Superman

James Gunn’s vision of Superman is a guy who is constantly knocked around but keeps getting back up. It never slows down and never quite hits the points it wants to make because it won’t slow down long enough to make them. 

It’s a little nervous or maybe I was nervous watching it but it mostly works out and I feel I will grow more comfortable with it the more I see it. 

I think what affects this version of Superman, more than anything else, is that Gunn is in competition with every other version of Superman. And that’s not just dealing with the legacy of Snyder and the bros but also with three popular television series adaptations since the 1990s, an animated universe that is widely considered the best representation of all of these characters and a mountain of comics that Gunn mixes and matches as he sees fit. 

Gunn eliminates the origin story (he figures you know it) in favor of a Superman who has already been active for a few years and has a new relationship with Lois and several friendly super co-workers.

It’s an unusual way to reboot Superman and an unusual way to make the first big statement in a new version of the DC movie and television franchise. 

If you have been following Gunn online then it should not come as a surprise that this Superman is faithful to the spirit of the comics. 

That’s such a loaded thing but the best way to explain it is that Raimi’s Spider-Man movies always felt like they were ripped from the pages of Stan Lee Steve Ditko and John Romita’s first 100 issues or so of The Amazing Spider-Man. 

The same for Batman: The Animated Series which hewed close to Batman comics from the Dennis O’Neil, Neal Adams and a host of others from the 1970s and 1980s. 

This Superman comes from the Silver Age and comics that were either homaging the Silver Age or responding to it. 

But if I handed you any of the really good Superman comics from the last 40 years or so they would look and feel a lot like this. 

Superman is a good guy in a science fictiony future city who tries to help people and deals with his love life, super villians and annoying problems like social media, his dog and the US Government. 

Lex Luthor hates him because of what he represents and uses all of his money, power and genius to not only try to kill him but to show the world that he is a danger to humanity. 

Nicholas Hoult was the real deal before he was cast as Luthor but he hits nothing but dingers all the way through the movie. Watch his face as things explode around him in the Fortress of Solitude. 

Gene Hackman’s Luthor was a comedy villian in the Donner Superman, a character that Superman almost always outsmarted. Here, Luthor really could kill Superman and really wants to and is a solid, dangerous, deranged villian. 

David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan get a few fleeting scenes as Clark and Lois. Skyler Gisando’s Jimmy Olsen is a treat and Wendell Pierce’s Perry White is just a background character. He’s fun though, for a moment or two. 

The other superheroes all get one scene to shine except for Mr. Terrific who is almost a costar and a killer character. 

One final thing, if you ever asked me at any point what makes Superman, Superman I would have told you it was not his powers or his Kryptonian origins. It was that he was raised by kindly Americans who told him that anyone with power has a duty to help people who need it. 

He’s a creation of people who saw themselves and their country as a force for good in the world. 

He’s not a God, he’s just an American who understands that his highest calling is to do right by other people. 

By the end of this movie I was certain James Gunn agreed with me. 

This is probably the only movie I will see twice in theaters this year. I’m already looking forward to going back.