Josh Reviews Superman!

Back in October 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran were announced as co-heads of DC studios, and the two started working on an ambitious plan to relaunch a connected DC universe of films and TV shows.  This new DCU got a soft launch this past year with the animated Creature Commandos TV show on HBO MAX, but we’ve been waiting for the new Superman film, written and directed by James Gunn, to really see what this new DCU would be like.  This is a lot of pressure to put upon one movie (and one movie-maker).  It’s hard enough (judging by recent history) to make a good Superman movie… let alone to (re)launch a superhero universe!

I am overjoyed to report that James Gunn’s Superman is an absolute delight from start to finish.  I can’t speak to what’s ahead, but this movie is fantastic, a true gift.

I’ve been saying for years that while I’ve enjoyed the recent Batman movies (including Matt Reeves’ The Batman), that someday I’d love to see a Batman movie that is a more faithful adaptation of the Batman from the modern comic books.  Well, I guess I could have been saying the same about Superman!  James Gunn’s Superman is the faithful-to-the-comic-books adaptation of Superman that I never knew I wanted and needed!  Watching this movie feels delightfully like reading several issues of a Superman comic book.  It has all the joy and complexity and weirdness of DC comic books.  This made me so happy.

I love that the film doesn’t feel the need to re-tell Superman’s origin yet again, or to present us a Superman who is the lone superhero in the world.  This new Superman movie instead drops us into a very comic-book-like world in which there are tons of super-powered heroes and villains.  We get backstories on some of them, while others are just hinted at.  (I love that this movie just drops Metamorpho into the story mid-movie, with very little explanation!  Metamorpho!!  Looking EXACTLY like he does in the comics!!  That they made this very weird character work on screen is a testament to everything this move does right.)  In many ways, this feels like the eighth movie in a series, not the first.  I love this.

Most importantly, this movie gets the tone of Superman exactly right.  After years of the dour, violent Snyderverse movies (that began with Man of Steel, a movie that I do quite like, at least until the last 15-ish minutes), this Superman is a welcome course correction.  This Superman is nice!  He smiles!  He’s good!  He saves people!  (And animals!)  His costume is in bright colors (and even has the classic — and very silly to a modern audience — red trunks)!  I didn’t need the red trunks, but everything else made me so happy and was exactly right.  David Corenswet is near-perfect as Superman.  He’s got that great handsome square-jawed Superman face, but more importantly, he’s able to convey goodness and kindness without looking corny or stupid.  He pulls off the same magic trick that Chris Evans did as Captain America — showing that when you take this character seriously and play the character’s goodness without irony, but instead with genuine emotional richness, it works!  I love that this Superman gets a ton of action — there was nothing in the Donner films or Superman Returns (a film which I like and defend) that comes anywhere close to all the fun monster-fighting action in this movie.  (Supes’ battle with the giant Kaiju is a highlight.)  And, correctly, this movie isn’t just about the fights; it’s grounded in character.

Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) is fantastic as Lois Lane.  I love this Lois, who is clearly smart and a damn good reporter.  I love that she’s far more aware of the ethical mine-field that she and Clark are walking than Clark is.  I love that she’s the one (assisted by Jimmy) who’s able to unravel Lex’s plan at the end.  I love that she doesn’t ever — not once!! — need to be rescued by Clark/Superman during this movie.  To the contrary, it’s Lois who rescues him!  This is great.  Ms. Brosnahan and Mr. Corenswet have wonderful chemistry together.  The movie really sings when they’re on-screen together.  I absolutely adore the lengthy scene, early in the film, in which Lois tries to interview Clark/Superman and it goes as badly as she knew it would.  These two actors are phenomenal playing off of one another (and Mr. Gunn’s sharp writing is fantastic).

Nicholas Hoult (moving to DC after playing Hank McCoy/The Beast in the X-Men: First Class series of films) is also fantastic as Lex Luthor.  This Lex isn’t campy and thankfully is no longer obsessed with real estate (like Gene Hackman & Kevin Spacey’s versions of the character were).  This Lex — correctly — hates Superman, and destroying Superman is his number one goal.  I love that this Lex has all the mad-science genius (and reckless disregard for others’ safety) that he does in the comics!  I love that this Lex tosses off his creation of a pocket universe as almost nothing, just something he did on the side.  (This wouldn’t have worked with any of the previous, more grounded, cinematic versions of Lex, but it works perfectly in this more comic-booky type of movie.)  At the same time, I love how emotionally grounded this Lex is.  When Superman breaks him at the end of the film, and we see tears in Lex’s eyes, the moment really lands!  That’s a great testament to the quality of the writing and Mr. Hoult’s performance.

