Folks, here’s another Superman review for you to check out, I thought it was fun, had great worldbuilding, but also needed some room to breathe. This is a SPOILER FREE review, so I won’t be getting into the plot details. Check out Jace’s review in the related section below.

I’ll start by saying, I was a always a big Superman comics and cartoon fan. However, I’ve so far always felt something lacking in live-action portrayals. There were parts of the Reeves movies I loved and parts I really disliked. There were a lot of good things in Man of Steel, and some small things I disliked (which had a big impact). As for TV series, Smallville was my favourite but it became stagnant due to its own self imposed limitations.

So what about Superman? Well, again there are some things I really liked, and one or two aspects that prevented it becoming a classic. As it stands, Superman is probably my favourite live-action Supes movie. However, I also think the film could have been a bit better, here and there.

The Good Man

The best thing about Superman is… Superman. This is a version of the character that fits more with my own mental image of how Superman is defined. He’s good, in many ways, better than us, who he is sworn to protect. The film does a really good job of showing how reactive we can be as a species. Also, how we can be swayed in masses.

One of Luthor’s goals in the film is to turn the public against Superman. Since Luthor is smart an inventive, he does a good job of this. Whilst we as the audience can see/know Kal-El/Clark isn’t a threat to Earth, you can kind of see why the DCU citizens can be wavered. It works.

This Superman is a boy scout, who sees the best in everyone and doesn’t understand manipulation in the way someone like Lois does. He’ll always look to save lives, minimise damage and attempt to never kill. David Corenswet does a great job and whilst I still think Cavill looks better than Corenswet, he was never given this kind of material.

Worldbuilding

This was one of my most enjoyable aspects of the movie. We are told and it’s made clear in the film, this is not ‘our Earth’. We drop into the latest adventures of a hero who has been public for 3 years. Plus, in this Earth, Metahumans and crazy science have been a part of the culture for hundreds of years.

Whilst I did have some issues with secondary characters not getting much to do, it wasn’t really on the hero side of Clark’s life. Guy Gardner, Mister Terrific were both great, though Hawkgirl didn’t get much to do at all.  Luthor’s science, imprisoned metahumans and pocket Universes etc all fit will into this more fantasy world of the DCU.

The Cast

As with most Gunn movies, the parts are all well cast. However, I feel like perhaps there are a few characters Gunn cut too much of, or didn’t write/film enough around. Nicholas Hoult was good as Luthor and the only live-action Luthor I’ve ever liked previously was Michael Rosenbaum in Smallville. The other villains – less so. Ultraman I can forgive for being mysterious and distant, but the rest of Lex’s crew weren’t fleshed out enough for me. For example, The Engineer, whom we find out is against Superman and allowed Lex to experiment on her body to help him defeat Superman. Why? Well, the movie never once tells us, or gives us any really hints what her issues with Superman is.

The Daily Planet crew, outside Lois and Jimmy are the real losers in this cut though. I get the feeling there was more shot, but this movie editing took more and more of them away until we are left with a cardboard cutout version of Perry White and Steve Lombard. Almost you could cut both from the film and notice no real difference. Why cast Steve to not have a moment where Clark gets him back for his teasing in a playful away? Perry appears a lot, but rarely gets any lines or agency.

No Room To Breathe

That leads me into my main gripe with the movie. It’s so busy, almost too busy and has too many action set-pieces. In my opinion we needed room to breathe by spending more time with Clark as Clark. See him interacting with the Daily Planet crew as they investigate Luthor themselves. The entire DP thing boiled down to Jimmy getting inside information in one easy text message (kinda).

I want to see more Clark and Lois, and it gives us room to breathe between the set-pieces. I’d have cut a whole action sequence just for more time in the Daily Planet and with Clark’s parents when he goes home. Those scenes also felt cut down and as such the Kent’s as actors didn’t get to do much. Though, their characters and what they mean to Clark are a huge part of the narrative.

RELATED: Superman Kicks Off A Brand New Era For DC Films – What Worked and What Didn’t! A Full Review

I’ll also say, as someone who’s never been much of a Krypto fan… I’m still not. Don’t get me wrong, I think Krypto worked in the context of the film. However, I would not want to see him turn up in every Superman related DCU film. Let’s leave him with Supergirl for a bit.

My final major gripe. The score?

Yes, they use the Williams theme, but not enough and not in the right places. some of the newer soundtrack is just generic background music and I couldn’t believe how little this main them was actually used in the film. This one, I just don’t understand, and I think Gunn got that choice wrong. Made the right call to bring back Williams theme. wrong call to minimise it and focus on the new stuff.

Conclusions

So, yeah, it’s fun, it’s Superman, the DCU is a cool sandbox and they’ve cast well. As a standalone movie, I’ll watch again for the cool action scenes. However, perhaps less for some of the emotional moments of the film. A little too busy, needed some room to breathe between action scenes. However, I can also get behind this squirrel saving depiction of Superman. I hope for better films to come from this new sandbox. A good start to a franchise, and a good film, but not a great film. I still await a ‘great Superman movie’, but this is the best one yet.

GRADE: B

Solid start, a bit too busy and needed more room, more Clark and more Williams. You’ll still have fun watching this in theatres though.

What do you think of my Superman review? What did you think of the film yourself? Thoughts below.

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