How Does It Measure Up for the Average Movie-Goer
7 out of 10 STARS
Superman must face Lex Luther on a revenge war path but this time with governments, portals and social media at his disposal. Using Superman’s own alien Kryptonian heritage against him, Lex seeks out a myriad of ways to take the most hated “megahuman” out with years of study under his belt. Superman must keep his wits about him as the embodiment of truth, justice, and the human way against a series of traps, enemies, and world domination scenarios, but he is not in the battle alone.
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The Good: You can’t go wrong visually with a James Gunn film, and this film doesn’t hold back on this element. From Giants, to Superman’s Ice Palace, to Portals, to free falls down the city of Metropolis, to cute flight and fight spirit of a Super Dog, visually, this film has IT. Superhero eye candy in its own right. Krypto, the dog, often steals the show along with the robots at Superman’s Ice Palace.
David Cornswet did a pretty good job as Superman with the script he was given, which threw him forward in time, and not a lot of authentic emotional appeal. He looks the part and has many cool fighting scenes, which make up for the less believable emotional ones. The two believable emotional parts are when Lex took his dog and when he learns the true nature of his mission from his Kryptonian parents.
Rachel Brosnahan, playing Lois Lane, also does a pretty good job coming off her role as the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Although the risk involved in their relationship is missing, like in the older films, it is still a decent love interest, and she does a good job playing a kick-ass Lois.
It is also cool that the filmmaker brought in members of the Justice League to help Superman at points to show we all need each other and to add in other elements of tension and super powers.
All Superman films reflect metaphorically what is going on politically in our time, and this one is no different. This Lex Luther is a billionaire sociopath in the pockets and minds of influencer leaders across the globe as well as weaponizing social media. There is an emphasis here that inner emotional work for the characters is harder than fighting off inter-dimensional beings, like the scene where Lois is counseling Superman while others fight a huge being just outside the window. It’s kind of silly, a funny concept but also can be annoying because a part of me wanted to see that fight out the window!
The Bad: Nicholas Hoult plays Lex Luther, and I think probably the youth will like him, but I found him at times strongly believable and not so much at other times. There’s really no reason given to us for his hatred and envy of Superman that he goes on about. He is very young and at times it felt like a 19-year-old having a temper tantrum rather than an adult.
The film had a great, cool enemy in the beginning called Hammerhand, but pretty quickly after that, he takes off his armor, and all we see is him in his underwear until the end, where there is, granted, a big reveal of who he has been. However, I think it would have been much stronger to keep him in the armor than in his villain under-roos.
Emotional ties for Superman to his adopted parents just aren’t strong enough in this film for me. We aren’t given enough time with them, nor are the characters themselves all that believable. They are more like comical caricatures. This goes also for the real risk and tension in Superman/Clark’s with Lois. There isn’t much of a Clark tension at all. I wouldn’t even call it a tremor.
The Ugly: I am liberal, but some parts of this film were even too woke for me (I say this in jest). I want Superman to have emotion but not be a p***y. There are points where he is rescuing so many things, and he rescues a squirrel. I’m hoping that was in jest but all around, he was so gentle, it bordered on overkill. One giant monster he didn’t want his fellow Justice League Members to kill because he thought it could be brought in to study.
The Justice League is a cool idea for the sense of teamwork and added characters. They do add to the film. But there is an element of disappointment to it also. Guy Gardner with his bowl haircut is annoying, and Mr. Terrific comes off less than terrific until the action really gets going, then he hits his stride with Lois. It’s a lackluster group that is a hit and miss in the film. Metamorpho, though, is a good hit, but he comes in near the end of the film.
Overall, this is a worthwhile Superman film to see on the Big Screen in 3D or IMAX. It has its slow points. Don’t go in thinking it is going to wow you unless you are really into emotionally charged metaphors, because although this film has its moments of visual spectacle and does entertain with splashes of Superman-esque moments, this is an in-depth look, much like Batman starring Robert Patteson.
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