An outstanding understanding of the core values of Superman and what he stands for, all while being wrapped up in stunning visuals, beautiful action, satisfying story, and hope. Also, I can always rely on Gunn to introduce me to awesome music.
The emotion that this movie was able to get out of me was surprising. I usually don’t get teary eyed in media unless it relates to my personal trauma. However, there’s a scene in the 3rd act that does so many things for me. I feel like having Superman be a beacon of hope is something that, in both live action and animated portrayals, simply fall short of the representation of hope that Superman emits… The best Superman stories are internal. Recently, My Adventures with Superman showcase him learning to be a hero, Superman & Lois showcase Smallville and parental struggles, the Snyderverse portrays the Man of Steel as a God he emits more faith and invoking his hope as supposed to him emitting it. All those interpretations are fantastic, but what Superman embodies seems to fall to the wayside for more on the surface story telling. Here, you have people believing in the concept of Superman so much that they would bet on him with their lives. The combination of just finally getting that hope on screen, the people praying to Superman, the children chanting his name… crazy to say that it was able to elicit such emotion from me that it brought me to near tears.
When it comes to David Corenswet, I believe that he does an outstanding job with his performance. He has such an inviting ambience, which is something that I feel all superheroes should have. In terms of comparison to other iterations of the character, let’s see him do this again. Literally all of the other actors have been able to portray the Man of Steel more than once, including Brandon Routh. I would have loved to see more of the Clark Kent persona, his Clark is fantastic, but I am hesitant to elaborate on the greatness of it because we only were able to experience a few minutes of it. For the small amount of time, we did get it, it was utterly fantastic!
Nicholas Hoult brings a Shakespearean performance to the big screen. All the fascinating and terrible qualities that Lex Luthor is, Hoult is. For me, Lex Luthor is the most evil villain, period. He hates to hate, does evil things for evil things sake, and ensure he utilizes his God given intellect to shape a, to him, broken world in his image. He wins like an evil loser and loses like an evil loser, for everything he’s able to accomplish, the only thing he cares about is his ego and the downfall of metahumans. His goals are so clear, and unlike Thanos who’s goals were to save the universe, Luthor wants to best Superman, and let the world know. Sometimes bad guys just need to have bad guy motives and that’s ok. People want to ground these extraterrestrial villains when, to me, they should just want to take over. Lex Luthor is that guy, he’s HIM. I loved everything about Lex, and as much as I was satisfied by this film, having who I think is the most evil bad guy be depicted as such, was simply euphoric.
Rachel Brosnahan embodies the role of Lois Lane. She has the BDE that Lois wreaks of when she is properly written in the comics. I do currently stand by Elizabeth Tulloch is the best Lois Lane since the great Margot Kidder, but Brosnahan cooks here. For all the flaws and strengths that she is, she kills it. I love how she’s just not depicted as a great female reporter, but just a great reporter in general. Would love to see just her and Corenswet as just Lois & Clark in other IP’s to showcase connectivity and to peak my own curiosity of seeing more of those two.
The rest of the cast is great! Gunn knows how to cast to his strengths. Because of his writing style he gets people in his movies that have great comedic timing. I’m also an advocate that inherently comedic actors make the best dramatic actors due to their timing, and yes they are few and far between, but the more somber and serious moments, the rest of the cast are able to execute. We didn’t get much time with the Justice Gang, but their impact on screen is enough to leave audiences wanting so much more. What they did with Isabel Merced as Hawkgirl was awesome! Her roar when she’s attacking, like why haven’t we gotten that more in other iterations? Mr. Terrific is brought to life by Edi Gathegi ironically with so much stoicism that it emotes so hard through his persona. Also, hands down the best fight scene in the movie was… TERRIFIC. Du dum tsh. He literally steals the scene every time he’s on screen… no notes for this cast.
I do want a separate paragraph for Green Lantern. I am one of the biggest Green Lantern fanboys out there, I have all the rings, I love all the different GL’s, I know all the oaths. And 2011’s Green Lantern was the first movie that hurt me. We’ve come a long way and understandably the franchise has been hesitant to bring GL back to life on the big screen. At first I was unsure about having Guy Gardner as the first representation of GL for the DCU. Oh man were my concerns flushed down the toilet when those constructs hit the screen and started doing damage. Guy fits the tone that James Gunn was setting, Guy is hardcore but fun and Nathan Fillion brings him to life. As a GL aficionado, I’m so excited for the future of Green Lantern. I hope the studio gives the appropriate budget to Lanterns and future renditions of the show to continuously showcase how great Green Lanterns are. We are in the day and age of Green Lantern, I’m happy to see the excitement grow for this franchise that I love so deeply.
No real criticisms from me, I do feel that the change they do to Supermans origin is a little TOO convenient because of the way people are, but also towards the climax the same mass amount of people is swayed back with an article. So yeah, it does go one way but it equally goes the other way so it doesn’t really ruin the movie for me. Also with James Gunns screenwriting, I’m just not the biggest fan of his style of tone shifting with jokes, but again, not enough to make me dislike anything really. It's hard to really focus on the bad when there's so much greatness, like the best superhero kiss since 2002.
The colorful aesthetic is a big shift from the previous universe, but it does come off as more inviting, just like with Corenswets Superman. As much as I loved the Snyderverse and championed for its continuation, we are here now and I don’t see it as being unsuccessful, as fans of comic book media or just fans of DC, we want these films to be successful and to be successful they have to be good, and to me there is no denying the quality of this movie. Superman actually saves everyone he can, and therefore I can actually say this is the closest to a comic book universe that I actually wouldn’t mind living in. The music hits so hard in this movie, John Murphy & David Fleming cook Michelin star grub for this soundtrack. We were so blinded by the Superman theme, that we weren’t ready for how HARD the Luthor theme goes. It sounds so beautifully disgusting and full of malice. Also, that Green Lantern music during the war scene *chefs kiss* please continue to give me all of the it. The camera work and cinematography were brilliant and elevated the visuals.
The beauty of Superman brought me to tears. It’s hard to determine greatness in cinema, but James Gunn was tasked on not only starting a universe, but with saving a studio and future of a comic book franchise. All while ensuring that this movie was at the very least, watchable. For me, he executed. Hopefully this regime treats Gunn better than they did to Zack Snyder and his vision. This is a great movie, and worth your time.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
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