Are these the best cinematic depictions we’ve ever gotten of these three characters??  My heart loves the Donner films, but I don’t think there’s much question that all three of these actors (assisted by Mr. Gunn’s great script) hew more closely to the best comic book versions of these characters than we’ve ever gotten before.  It’s pretty cool.

And moving beyond these pitch-perfect leading trio, the film has an enormously deep bench of fantastic actors in supporting roles!

I’ve gotta start with Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner.  I have of course always loved Mr. Fillion’s work ever since Firefly.  He’s popped up in small roles in many of James Gunn’s previous films.  He is the absolutely perfect real-life incarnation of Kevin Maguire’s drawings of Guy Gardner.  Mr. Fillion looks and sounds perfect.  Hearing him call Superman “big blue” made my heart sing with joy.  I loved every second Mr. Fillion was on screen.  (I’m thrilled he’s going to be back in both Peacemaker season 2 and the upcoming Lanterns show!!)  I can’t believe we got such a perfect representation of Guy Gardner on screen!!

Is Krypto the secret star of this movie??  Holy moley, I never thought we’d see Krypto on screen, nor did I ever have any interest in seeing a super-pet.  But Krypto makes this movie!!  What a joy to see how James Gunn had such a passion for this character — who, as we all now know, was based on Mr. Gunn’s own dog, Ozu.  It’s so impressive how not only did Mr. Gunn manage to include Krypto in a way that works, but also he made Krypto the heart of the movie!  (Superman’s focus on saving his dog is such a key piece of this character, and how he cares about everyone and everything — again, in contrast to the Snyderverse depiction.)  And the visual effects that brought Krypto to life are near perfect.

Edi Gathegi (terrific as another genius on For All Mankind) is wonderful as Mister Terrific, another great mid-level DC character who I never expected to see brought to life on screen, let alone as perfectly as this.  His mask!  His “Fair Play” jacket!  His T-spheres!!  Amazing!!  I love how much screen time Mr. Gathegi gets as Mr. Terrific; I love how funny this prickly genius is.  Rounding out the “Justice Gang” is Isabela Merced, who looks the part as Hawkgirl — they did an amazing job creating a comic-book-accurate version of her cool-looking helmet & costume — though she doesn’t have much to actually do in the movie.

Anthony Carrigan (so memorable as NoHo Hank on Barry) is wonderful as Metamorpho.  He’s got to do great work to ground this weird-looking character, who’s dropped into the middle of the movie with little explanation of his backstory.  Mr. Carrigan makes it all work.  The costume/make-up is perfection — beautifully bringing Metamorpho to life, looking exactly like his memorably crazy look in the comics.  Mr. Carrigan does a nice job of creating a character through all the makeup.

Skyler Gisondo (Licorice Pizza) is phenomenal as Jimmy Olsen.  This is for sure the best Jimmy we’ve ever gotten on screen!  I love how funny this Jimmy is, and that he’s smart enough to be a part of breaking the story that brings down Lex, but also not so smart — it’s Lois who puts all the pieces together.  That’s perfect.  I love that this Jimmy, rather than being a gosh-golly nerd, is actually something of a ladies’ man.  I wasn’t sure at first about Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, but I totally loved her by the end of the film!  Ms. Sampaio’s performance is perfectly modulated.  Miss Tessmacher was created for Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie.  I wasn’t exactly desperate to ever see that character again, so bravo to James Gunn & co. for making her work so well in this movie.  (Also, the joke of Jimmy’s name for Eve on his phone lands very well.)

I love the whole Daily Planet gang, though I wish they were in the movie more.  (This might be my only substantive complaint about this movie!)  Wendell Pierce is terrific casting as Perry White, and I love that we get the rest of the classic Daily Planet bullpen gang: Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard; Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant; and Christopher McDonald as Ron Troupe.  They were all great and perfectly cast (Mr. Bennett is very funny as Steve Lombard!), though I wish we’d gotten a few more scenes with them.  (This movie actually has surprisingly little Clark Kent!  It’s strange but sort of cool.  I love how much Superman is in this Superman movie!!  And at the same time, I’d have loved to have gotten a few more scenes of Clark with this group.  I’d also have liked had we even gotten one line of one of them wondering where the heck Clark was during the second half of the movie…)

I was intrigued by the inclusion of the Engineer, a character who originated in Jim Lee’s Wildstorm Universe.  María Gabriela de Faría does nice work as the character, though we didn’t get to know her as well as I’d hoped.  Why is she on Lex Luthor’s side?  (Lex actually seems to care about her at one point; I wonder what the backstory is there?)  I liked seeing her kick ass in the Fortress of Solitude.  I was also intrigued by seeing how she changed after interacting with the Kryptonian tech.  That didn’t pay off in this movie… seeds for a sequel, perhaps?  (There’s been talk of an Authority movie — the Engineer is part of that team — but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen.)

