” counterparts. As a Righteous Gemstones fan, I was predisposed to love Skyler Gisondo as fellow Daily Planet reporter Jimmy Olsen, although I found his subplot perplexing at times.
That’s a lot of characters, and there are still more unnamed here, but Gunn shows once again a deftness with the cast and mainly keeps the story focused on Superman’s story. Still, despite immensely enjoying the fast-paced fun of the story, I did on rewatch find myself wishing it could have slowed down in a couple of beats and given us a bit more of Lois and Clark, or Clark with Ma and Pa Kent. The Kents are very good in this, by the way, although I could see some people finding them to be caricatures. As a Southerner, they are pretty true-to-life characters and just the kind of people you would expect to steer an all-powerful being to the kind of cheesy sense of goodness that makes Superman who he is.
I loved every time this movie made a point to show Superman saving people, especially that shot in the trailer of him shielding the young girl from the parking poles—what an iconic shot and an instant distillation of who Superman is. The scene partially shown in the trailer of Lois interviewing Superman is one of my favorites of the year, drawing out the best of Corenswet and Brosnahan’s chemistry and their characters’ contrasting worldviews.
It may be cheesy, but Clark tells Lois during one scene that perhaps radical trust and kindness “is the new punk rock,” and that’s exactly the message we need in these times. When everybody is looking for an angle and seeing ulterior motives everywhere, we need an example of doing right for the sake of doing right. Being kind because doing so is how we make the world livable. That’s my Superman.
There are also some more iconic shots that I wanted to highlight: particularly a shot of Superman rising above the rubble and ashes of a collapsed building, and the shot in the trailer of him and Lois sharing a circling kiss in an atrium. Gunn understands that Superman slowly rising in a big beam of light is the absolute peak way to see Superman, and I appreciate that.
Oh, I got all this way without mentioning Krypto, who is very lovably misbehaved and has some great moments. There were a couple of times where I thought Krypto might be taking just a bit of shine off Superman himself, but it mostly works perfectly and there are a few terrific gags that had the theater rolling.
Kudos also to the movie for not completely abandoning the Daily Planet team while Superman is punching his way to victory—there is still also a journalistic element at play, and, as a journalist, I appreciated that aspect. I would love to see a Daily Planet comedy-thriller series with Brosnahan and Gisondo in particular saving the day solely through journalism.
Long story short, if you somehow haven’t made it out to the theater yet to go see this movie, what are you waiting for? Unless superhero movies are entirely not your thing, I just don’t see how you won’t at least have a good time in the theater with this. Gunn’s DC Universe is kicking off with a bang.
