There’s a scene about halfway through writer/director James Gunn’s Superman, the kick-off to his new DC Cinematic Universe, where Superman’s (David Corenswet) dog Krypto is distracted by the vision of squirrels with capes. And that’s emblematic of a lot of the running time of the two-hour-plus movie, which tends to follow whatever weird thing takes its fancy. There are plenty of characters, wild set-pieces, portals, creatures, and more in a movie that is often very plot-forward and extremely stuffed with wacky ideas. But thankfully, once Superman settles down, it shows that it does get what has made Superman and his supporting cast so iconic for 85 years, thanks to charming performances and Gunn’s signature, sneaky bursts of emotion.
The conceit here is that this isn’t another origin story — at least not exactly. As a title card tells us at the beginning of the film, “metahumans” have been around for 300 years, and Superman has been active for three of them. What follows is a busy few days in the history of the Man of Steel as he tangles face-to-face with his arch enemy Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), for the first time. In between that, he’s also got to deal with his rocky romance with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), an ongoing conflict in two countries that are not in the Middle East so much as “confusing melange of Europe and Middle East so as not to offend anyone,” and the skepticism of the heroes who kill in the Justice Gang.
That’s just the start of a packed cast that also includes the entire staff of The Daily Planet, multiple employees working for Lex, villains including The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) and the mysterious Ultraman, an entire extra-dimensional prison, members of the US government, including General Flag (Frank Grillo, reprising his role from Creature Commandos), and even multiple cameos and surprises. It’s… A lot. And particularly as we’re dealing with your requisite technobabble, there’s a fair amount of exposition that needs to go on as the briskly paced movie makes its way through the plot.
At worst, Superman speeds past so quickly that it’s hard to get invested in any particular characters or scenes. Isabela Merced’s Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, for example, is reduced to a screaming, mace-wielding maniac, versus the dumb joke-machine of Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, or Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt/Mister Terrific, who gets the most to do merely by virtue of being the smartest man in the room. Therefore, he can explain all the gizmos, doohickeys, and anti-proton rivers to the other characters and audience. Least served is the great Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason/Metamorpho, who looks true to his comic book form, but doesn’t get to show any of the off-kilter humor he excelled at in roles in Barry and another DC Comics production, Gotham.
It’s also hard to get hyped about the essential conflict, which skirts the current “hot-button” idea of Superman being an illegal alien that has been picked up by the “press” in the real world, but never really hits it all that hard. While it’s Lex’s motivation, the idea is amped up to so much sci-fi kookiness channeling Silver Age Superman comics, that it never quite compares to the real world. A scene where it’s revealed — mild spoilers here — that Lex is using an army of monkeys to post hate-speech about Superman on social media is smart and funny, but as soon as the idea is thrown out there, the movie quickly moves on to more plot-heavy ideas, avoiding the thematic ones.
Similarly, Gunn has been hyping how Superman shows a superhero bringing hope in a hopeless world — but despite a rousing third-act speech by Kal-El, never quite shows us why or how Superman inspires people. That’s perhaps hurt by the “been around for three years” thing, since he has been saving people, we see him save people, but there’s no clear moment of inspiration that changes the world’s minds, or Supe’s fellow superhero’s minds. It just sort of happens.
But let’s talk positives. The action sequences are elevated immensely by Gunn’s knack for keeping the camera steady and focused, following rather than quick-cutting to cover shaky blocking. That should be a basis of any action/superhero movie, but it’s exceedingly rare that this doesn’t just become a mess of explosions and pew-pew lasers. Instead, with some exceptions (the scene in the aforementioned anti-proton river is a bit of a mess), he takes his time to set the scene before the punching starts.
Even better are the scenes where Gunn settles down and allows two characters to have a dialogue where the stakes are personal, rather than world-ending. A conversation between Clark and his adoptive father, Jonathan Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is sweet, and ties into the movie’s strongest theme of family — always a winner when it comes to Superman.
But even better is the relationship between Lois and Clark, which is sizzling. The absolute best scenes in the movie are an extended sequence where Lois interviews Clark as Superman, and a follow-up later on in the movie where Superman is taking a break from the madness to try and figure out what they mean to each other. Brosnahan and Corenswet throw off sparks here, and it made me wish that more of the movie was built around them, rather than the [checks notes] one million other characters. They are charming, fun… And thankfully while Lois does spend a fair amount of time worrying about Superman and her relationship to him, by the end she and the the Daily Planet crew have gotten to do their fair share of investigating and news reporting, as well. Superman might be here to save the day, but the Daily Planet does that every day.
But what works best is Gunn’s understanding of how Superman is just a good ol’ Kansas farm boy trying to do the right thing at all times. His dialogue is markedly free of cursing, unlike the rest of the characters. And Gunn’s Superman is the sort of guy who makes sure everyone else is okay in the middle of a fight. There are some dicey moments in there with a few deaths (though nothing as outright offensive as Superman killing Zod in Man of Steel). But Gunn’s grasp on how Superman is a force for good and hope is channeled through Corenswet’s steady performance, and the earnest nature of the dialogue, even if it doesn’t quite pan out in the movie’s plot.
It is unfortunate that there’s so much going on in this very, very busy movie because the bones of something iconic are there, thanks to Lois and Clark, an excellent Hoult as Lex, some fun action scenes, and solid performances throughout. This isn’t the clear shot across the bow for the new DCU that likely Gunn and Warner Bros. Discovery want. But it is fun, charming, and will please fans of Superman. Just next time, maybe focus on more than the squirrels.
Superman hits theaters on Friday, July 11.
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