One of my favorite scenes in writer/director James Gunn’s energetic but scattershot “Superman” is also one of the simplest. Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane comes home to her apartment and finds David Corenswet’s Clark Kent cooking her “breakfast for dinner” as a surprise to celebrate their three-month anniversary.
Clark says that’s her favorite. Lois says no—that’s your favorite. They’re in that awkward and halting but sweet start-up period in a relationship, where one of them is ahead of the other in terms of making a commitment, and they’re still getting to know each other. Oh, and then there’s the fact that Clark is Superman, and Clark Kent, the Daily Planet journalist, keeps getting exclusive, puff-piece chats with Superman, but Clark agrees to give Lois an on-the-record interview with Superman. The result is a crisply written, well-acted exchange that plays like a modern screwball comedy with serious undertones, as Lois asks Superman fair but tough questions about the ethics of his decision to end a looming war in a foreign land without the approval of the United States government.
Good stuff. There are a number of well-executed, dialogue-driven scenes sprinkled among the CGI mayhem and the existential wailing and the chuckle-inducing cameos, and writer/director Gunn admirably leans into the narrative of Superman as the embodiment of the classic American immigrant story—but this first entry in the new DC Universe left me with a cinematic fast-food vibe. You enjoy the flavors well enough, but you’re left feeling as if you’ve consumed a familiar, empty-calorie (relatively) Happy Meal. Despite the earnest and effective performances by Corenswet and Brosnahan, and a bounty of colorful turns by the talented supporting cast, the beastly elements of the Gods and Monsters universe come across as leftovers from Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” films and the battle sequences feel like quick-cut, derivative replicas of fight scenes from dozens of other superhero movies. We’re left with a mid-level take on “Superman” that, at times, will remind you of the 1978 version, but doesn’t quite match it for pure pop entertainment value.
To writer/director Gunn’s credit, “Superman” doesn’t waste time with the origin story we all know, opting to plunge us into a world where our titular superhero is recognized as the most powerful and beloved metahuman on Earth. However, his popularity is in jeopardy after the aforementioned mission, in which he took it upon himself to prevent a war. After losing a battle for the first time, Superman is saved by Krypto the Superdog, who isn’t exactly Fortress of Solitude-trained and could really use some superhero canine behavioral classes. You know that we’re not supposed to take a “Superman” movie too seriously when the pup enters the equation.
Nicholas Hoult gives a cracking good performance as a kind of GQ-meets-Elon-Musk take on Lex Luthor, who oversees an army of technicians at LuthorCorp headquarters, making billions off his defense contracts while obsessing over destroying Superman, as his idiot influencer girlfriend Eve Teschmacher (a very funny Sara Sampaio), takes selfies in the background. We spend only a few minutes here and there at the Planet, with an underused Wendell Pierce as Perry White, while Skyler Gisondo scores some laughs and puts a fresh spin on the young photojournalist Jimmy Olsen.
As Luthor manipulates events in a way that has the public turning on Superman (only Batman has seen the public turn against him more often than Superman through various movies over the decades), the already crowded field of supporting players expands to include Michael Holt/Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion, sporting that comic book-accurate but polarizing bowl cut), and Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), among others. They’re an entertaining trio with some impressive skill sets. Still, the ongoing debate about whether they’re calling themselves “The Justice Gang” and the constant bantering and quipping are well-trod superhero movie territory.
When Superman is detained and roughed-up by masked agents who slam his face into the pavement before locking him up in a detention center alongside hundreds of other prisoners, including a separated family and a woman whose “offense” was writing a negative blog about Luthor, the modern-day, real-world parallels are striking—and legitimate social commentary. On the lighter side, it’s a kick to see a Superman who is so noble, so committed to doing the right thing, that he wonders if an enormous and destructive monster could have been subdued but not killed, perhaps to be released elsewhere. He actually takes the time to rescue a squirrel in the heat of a battle.
Kudos to the filmmakers for casting Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell as Ma and Pa Kent, as opposed to the glam casting of Kevin Costner and Diane Lane in the roles in “Man of Steel.” The moments Clark shares with the only parents he’s ever known are touching and authentic. As for Corenswet, he makes for a charming Superman, but he can’t quite match the movie star power of Christopher Reeve, nor does he have the unsettling, laser-focused ferocity of Henry Cavill. We’ve had nearly a dozen versions of Superman on screens big and small through the decades—and for that matter, about the same number of Lex Luthors. This latest version makes for enjoyable-enough popcorn entertainment, but ultimately leaves us wondering: was it even necessary?
