SUPERMAN starts out wobbly, tasked as its first act is with as much exposition as might be found in a film exploring Superman’s origin story. Yet, like the Man of Steel himself, James Gunn wrenches his film from its tailspin and then zips it into a fine superhero tale full of action, thrills, nifty CGI, and humor. The exposition sets up several plot points that will, I promise you, pay off. Even Krypto, the Super Dog complete with his own red cape and, ahem, super sense of playfulness sheds an incipient annoying personality to become the adorable mutt he should be. And while the jokiness sometimes threatens to overtake the story, it’s fun and doesn’t compromise the sentiment that is such a necessary component of a tale about a straight arrow of a hero who takes it all very seriously. And who doesn’t just plummet when falling from the sky, he makes a crater, which is where the film starts right after Superman experiences losing a battle for the first time.
David Corenswet has the gift of playing heroic without irony, even when downing a glass of milk with gusto. This would be the basic requirement for any actor essaying this role. He also has a gentle sweetness to all that brawn and granite jawline that doesn’t inhibit the way he makes out with commitment-phobic Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). In this version, the two are already a couple and she knows all about Clark Kent’s secret identity. Alas, the demand on them, professional and philosophical, have reached a breaking point, and as the expository break-up argument brings us up to date on Superman’s latest adventure, it becomes clear that they are at an impasse.
The crux of the impasse would be Superman’s intervention between two sort of Balkan, sort of Near Eastern countries who are at odds when the more powerful one invades its neighbor in order to “liberate” its people. With the encouragement of Superman’s nemesis, the suavely psychopathic Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), the State Department becomes involved, leading to the government’s questioning of Superman’s immigration status. Worse, thanks to a suspect video of Superman’s parents (Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan) that Lex has retrieved from the Fortress of Solitude, the world at large questions the Man of Steel’s motives in coming to Earth in the first place. Never mind that he’s been nothing but a force for good since arriving in Metropolis and keeping evil at bay.
The way Gunn has introduced current events into the DC Universe is sly, pointed, yet entirely organic, working as it does in the way that the best fantasy and science fiction does in comment on the real world. That Lex Luthor is a bald billionaire with an overgroomed girlfriend (Sara Sampaio) with a serious addiction to both mascara and lip fillers may or may not resemble an actual bald billionaire one that lives in our midst may be open to question, but not the issues Gunn raises with the recklessness of too much money (in this case tampering with the time/space continuum instead of the economy) and cancel culture (his imagery of hybrid bots lined up in row upon row of keyboards trolling Superman is a stroke of whimsical genius). The ancillary issues of free speech and obsessive selfies get their moments, too, and with a neat twist, as does the hi-tech version of deportation without due process that is a tidy metaphor threatens to actually make the world crumble.
As good as Corenswet is, no one can savor a cup of hot cocoa better, he has fierce competition from Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific, the Metahuman with the nerdiest name of all the Metahumans, and the coolest persona. The brains of what will eventually become the Justice League (they’re still working on the name), he’s an engineering whiz that is as smooth as aged single-malt scotch, hurling attitude and T-spheres with deadly accuracy. As his antithesis, we have Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), an oblivious dork with a bowl haircut and an inability to read the room that is nothing short of spectacular. As comic relief, he’s golden with Gunn making the smart choice to have him being good at superheroing.
SUPERMAN delivers once it finds its footing with great visuals (the Fortress of Solitude has never looked better), inventive action sequences, and that dog that will win you over. James Gunn has mined the quintessence of what makes the superhero genre so rife with possibilities and forged a whiz-bang start to the franchise’s reboot.
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