Released: 10th July
Seen: 16th July
Now that it’s officially over, we can admit that the DCEU was an interesting experiment that went off the rails almost instantly. A franchise born out of an attempt to play catch-up to Marvel, it tried to be the alternative to the MCU in every way. If Marvel was bright and colourful, the DCEU was dark and dour. If the MCU took its time to build up to major events, the DCEU would do major event films pretty much right away and fill in the blanks afterwards. If the MCU was good, the DCEU was… bad, for the most part. That entire franchise was bad, and one of the elements that will probably age the worst in hindsight was its portrayal of the big Blue Boy Scout, Superman. Don’t get me wrong, Henry Cavill was a pretty great embodiment of what a superhero should look like in terms of physical mass, but there was something that always felt like it was missing from the character, a specific trait that made Superman an icon that has lasted for nearly a century… kindness. The DCEU seemed devoid of the notion of kindness and light, and thus it felt like Superman was just flat out wrong. Well, now DC is under new movie management and to restart the cinematic universe, James Gunn has brought us a brand new Superman and remembered to stop and pick up a little bit of kindness on the way.
Superman begins by making a few basic assumptions (assumptions that a property that’s been world famous since the 1930s is allowed to make). First off, it assumes you know how Superman (David Corenswet) came to earth, that he’s disguised as a reporter for the Daily Planet known as Clark Kent and that he is in a relationship with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), With those assumptions in place it’s able to skip the standard origin story and just start with Superman losing his first fight ever against a mysterious being known as the “Hammer of Boravia”, who he was fighting around the streets of Metropolis because he had previously stopped the nation of Boravia from invading it’s neighbouring country Jarhanpur. This creates a perception that Superman believes he is above everyone else and can just stop wars at will and, combined with an important plot reveal I’m not going to spoil, has turned Superman from the person everyone relies on and reveres into an illegal alien that everyone fears and wants to see removed before he hurts someone. This gives Superman’s enemy, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult,) the chance that he needs to use his technology and infinite intellect to take down the superhero for good.
From the moment that Superman begins, it trusts the audience, trusts that you know enough about the big elements of this mythos that it can just begin in the middle of a big battle and go from there. It trusts that the audience will keep up with it while it does a speed run of a massive world conflict (that feels oddly similar to Russia/Ukraine or Israel/Gaza), and it trusts that the audience is going to side with Superman the whole way through. It helps that they do this by presenting the kindest, purest version of Superman that we’ve seen in decades. Within minutes of first seeing him, you feel for him, you can feel the goodness in him that makes him special and worth following. When he exclaims that he doesn’t represent anyone other than himself and “Doing good”, you believe it. This is a Superman worthy of putting your trust and your faith in because all he wants to do is what’s good, to the point where he will take the time to save a squirrel from getting crushed in the middle of a fight. That kindness earns the trust the film needs for it to work.
On the whole, Superman is a film about the power of kindness and doing what’s right. Superman looks at a conflict where someone is using false pretences to invade and slaughter people to take over their land and knows which side is the right one, Superman looks at a giant fire-breathing monster and not only wants to keep it alive without hurting anyone but figures out a way to get the fire from blowing into buildings. This is a Superman who is, undeniably, woke… because he’s a good person who does the right thing and doesn’t want to hurt people. It’s not even subtle, it’s about as blunt as can be that Superman stands out for his kindness, even Lois is more snarky than Superman is, because he was raised properly. The film never shies away from that, it’s what makes Superman the character that we know and love and this movie, and the performer playing Superman, absolutely understands it. We’ve had some truly great Supermen on film and TV and Corenswet makes a claim for being in the top 3 performers who played him (No one is beating Reeves, but I don’t think anyone expects that performance to be beaten).
Acting in perfect counterbalance to the kindness of Superman is the evil Muskian dickishness of Lex Luthor, a character so vile you can tell that the actor had a blast getting to be that much of an unsavoury cunt. We needed someone to present a modern evil Lex, especially after how bad the last Lex in cinema was, and god damn it this one is just gloriously cruel which makes him the perfect foil for Superman. If Superman is the concept of kindness personified, Lex is pure selfishness that exudes from every pore. He’s a borderline incel with a god complex who thinks the world owes him because he knows a little bit about technology (you know Lex would have bought Twitter if he’d thought of it). It makes for a great conflict that will easily carry several films and make for a lot of fun in the future, and certainly delivers on what’s needed here.
Beyond the interpersonal relationships between the characters, this film also nails a lot of really important stuff about the bigger picture regarding Superman. For example, Superman is, by any definition,n an illegal immigrant and that impacts how he treats the world that he’s found himself in. His origins are scary and unknown and he fights hard to prove to everyone that he’s not a bad guy, that he’s just a human being who wants to do what’s right. His story is an immigrant story, it’s the story of the outcast who just happens to have the power to save the world even when that world might turn its back on him. The film doesn’t shy away from this element, in some of the most pointedly powerful scenes it fully embraces it (which could not be more timely, with a literal fascist locking human beings up in an alligator-surrounded concentration camp) because while this film is a big flashy superhero film it also wants to touch on a few major current events and point out that maybe some of the ways we’re handling things aren’t exactly the kindest way we could be doing them.
Superman feels like a breath of fresh air, like an old friend came back after being replaced with an inferior knockoff. It’s a film that doesn’t sacrifice its main character for pointless drama, the film itself revolves around the kindness of one man and his desire to try and save everyone and it just works so well. It feels good to be excited about Superman again, to be eager to see what’s done with him and what adventures he’ll go on. It’s big, bright, bold and beautiful, the kind of film that we need in these dark times. A film that fills you with hope and a good amount of joy, this is what Superman should be, it’s good to have him back where he belongs.
Movie Meister Reviews 