By Craig Boehmer
The new “Superman” movie can be summed up in one word: FUN. I saw “Superman” at 7:20pm Mountain Time Thursday July 11. I went with my father-in-law, and two brother in laws, who are not comic book fans. I then went again on Saturday at 6:40pm Mountain Time with two of my kids and a friend with his two kids.
The first time I watched it was in IMAX at a big city mall theater. It was packed! There were loads of people dressed up in Superman shirts, I had spent parts of the previous two days trying to track down a new “Superman” movie shirt to wear to the screening but was unsuccessful. It looked great in IMAX, and the theater patrons were right into the movie. The second time was a small-town theater, with maybe thirty people in it. It was mostly kids, and they also loved it. My point in describing my first showings is to illustrate that both a theater full of adults, and one full of kids had a blast watching this movie. It is an all-ages pleaser because it is so fun.
As a caveat, I love Snyder’s take on Superman, in each of his movies. I found his gritty take on the character was engaging and entertaining. I then found I loved Gunn’s take on the character to be fun and hopeful.
The primary plot between Superman and Luthor felt thin in this movie. Gunn chose to highlight character and spectacle over a complex plot. The basis for Luthor’s plot is that he has built up Boravia’s military to incite the conflict with Jarhanpur forcing Superman to get involved. He then used his clone of Superman as the “Hammer of Boravia” to fight Superman and build fear and panic among the American people. His investigation of the Fortress of Solitude allows him to use the message from Krypton to further sow panic and anger against Superman. This allowed him to gain permission from the US government to murder Superman. All of this is motivated by Luthor’s self-admitted envious hatred of Superman. Luthor is heavily inspired by Morrison’s “All-Star Superman” version of Luthor, which is a great Luthor to pull from. It was a very simplified version of Luthor’s plot from “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice”, but I felt it worked very well in this film.
The character beats make up for a weaker plot. So many of the characters work great in this movie. I’ll breakdown the characters that I felt worked below.
What worked:
Krypto was a perfect addition to this movie. He provided an incredible access point for kids and showed a relatable aspect to Superman’s character.
Rachel Brosnahan put in a great performance as Lois. She was able to couple the fearlessness of Lois Lane, while maintaining a vulnerability to the character. Her efforts in both rescuing Superman and exposing Luthor showcased this amazing character.
Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific was so cool. His scene infiltrating Luthor’s portal was so fun. He portrayed an intense authority that belied the potential for an incredible character.
Nathan Fillion made a fantastic Guy Gardner. His cocky edginess was a welcome contrast to Superman’s goodness.
Skyler Gisondo was so fun as Jimmy Olsen. It feels like this is the first Superman movie to really give Jimmy a role in the plot.
The supporting characters, I am going to lump quite a few characters into this. I always appreciate when a director fleshes the background characters out with characters from the comics. Even if they didn’t get a lot of screen time, or development, it helps make the city feel lived in and real. The Daily Planet staff, or Luthor’s support staff of Otis and Happersen, it is appreciated when potentially nameless people are given links to the comic world. Pa Kent was also fantastic in portraying concern about Clark.
David Corenswet’s Superman was incredible. He embraced the goody two shoes nature some people have mocked about Superman in the past. Some of the highlights for me were: Trying to find a way to keep the Kaiju alive. Saving the civilians around the Kaiju, and even the squirrel showing a reverence for all life. I also loved how he calmly tried to coach the lady through her panic attack. His embracing the children after the defeat of the Kaiju. His defense of his taste in music and asserting that being good is the new punk rock. His interactions with Krypto were great, both hilarious and heartfelt, particularly when Krypto is lost and that prompts Superman to turn himself in to save the dog. While I don’t feel this Superman is the de facto version that Superman always needs to be, this version really resonated with me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
What did not work:
Ma Kent, I don’t want to be disrespectful to the actress’ portrayal, but it felt more like what a big city director thinks a small-town farmer would sound and act like, rather than what a small-town farmer sounds or acts like.
Supergirl, this introduction to Supergirl killed any excitement I may have had about the upcoming movie. Why? Why go to such lengths to show Superman as the golly-gee character but then portray Kara as her most cliched and dysfunctional character. Honestly it was such a disappointing way to finish the movie.
A major concern coming into this movie was that Gunn would overly employ his trademark humor in a way that felt out of place in a Superman movie. The humor is a major part of this film, but not at the expense of the emotional weight or of the main character. Krypto, Guy Gardner, and Eve did the majority of the heavy lifting when it came to the humor. For the most part the humor works. I found myself laughing out loud multiple times in the film, and the kids in the crowd were particularly fond of Krypto, consistently laughing at his antics.
There are so many things I would like to say about the movie. For the sake of time though I will just quickly highlight some more aspects I enjoyed: The colors were vibrant throughout the movie and popped off the screen. The music was energetic and fun. The pace was quick, keeping me and the kids engaged. The action scenes were well choreographed and electric.
Please go see this movie, it is so much fun, it may not be perfect, but I can’t wait to see where they go with the series after this.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
