Superman - Review
Growing up my first introductions to the character of Superman were through things like Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Superman: The Animated Series. Both of those shows were vastly different, but still fun to watch and it would not be until Superman Returns in 2006 that I got to see a new Superman movie. My love of the character has never wavered, even when some of the productions that feature him have been less than great, so with this new movie I was optimistic going in. So, the question that remains is, was that optimism rewarded, or was my hope left next to a block of Kryptonite?
Before I go any further, I will say that there will be no spoilers in this review, just a basic setup for context.
The story setup is that it has been 3 years since Superman revealed himself to the world, donning the outfit and starting to save people. In that time the world’s reaction has been positive, well mostly, as there are a few people that are not quite onboard with an alien hero. That setup, the love and hate for the character, carries across the movie and it honestly feels true to who he is, it shows up all the time in the other adaptations of Superman, so it is great to see here.
The weight of the movie was always going to rest of the three leads, David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult. For those who are not aware, they play Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor respectively. Superman is such an iconic character that no matter the actor who took on the role, there was always going to be doubt that they could do it justice and I believe Corenswet was able to play Superman perfectly. I do counter that with his lack of screentime as Clark Kent, when we get moments of him as Clark, they are fun, we just don’t get enough of them. Of course, the other half of Lois and Clark, is Lois Lane and going in I had no connection to Brosnahan’s previous work, so she was brand new to me. The clip of Lois interviewing Superman has been around for a while now and it is expanded in the movie; it is a dynamic we rarely get to see between the two characters. There is more I would love to say about Lois’ role in the movie, but that would be spoilers, so I will just say, she does more and less than you expect.
Lex Luthor has always been Superman’s greatest foe, at least for me, because this is a man without powers or abilities, that can often take the fight directly to Superman. Of course, he does so with money and technology, but he does not have flight or super strength like many of the other enemies of Superman do and it still feels like fair fight at times. When Hoult was cast as Lex, I was not sure how to feel, as I have often seen the actor playing good guys and I am happy to be proven wrong. Hoult’s Luthor is maniacal, focused and just plain old fun to see in action. There are times when you will want to throttle him and times when you can’t help but be impressed by what he is doing. The overall plan that Luthor has for Superman is a bit convoluted at times, but Hoult manages to add a level of believability to it, that you don’t question it too much.
The rest of the cast is honestly broken into two groups, those that have an impact to the story and those that do not. Mister Terrific, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Jimmy Olsen and a few more fall into the former category and pretty much everyone else falls into the latter. There are some baddies that have some good moments, but again spoilers, so I will leave them be. The issue I have with the cast is that I just felt like there were too many people in it, and as a result there are some that look important, but just end up padding the background. There are also scenes of characters that are connected to the greater DCU, like Frank Grillo, who is playing Rick Flag Sr, a role he began in the animated Creature Commandos and will continue in season 2 of Peacemaker. Because of the large cast the movie has, there is just so much going on towards the end, that it feels like trying to keep things straight is more of a challenge than it should be.
After Man of Steel and that series of movies, the one thing I knew coming into Superman, was that it would not be as dark. There are times when the movie has some serious moments, so tonally it can be dark, but visually is where it shines, literally. The character of Superman has often been associated with bright colours, which is why he is often a great foil to the dark Batman, so having a bright world is once again fantastic. Please don’t misunderstand, there are some darker moments, but they fit the story, so it never feels like it is dark for the sake of being dark. We have all seen shots of the giant monster and Superman fighting it and while I worried that the cartoon like aesthetic for the creature would feel out of place, it was not. Of course, perhaps the star of the visual effects has to be Krypto, the super powered canine that causes chaos that only dogs can do. There are a lot of moments with the pooch and while not all the shots are perfect, they are still executed wonderfully and it adds a sense of realism to the character, which is nice.
The one final thing I wanted to touch on was the soundtrack, because there are some great moments and some less than stellar ones. Composers John Murphy and David Fleming have crafted some great melodies for the movie, but they are all overshadowed by the repeating use of the John Williams piece, Superman Theme. Please, do not get me wrong as I love that theme, when you hear it, you hear Superman. The problem here is that they clearly wanted to use it, but also not and you end up with this slow guitar version that often feels out of place with the on-screen beats. There are a few songs used from actual bands, which fits the James Gunn pattern, but there is one sequence where the song just felt wrong for the action on screen. It honestly made me think of the sequence in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where the arrow is flying around. This particular scene here, with the music and the camera spinning, it feels like someone trying to replicate that scene and failing and I suspect it was the song that did that.
Superman is a good movie, there are some elements of the character that don’t quite match up to what they should be, but it is much better than Man of Steel. The film is honestly carried by Corenswet and Hoult and their dynamic between Superman and Lex Luthor, which is why it’s fun to see them interact on screen. Most of the other major characters all have moments of fun but saying anything would spoil those. The movie does however feel like it has too many characters and as a result, there are often many of them that are left underused. The pace does feel rushed at times, and I can understand why, but the result does mean if you are not paying attention, you might miss something. Superman is not a perfect Superman movie, but it is a damn good one and is one of the best versions of the character that we have seen in a long time. So, I would highly suggest that you look up the session times for this one and check it out as soon as you can.
The Score
8.5
Early screening provided by Warner Bros
The Pros
Corenswet is a pretty great Superman and Hoult’s Luthor is a fantastic counter to it, with their dynamic being fun all the time
Krypto is a great addition to the story and like any dog would, sometimes causes the best amount of chaos
The Cons
There are just too many characters in the movie and many of them feel like they are there to pad the background
The one scene with the music just did not land for me
