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I’ve seen James Gunn’s movies, including “Slither“, “Super“, and wildly more appreciated films like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Suicide Squad“. He established his reputation by crafting edgy and punk rock characters that don’t fit into mainstream superheroes. So when James Gunn announced that he would tackle the last son of Krypton, a squeaky-clean image of the latest iteration of Kal-El, I was a bit skeptical at first.
The key question for most of filmgores is how to bring back “Superman” and set up this overall universe, considering 87 years of comic history and nearly a half century since he was introduced on the silver screen.
I am aware that James Gunn already has a comprehensive understanding of DC history at the level of an encyclopedia, so he ditched the origin story, he puts this new version wisely assumes that the audiences know who he is, where he came from, and what he eventually wants to achieve. The film doesn’t have much of the introduction, but it begins not on Krypton or Kansas but in Antarctica near the Fortress of Solitude.
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Three decades ago, this metahumans first appeared on earth. We’re plunged into a story where Superman (David Corenswet) has just lost his first fight after three years defending Earth, his faithful super dog, Krypto came running when he whistled as he lay bloodied in the snow and took him back to the Fortress of Solitude for healing his wounds.
Superman has been taken down by the Boravian Hammer, which is actually a billion-dollar LARP suit that can be controlled from the Luthor Corp., at the skyscraper headquarters, a team is instructed by Lex Luther (Nicholas Hoult), who stands before computer screens and uses a headset to communicate coded battle directions to drone-assisted henchmen.
Within 15 minutes into the film, Lois(Rachel Brosnahan) and Clark are already an item(and she is familiar with the secret of his identity, eliminating any stakes in that respect) in “Superman.” But the ethics of Superman’s role in geopolitics is being extensively debated by Superman and Lois, with questions being raised about his flying into countries without their leaders’ permission, it’s sure that ’s engaging than typical introduction of the couple, but the most of the audience who still trying to find a footing in this version of DC universe, and you don’t see much of Lois after the first act, it feel like critically losing their grip of couple’s relationship which has been core elements of comic books or at least original “Superman” movie, it feels like a less of an emotional foundation.
The film demonstrates obvious echoes of contemporary politics, with government officials having to manage a superpower that has intervened in world affairs based on their own moral compass.
©Courtesy of Warner Brothers
But the film is over its head trying to depict geopolitical conflict analogous to ongoing wars in Palestine and Ukraine, in the film, somewhat Russian-like nation of Boravia from invading the somewhat Pakistani or maybe Iranian-like nation of Jarhanpur, although it is clear in its final declaration that those with power should protect those without, the use of fictional nation-states can lead to ambiguity and confusion, because they vaguely defined what they are fighting about.
The movie contains many ideas that make me wonder, ‘Why?’, such as the scene where a flame-breathing Kaiju attacks Metropolis with no explanation like any of the Godzilla movies, and the Justice Gang, consisting of Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi, and Isabela Merced, provides help to Superman, but we only get a glimpse of their abilities, which involve snarky one-liners.
There’s just no reason for any of these other characters to be in a Superman movie, and taking them out of their normal realms does a huge disservice to all the work done by comic creators to make them interesting characters other than James Gunn’s convenience of his creation of the D.C Universe.
Even though Luthor manipulates public opinion with an army of enslaved monkeys who blast anti-Superman propaganda onto social media, it feels like the citizens of Metropolis often seem none too bright, turning on a dime for and against Superman, particularly after he was saving them for 3 years. The film makes an effort to be clever by incorporating TV news and social media, but it can sometimes feel haphazard, the dialogue in the film is quick and efficient when it is least emotionally persuasive.
©Courtesy of Warner Brothers
At the daily planet, there’s Wendell Pierce as the editor-in-chief, Perry White, and Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen. Indeed, there is dismayingly little of the Daily Planet here, particularly of Clark Kent’s role within it, if you want to create a real feeling of geopolitical elements that we faced right now, the source of exploration should have existed in this crew and company, but it didn’t.
We have all felt an increase in psychological strain, given the current state of the world. There is no doubt that we want to see a mindless summer movie with buttered popcorn, dazzling special effects, broad jokes, simple heroes and villains, and a cheerful conclusion at the end. If you’re looking for a hero and need a kick of truth, justice, and the American way, James Gunn’s Superman is today’s pop culture symbol of American optimism and goodness, and it’s something you want to have faith in, I got that…
But just like the Justice Gangs, these are generally decent characters in the comics, but the way they’re just thrown into the mix with no rhyme and reason doesn’t do them justice. The film tired to convince me that Superman cares about everyone, but it fails to convince me to care about everyone.
It wastes the best ensemble these characters have ever known on a story that never figures out how seriously it should take them. Gunn is right about recognizing that a certain amount of silliness is key to Superman’s charm, but the main issue here is that it mainly distracts from the seriousness of what’s at stake. To me, believing this Superman iteration is equivalent to believing in the American pipe dream of not realizing what’s happening outside the U.S., as evidenced by Kamara Harris’ loss to Trump.
©Courtesy of Warner Brothers
Grade : C+
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Here’s the trailer of the film.