Superman
It may not be great, but James Gunn's first outing with the Man of Steel certainly outshines any recent depictions of the character. Not shying away from the immigrant story of an alien adopted by human parents making Earth his home, 2025's Superman does what David Goyer and Zack Snyder struggled so mightily with every step of the DCU - it finds the heart of the character who, despite being alien, is human in all the right ways.
Superman captures some of the feel of Richard Donner's original while also adding enough of its own touches (including teasing us with variations to John Williams' original theme) to make it stand out more than Superman Returns. It's a bit too zany in places for me, and a bit too obvious in nods to current events, but when Superman stays focused on its titular character there's an awful lot to like here.
Casting wise the film wins with David Corenswet as a terrific Superman embodying the core moral center that the DCU always lacked. And speaking of terrific, Edi Gathegi certainly does the name proud in one of several supporting roles that also include Nathan Fillion as a just dickish enough Guy Gardner, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as our film's villainous billionaire obsessed with Superman. I think the film could have done better than Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell as the borderline caricatures of the Kents, but the only one the feels a truly shortchanged is Isabela Merced in the thinly-written Hawkgirl who it seems was added just to have one more hero on-screen.
The film largely embraces Silver and Bronze Age Superman with the Fortress of Solitude filled with Superman robots and Krypto (who plays a larger role in the film that I expected). And The Daily Planet looks pretty good for old school media adapting well to the 21st Century. Filling out its ranks are classic Superman characters including Lois, Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), Perry White (Wendell Pierce), and, completely unnecessarily, both Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover) and Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett).
With a plot straight out of the comics, we see Lex Luthor (Hoult) weaving events in his desperate attempts to turn public favor away from Superman after the Last Son of Krypton prevents a war bruising egos on all sides and raising questions about who this alien should answer to. Lex's elaborate plan includes everything from global politics to literal monkeys on keyboards. The film smartly plays with ideas of not only what Superman can do but what he should do, something the self-aware character struggles with more than once over the course of the film. Luthor's plan also involves a super-powered warrior of his own and a character adapted (somewhat) from the Wildstorm Universe in the Engineer (MarÃa Gabriela de FarÃa).
While I think the script gets a bit messy, relying too much on several separate CGI climaxes, the new Superman is easily the best Superman we've seen on the big screen in 45 years since Superman II. And the design of everything (except for the Justice Gang's costumes) looks amazing. Sure, I would have liked more with Lois, and the weird and superfluous patterns on Superman's suit just look bizarre and drive me nuts in every single closeup, but the film hits the big moments and leaves me far more satisfied with, and inspired by, the character than I've felt in quite some time.
Watch the trailer