I quite liked Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell as Pa and Ma Kent.  Mr. Gunn really leaned into the Kansas aspect of these two; we’ve never before seen a Ma and Pa Kent who talked like that.  It took me a little getting used to, but in the end I was quite taken with these new twists on these classic characters.  Best of all, I was thrilled to see a return to the correct characterizations of Ma and Pa Kent as caring, loving, morally centered people, after the weird versions we got in the Snyder movies.  (Where Pa Kent repeatedly tells Clark not to help people and Ma Kent tells him he doesn’t owe the world anything.  Oy!).

I was intrigued when they announced that Frank Grillo (who played Crossbones in the MCU) would be playing Rick Flagg Sr. in both the animated Creature Commandos and this Superman movie.  (This character also connects to Mr. Gunn’s work in the previous DCEU movie continuity, because he’s the father of Rick Flagg, who was in both previous Suicide Squad movies.)  Mr. Grillo has a good look as Flagg, but I was surprised that he doesn’t have more to do in the movie.  I thought he’d be more of an antagonist, but he seems to be sort of neutral where Superman is concerned.  He also seemed quite different from the more playful, heroic Flagg seen in Creature Commandos.  So this character crossover fell a little short for me.  But I’d be happy to see him pop up in future movies or shows!

I loved that Mr. Gunn & Co. made the smart choice to make use of John William’s classic Superman theme.  This IS the iconic Superman theme at this point!  Composers John Murphy & David Flemming did a nice job remixing the theme to give it a different, updated feel.  I quite liked the twangy electric guitar version we heard in the trailers.  I will say that I’d have been happier if we’d gotten at least one more straightforward, full-throated version of the classic theme, in its classic arrangement, in the film’s climax.  The reworked versions are fun, but that classic version just cannot be beat.

I was also happy to see some other nods to the Donner films, such as in the look of the film’s credits.  That was fun.

I have a few more things to say, but now we’re getting SPOILERY, so beware!

• I loved the look of the Fortress of Solitude!  It was a wonderful combination of the ice-crystal look from the Donner films with a more retro look.
• Speaking of retro: I loved the Superman robots!  They were so silly, but somehow they worked and I cared about them!  Alan Tudyk voices another great robot!!  (Mr. Tudyk, of course, voiced K2-SO in Rogue One and Andor.)
• It took me out of the movie for a second to see Bradley Cooper as Jor-El.  That was a funny choice.
• That this movie presents Jor-El and Lara as evil, sending Kal-El to Earth to conquer it (and start a harem??), was a bold choice.  It’s the film’s one major divergence from classic DC Comics lore.  I don’t love the choice, but it works well with the story James Gunn is telling here, and it builds to a great pay-off with the film’s final (pre-credits) sequence.  So it works for me.  I wonder if this will be revisited (and perhaps walked back?) in a future film?
• We got a Miss Tessmacher, so I guess we also had to get an Otis!  I smiled when they said Luthor’s henchman’s name.  I’m glad this Otis seems more competent (and more safety-conscious) that the original Otis from the Donner films!
• It seems clear that the Ultraman character is supposed to eventually become Bizarro.  (Don’t think I didn’t notice those square shapes in the dimensional rift.)  I’m tickled by the idea of seeing Bizarro on screen; I wish they’d actually gone further and included Bizarro here.  Just getting the Superman clone was boring to me.  (We’ve seen superheroes fighting a clone or doppelganger in several previous movies — such as Logan — and even previous Superman movies, such as Superman III and IV.)
• I was thrilled that John Cena popped up in a cameo as Peacemaker!  I’m so glad he’s survived into the new DC continuity!
• I was also delighted that Milly Alcock appeared at the end, perfectly setting up her film which will adapt Tom King & Bilquis Evely’s wonderful mini-series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  And I loved the payoff to Supes’ comment that Krypto was a “foster situation” by revealing that Krypto was actually Supergirl’s dog!  That not only connects beautifully with the story of Woman of Tomorrow (no spoilers here, but go read it if you haven’t!!), but it helps explain Krypto’s origins.  I was wondering throughout the movie where this super-powered dog came from.  I didn’t need to know, but I was wondering.  Explaining at the end that Krypto arrived on Earth along with Supergirl makes perfect sense!  Fantastic.
• I liked seeing references to Stagg Industries, and I liked seeing Sean Gunn pop up briefly as Maxwell Lord.  They didn’t do a great job with this character in Wonder Woman 1984, so I’d love to see more of him in this new continuity.
• The post-credits scenes were fine — sweet and silly — though not particularly memorable.

I could go on and on… this was a great movie!!  I loved it and I can’t wait to see it again!

This is both a fantastic stand-alone Superman movie, and also a wonderful whetting of the appetite for what I hope this new DC Universe of connected movies and TV shows will become.  I’m excited to see what’s ahead.

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