Superman Review
“Your choices, your actions, that's what makes you who you are.” – Pa Kent
It’s hard to know how to begin this review, I was originally going to kick it off with the tagline from the movie poster; “Look Up”. But I feel that Pa Kent’s speech to Clark might be a little more appropriate in catching the film’s overall message of kindness, hope and optimism.
(Now that I’ve begun this review, it’s hard to know what to say next because I’ve a fair bit to say, both about what Superman means to me and how this film hit compared with the previous ones. Anyway, as ever, I guess I’ll go with my usual stream of consciousness, and hope that what comes out is at least coherent. It’s my writing style and has served me well both on my own writings and website blogs, and in magazines sold everywhere on the globe that speaks English for the past few decades.)
Superman. He’s never been my favourite superhero. (If you don’t know by now that my personal favourite of all time is Batman, there’s really no hope for you!) Superman is firmly my second favourite. Having said that, he’s probably THE most recognisable superhero character ever published. You can show that “S” shield anywhere, practically, and people will know what it means. Despite all this, I find myself having had to wait 45 years since the last really good Superman movie. (Gasp!!! Here comes the controversy.)
Let’s dial back. Superman was the second superhero character I encountered. Batman appeared on my radar when I was six, due (incredibly) to bubble-gum cards prior to the TV series with Adam West. (Who would’ve guessed that as simple a thing as four cards with a painted image on one side and some text on the back would become a lifelong obsession?) My first exposure to Superman was several months later, when I saw the Superman cartoon show on our black and white TV, either in ’66 or ’67. Then… I noticed that during the summer, some local shops sold American comic books. And they were SOOOO much better that British ones. There was a whole plethora of super heroes. It was bewildering. (I didn’t even know Marvel existed at this point, only DC comics were available that year.)
I enjoyed Superman’s world. This was the Silver Age of comics, he had a Fortress of Solitude in the Antarctic which he could get to with a giant key, he had a girlfriend in Lois Lane, a pal in Jimmy Olsen, there was the miniaturised Kryptonian city of Kandor, kept in a bottle in the Fortress, all sorts of colours of kryptonite, each of which had a different effect on him, he had a Kryptonian dog named Krypto who’d show up every now and again… the fantastic naïve appeal of the character was irresistible. PLUS – he was friends with Batman.
Having never at that point seen a live action Superman, I never really thought I would, until the announcement in the seventies that Superman – The Movie was in production. I remember seeing that first still in a newspaper, of Christopher Reeve in costume, pointing up to the sky. That was the closest I had seen a human being resemble a super hero as drawn in the comic books. Even though I had (foolishly) given up buying comic books when Superman (1978) was released (I was eighteen and trying to please my family elders by “finally growing up.” It cost me a decade of comic reading until I realised what a huge mistake I was making.) I went to see it several times. That movie was the hallowed GOAT of superhero movies for several years, along with its sequel, Superman II (1980) – despite their faults. (Primarily, the fact that Warners couldn’t or wouldn’t fully commit to producing a Superman film without some needless comedy as a self-conscious wink to the audience in Gene Hackman’s over the top Luthor with his ludicrous scheme to activate the San Andreas fault to destroy California, and his moronic henchman Otis (Ned Beatty). Also (more controversy) Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. I can’t stand her vapid performance or her raspy “I smoke sixty a day” voice. I didn’t care much for the Fortress either. Reeve, though – perfection.)
Given the success of its predecessors, Superman III (1983) was a massive stepdown and creative suicide for the series, making it a vehicle for Richard Pryor’s comedy reducing Reeve’s Kent/Superman to a straight man. Superman IV (1987) was an absurdly cheap looking movie with a sincere but ill executed message for world peace. Superman Returns (2006) was a direct sequel to Superman II (I guess even Warners thought III & IV were best forgotten) and had Superman (Brandon Routh) return to Earth after several years away in space, and finding Lois married, but disturbingly, he seems to spend an inordinate amount of time floating over her house like a peeping Tom, stalking her. There’s a lot of introspection in this one. Then there was Man of Steel (2013) – Henry Cavill’s portrayal was a darker Superman, who at the end of the film, albeit for understandable reasons, executes General Zod. I was outraged – Superman NEVER kills. He would find another way. Always. (I know, Superman eventually lightened up in the more recent DC movies, and his costume got brighter – but I’m talking about his solo outings here, okay?)
And that leads us to this.
Just as I’d gotten used to Henry Cavill’s portrayal, the DC universe movies that I was enjoying abruptly ended. And they were rebooting and recasting, which I found exasperating. First up would be Superman. Even though this was now in the hands of director James Gunn who had directed Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, and The Suicide Squad for DC, which introduced us to John Cena’s Peacemaker, did we REALLY need a new Superman?
It turns out that we did.
Gunn has taken out some of the tiresome repeated elements of Superman movies. First off, there’s no long-winded origin showing Krypton’s destruction and baby Kal-El put in a spaceship by his parents and sent to Earth. No teen years, no first day at the Daily Planet, no first appearance as Superman, no General Zod. (This one, I found particularly refreshing, because interesting a character as he is, up to 1978, he only had one appearance in the comic book, and that was in 1961.) No, we’re show in a series of captions that metahumans had come to Earth 300 years ago, very brief captions about Superman’s timeline, ending in 3 minutes ago – he lost his first fight. The first we see of Superman is his plummeting out of the sky and landing hard in Antarctica. He summons Krypto to help him back to his hidden Fortress to recover. (All of this is in the trailer.)
