Written by Sam Clark
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 129 minutes
Director: James Gunn
There once was a time where comic book cinema was lauded within Hollywood. Audiences would flood to see them with giddy excitement, eagerly anticipating what comes next, obliteratin box office records in the process. Nowadays however, DC suddenly find themselves in a fight for survival as a result of failure after failure after failure, the worst of which includes the treatment of Henry Cavil's "Superman" (has there ever been a bigger disservice to an actor that this?). The same argument could be made for Marvel's current position, but that's a whole other conversation and this is far more serious anyway.
We are now on the second reboot of "Superman", and if that's not bad enough, there are still millions out there who still refuse a new "Superman" and believe he's the only one. It's now or never to get this finally right and if not, who knows what will happen. And it is here that James Gunn (of "Guardians of the Galaxy" fame) takes over as CEO of DC Studios. Not just CEO however, but he will also write and direct projects. He must swoop in to the rescue and salvage what he can. First mission: deliver the people a true and proper "Superman" film to get the ball rolling as there is no better way.
I simple cannot remember a time where a film needed to succeed more than this does. Needless to say, everyone is at the ready and on standby; hardcore fans waiting for a true and proper portrayal and hardcore haters waiting to tear it to pieces; let the battle commence... "Clark Kent" aka "Superman" (David Corenswet) is three years into his role as "Superman" and is living in New York as a reporter at the "Daily Planet". "Lois Lane" (Rachel Brosnahan) knows of his secret identity and the two are secretly seeing each other.
Image credit: IMDb / DC Studios / Warner Bros. Pictures
If one thing is for certain, this is by far the most political superhero flick ever made. "Superman" winds up intervening in a conflict between Boravia and Jarhanpur in order to prevent a war, but as a result causes a global panic and outcry and ends up falling directly into a trap set by "Lex Luthor" (Nicholas Hoult). He is determined to convince world leaders and governments of "Superman's risk and danger, for which he will use fake news and forged evidence to do so.
He must confront "Luthor" with the help of the "Justice Gang" which includes "Green Lantern" "Guy Gardener" (Nathan Fillion), "Mr. Terrific" (Edi Gathegi) and "Hawkgirl" (Isabela Merced) and convince the world he is not the threat they are told he his. However ridiculous "Superman" is at points, one thing was made abundantly clear to me throughout the whole film: this is made by someone who LOVES comic books. Almost every frame of this looks as though it was lifted straight from the source material. Should any complaint arise about how cartoonish this may look and appear, this question should be asked: what else do you expect from a film like this? This is certainly only comic book film I have seen that has understood the assignment the most.
Christopher Reeve is by far the most cherished actor to have donned the cape, but I must put my hands up and say that I think David Corenswet topped him here. The hardest and most important thing to get right about the character is his humanity and vulnerability. Gunn has truly dug deep here and exploited that as much as he could, we have never seen "Superman" like this before. Corenswet takes center stage and commands the screen fantastically in these moments, delivering one fiery speech in particular about his weaknesses that Reeve himself would be proud of, and I dare say I got chills. I thought the whole cast were great in general, especially "Lois", "Clark's parents Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince as "Ma" and "Pa Kent".
Image credit: IMDb / DC Studios / Warner Bros. Pictures
Nicolas Hoult delivers the best on screen "Lex Luthor" we've ever had, and is every bit as frustrated (the angriest we have ever seen the character), slimy and cocky as one would hope from the character (yes, Hackman did it well, but Hoult's raised the bar here - ironic since he actually auditioned to play "Superman" in this!). I'm not sure how many were/are aware of the complaints of the suit when it was first revealed, but outrage quickly spread online when fans caught their first glimpse of it. Many will simply not care about this, but I sadly did not feel the intimidation factor you are meant to with this character because of a very poor costume choice.
I do think Corenswet's suit is a severe downgrade from Cavill"s in just about every regard, and I genuinely don't know how it was greenlit. Not only is it worse than Cavill's, but it can't even match Brandon Routh's suit from 2006's ''Superman Returns'' or the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" TV show. When something made for television makes you look bad in comparison, it needs attention. For the first time since Reeve in '78, we have a 6'4 actor whose hulking physique is hidden and ruined by a poor, baggy costume (if you have seen the pictures of him in the gym preparing for this role, you'd understand too).
Cavill's was skin tight and had great definition, whereas this one does just look like expensive pyjamas. Word on the street is that Corenswet will receive a new one, sooner the better please. I was aware of various tabloid headlines regarding the film's political messages running up to this, but I was not ready for just how frontal and obvious they were going to be. Despite the fact the film shouldn't just be about this, when it does dive into these areas, it does it as well as it can - certainly more than any other film has ever done in this genre. Given the current climate, "Superman" is not at all subtle with what it is saying - the biggest one of all includes him being labelled an "alien" from far away which has some relevancy (not to mention a global conflict being forefront in the story anyway).
Image credit: IMDb / DC Studios / Warner Bros. Pictures
This isn't what people will be going in for, but it took me by surprise how much these things are discussed. This has already ruffled many feathers and we will just have to see what comes of it. Given how we become so accustomed to Snyder's dark and gritty "Superman", anything even slightly more cheerful is destined to be sneered at. But if there's one person who understands how to bring comic aesthetic to life, it is Gunn. This is a bright and sparkly film through and through and is even childish at points. But this is what these films are supposed to be like (if you don't like that, maybe this films aren't for you), and we finally have someone who knows how to properly deliver that.
At no point did we see Cavill actually be "Superman" like we do here which is the crucial part, this is back to the roots and the basics of him saving people- you would've thought they knew to do that but apparently not. It's going to take some a while to get used to this, and some may never. DC needed to win here more than ever before. It's not perfect, but certainly a step in the right direction.
In cinemas now
