New Superman Flies Higher Than Expected

(071725) James Gunn’s long-awaited Superman film is now finally here after years of hype and it does not disappoint. The movie was clearly made by people who love the DC comics that understand what makes the comic characters special. The film makes it clear that James Gunn took great care to stay true not only the Superman character, but the whole DC universe. Both this film and Gunn’s much darker Creature Commandos animated series are filled with surprising little unexpected pleasures. Although Gunn is no longer associated with Marvel Universe, they would be wise to also follow his example.

Superman takes a very fresh approach to everyone’s favorite "man of steel", and there are some things here that I have never seen before in any Superman comic, TV show or film-and at least 85 percent of it works. There are also some clever nods to John Byrne’s and Alan Moore’s classic Superman comic runs and their iterations of big blue as well as many clever in-jokes that only comic fans would understand. Unlike any other introduction to Superman, this film does not make the mistake of re-telling his origin in any great length for the umpteenth time. Refreshingly it jumps right into the action after a brief screen crawl setting up the new DC Cinematic Universe..

The film starts out like a runaway freight train as we see Superman crashing the snow after getting the tar beaten out of him. At first, it is made to look like the damage was done by his little dog Krypto but later find his real foe(s) are an oversized remote-controlled robot-like armored adversary, followed by a Godzilla like dinosaur and a version of The Authority’s The Engineer who is in league with Lex Luthor. I assume you will see more of her in Gunn's proposed The Authority film (she's a member of that team), little is said here as to her motivations or alignment with Lex. These adversaries all lead to the not so mysterious final threat of Ultraman.

With each fight he saves Metropolis and Superman becomes almost universally praised and loved by the human population, especially after he saves thousands of lives by intervening in a brewing war overseas. He does receive some criticism from Guy Gardner and, of all people, Lois Lane because he did not get permission through "proper channels" to interfere in foreign affairs and there was substantial heavy collateral damage. All of which is set up for his reputation to later take a hit after Lex Luther breaks into the Fortress of Solitude and releases some tapes that Superman never saw in which his real Kryptonian birth parents talk condescendingly about humans and advising him to colonize the world. All sounding like Columbus talking about how easy it would be to conquer the indigenous people of New World. This is enough for Lex Luthor to get the help and backing from the government to hunt down the man of steel. It is very reminiscent the X-Men/Sentinels situation over on the Marvel side of the comic street. Superman is seized, arrested and denied habeas corpus because he is an undocumented alien immigrant and therefore has no rights under American law. He is sent to an offshore prison (in a "pocket universe") where he (and hundreds of others) are mistreated, beaten and tortured. I’m sure we are supposed to draw parallels to modern America although the techno billionaire (seemingly also inspired by Byrnes’s evil CEO Luthor) is even more like Musk than Trump.

David Corenswet who was in House of Cards and Pearl is not as good as Christopher Reeve in the title role, but he does a fine job in capturing Superman’s wide-eyed innocence and basic goodness. Steve Roger’s Captain America in the Marvel Universe has similar qualities. Corenswet’s portrayal puts back in all the positive Silver Age Superman traits that Henry Cavill’s portrayal in the "Snyder-verse" franchise left out. Similarly, Rachel Bresnahan’s performance (also from House of Cards) captures the comic book version of Lois Lane’s pluckiness, determination, intelligence, and likeability. Skylar Gisondo, who plays Jimmy Olsen, is ideally suited for the part and he both looks and acts much closer to the comics version than most versions. To date he is the first ginger Jimmy with a face full of freckles!

But I was most impressed by Nicholas Hoult’s turn as Lex Luthor. Hoult was a good Hank McCoy in X-Men First Class and an entertaining servant of Dracula in Renfield, but here he is a great Lex Luthor. This is especially in contrast to Jessie Eisenberg's portrayal in Batman V Superman whose version of Lex Luthor was oddly interesting despite being miscast. Hout gives the most unforgettable performance in the film, and he captures all of the evil, calculated coldness and spiteful vindictiveness of the character. I wanted to see his character die almost every second he was on the screen. To me he is by far the best Lex we’ve seen yet. The character’s abominable treatment of his underlings and contempt for humanity eventually catches up with him and proves to be his fatal flaw. This might be the best cinematic portrayal I’ve ever seen of the character. I like Gene Hackman in anything but his Lex never really stopped being Gene. Although the film is never heavy handed in its politics it’s not a stretch to see this techno utopian dictator Luthor as a surrogate for Elon Musk with a little Trump thrown in.

People complained that all the additional side heroes made the film overstuffed but I thought they all helped elevate the story and thus the film. Nathan Fillion (one of James Gunn’s best friends) is delightfully oafish in the role of Guy Gardner, everyone’s least favorite Green Lantern. Anthony Carrigan is a tragic and noble Metamorpho who only helps Lex because his infant son is being held hostage. Ed Gathegi who is also from X-Men First Class is the way above average Mr.Terrific, a kind of Batman surrogate and one of the most intelligent men alive who uses more advanced tech and less fisticuffs than the caped crusader. I was less impressed with Isabelle Mercad’s portrayal of Hawkgirl, who suffers from a lack of character development and she just comes off as another flying female hero. I liked the characters versions on the Legends of Tomorrow TV show and the various Justice League cartoons much better.

However it's no surprise that the real star of the film turns out to be Krypto, the super-dog. A character from the comics who I always thought was the biggest embarrassment in the Superman universe. But he is used well here, and at times he has as much personality as some of the human characters. The dog is usually used for comedic relief and comes off as an energetic, frequently annoying, and occasionally useful child who hardly ever listens to his surrogate parent. His relationship is described as a "foster situation", one where Superman tolerates the dog but carries out his "duty of care" responsibly, no matter how annoying the canine gets. In one of the most memorable scenes Lex Luthor keeps Krypto captive and as the dog is floating in a bowl, tormented by holograms of numerous squirrels he can never catch. It’s like a special corner of Dante’s inferno reserved just for dogs. Some online fans seem much more disturbed by this scene than Lex’s brutal murder of a human being later on. In any case, not to worry-no animals (real or CGI) are harmed in the making of this film.

James Gunn is a big Indy rock fan and he was in a punk band called the icons. In the film there is (believe it or not) a heated discussion between Lois Lane and Clark Kent about the current state punk rock. It turns out that Clark likes contemporary pop punk bands while Lois prefers the older harder driving 80's music. She thinks he is not a real punk rock devotee-all of which is an aspect of their personalities never before hinted at in other iteration of the character.

Speaking of punk, the film ends a song called “Punkrocker by the Teddy Bears, a Swedish alternative band. The song has guest vocals by the godfather of punk, Iggy Pop, and he has had his biggest hit in years because of this film, already getting almost 200,000 hits. At one point in the song Iggy even utters the line “I’m bored with being God” which possibly echoes the man of steel’s temporary dissatisfaction with his status and responsibility as a protector with godlike powers.

The film loses steam a little in the last 30 minutes or so, and the battles at the end get a bit tedious. But by this time the film has built up so much momentum and goodwill from the audience that it does not matter much. This film is largely a triumph and aside from the first two Christopher Reeves films (Superman the Movie-1978 and Superman II-1980) this is probably the most effective cinematic Superman film ever. In its best moments it helps restore DC’s sense of wonder, and it may make many audience members feel like kids again.