And that’s when it hit me that this was Superman done properly, with a heavy leaning towards the elements that made Superman and his supporting characters so great back when I first read his comics. For a long-time fan that has missed coming out of a Superman movie with a sense of hope and optimism for the last few decades, this film is perfect. In fact, it’s the best Superman movie since 1978. Superman II has undeniably dated pretty badly, especially in the climactic battle with the three Kryptonian super villains, which was epic back then, but looks quaint and understated now, due to the massive leaps in effects technology. But this film is absolutely epic for its entire two and a quarter hour run – and it’s a film I’d urge everyone to see at the cinema, with an audience. Just for the sheer scope and shared experience of it.
So, Superman has already been on Earth for a while, and is well on his way to establishing himself in his self-appointed role as Earth’s guardian. Even to the point of involving himself in political affairs between two warring foreign countries without consulting anybody, feeling that representing himself rather than the United States was enough. This is exactly the kind of naïve do-gooder kind of outlook I was hoping to see. He is, initially, the ultimate “big blue boy scout”.
Also, refreshingly, there’s no coy tentative awkward first encounters with Lois Lane. All that has already happened. She and Clark are already a couple and she already knows his secret. All that tiresome exposition is already done; we’re straight into the action of a story in progress. The sensibility being that if you don’t already know the origin, you’re in the wrong movie.
I’m not going to delve too much into the plot, as I don’t want to spoil the experience, but I’ll take a look at some of the characters, as the film does a deep dive into some DC characters we really haven’t seen before. But before that, a Superman film stands or falls on its casting of the main characters, and here it’s flawless, beating even the ’78 in many respects.
It's vital to get Clark Kent/Superman just right – and David Corenswet clearly nails both characters. Whereas Reeve was a perfect Superman, I always felt he was just too bulky for Clark Kent, and his hapless portrayal of Kent as nervous, bumbling and clumsy was too much. To get myself in the mood for a new Superman, I watched the four-season run of Superman & Lois with Tyler Hoechlin in the role and found him better in the dual role than Reeve. Corenswet matches THAT portrayal. His interpretation is not the angsty, borderline grumpy one we saw from Cavill. This is a refreshingly wholesome Kent & Superman for the modern day. (Batman can be angst-ridden because he’s a dark, vengeful character. But Superman represents the light. Truth and justice and all that.)
Lois Lane is played by Rachel Brosnahan, and has instantly become my favourite Lois, (sorry Margot, you’re down another notch) replacing Teri Hatcher of the late eighties Lois & Superman TV series, who for years was my ideal image of the character.
For the first time, we have a Luthor on the big screen who’s not pantomimed for camp laughs in Nicholas Hoult. He’s evil. He’s a beyond Donald Trump kind of evil. He’s a villain with enough money and power to do what he wants, manipulate who he wants, twist whatever facts he wants – and is worthy of being Superman’s adversary.
The Justice League super team isn’t quite formed yet. There are three super heroes trying out “The Justice Gang” as their team’s name. They are Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillon) a member of the Green Lantern Corps, and kind of an a-hole with a really bad haircut and a really abrasive, cocky attitude, Hawkgirl (Isabella Merced) and tech genius Mr. Terrific (Edi Garthegi, whom I had the honour of interviewing several years ago for Gorezone magazine when he was in the Twilight movies). Also appearing are Metamorpho, the Element Man (Anthony Carrigan) whom I’ve been aware of since the sixties, but I’ve never actually read any of his comics, apart from when he guested alongside one of my favourites. He can turn his body, or any part thereof, into any element.
And there’s Krypto – the Super Dog. THAT right there, took me back to my childhood, reading the comics. This little white dog, with his red cape, flying around. He’s half good boy, faithful companion, other half is an utter ass of a dog – in short, he’s like every dog I’ve ever known, but with superpowers.
This is the opening salvo in DC’s bold new venture to reconstruct their cinematic universe. There’s a lot more planned in this, their first phase, that they’re calling Gods & Monsters. I know there’s a Supergirl movie due next summer, and we can expect some Batman as well as some more of the Green Lantern Corps. Having felt jaded by some of the comic book super hero movie offerings of the past few years (especially from Marvel) I’m feeling optimistic about the genre again. I literally saw everything I wanted to see in a Superman movie in this film, even down to a cinematic Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) I actually liked and didn’t want to throw rocks at. I particularly loved a depiction of online trolls as a room of angry monkeys on keyboards. That one’s going to stay in my mind when I see some contentious asshats spewing venom on the interwebs.
Other things I loved, the Fortress actually looking like a place Superman would hang out, populated by various gadgets and his team of robots rather than an empty ice-cave with some crystals (with Krypto coming and going, causing general, loveable havoc), Ma & Pa Kent being warm, down to Earth and supportive and the use of John Williams’ legendary score from 1978, slightly updated, throughout the film.
Oh, and the effects. Jeez, the effects!! Superman flies more fluidly than we’ve ever seen before. And the property damage around Metropolis - a Metropolis, incidentally that looks like you’d imagine Metropolis to look like, rather than a recognisable New York, (I & II) Calgary (Superman III) or (yikes) Milton Keyes (Superman IV). Seeing skyscrapers succumbing to a domino effect? Holy crap that’s impressive.
Superman was my big, bold hope for the summer. I had unrealistically high expectations, having re-read some of the Silver Age classics over the past few weeks, and it completely delivered on every level.
For that sense of joy, fun and sheer unashamed enjoyment – throughout its faster than a speeding bullet running time (because that two and a quarter hours flew by), I can’t even think of giving this less than the maximum accolade. It soars.
Rob Rating = 10
Okay, we now know DC movies are alive, well and in good hands. Looking over at Marvel Studios, what’ve you got? Hopefully Fantastic Four: First Steps will deliver something special.
