Get ready because here comes “Superman!” Aimed at adolescents (of age and mind), this film that reboots a cherished franchise is full of “coulda, woulda, shoulda.” Certainly all “Superman” movies are heavy on villains intent on controlling, and sometimes destroying the world, a world that has been protected by your favorite superhero and mine, Superman. It’s actually more surprising that Lex Luthor, supervillain, has lived to undermine Superman in each permutation. Here, however, James Gunn, writer and director, gets lost in the weeds by introducing thinly veiled international politics into the mix and covering it in monsters, visual effects and noisy fireworks.
Superman, a metahuman, has left the United States, flown the coop so to speak, to intervene in the war between Boravia and Jarhanpur (a thinly disguised Russia and Ukraine, perhaps?). His Spidey-sense (oops, wrong superhero) has led him to aid the Jarhanpurians against American ally, Boravia, because the Boravian invasion was just so unfair. It is here that his superpowers are tested to the max and come up wanting. Although he stopped the war, he lost the battle to a group of really ugly metahumans with similar powers and they wiped the floor with him. The Pentagon is less than happy with Superman’s actions, but even more unhappy is arch-criminal Lex Luthor, now a tech billionaire who has been supplying the Boravians with weapons and funding the takeover of Jarhanpur. Superman is a hurdle to be jumped and he’s the villain to do it, having cultivated a new race of metahumans. The corrupt mastermind has convinced the Pentagon that Superman has a secret agenda to destroy America and must be stopped. Despite all the goodwill built up over the years, they choose to believe Lex Luthor, who has an algorithm for every occasion. Watching him on a computer is like watching David Hockney create art on an iPad.
Enter the pyrotechnics, kidnappings, evildoing and incredulity. It’s not just logic that must be suspended, but also plot, because there really isn’t one. Superman saves the world from a dictator, is vilified for it, framed as having a secret agenda to destroy mankind, loses his powers when spirited off to an alternative universe and must overcome all lapses in story to save the world again, whether they want it or not.
The cast Gunn assembled is, for the most part, not up to the intensity and plausibility necessary to successfully suspend belief. On a positive note, Superman, played by David Corenswet, a relative newcomer to the big screen, is charming and believable as an ingenuous rube who believes in truth, justice and the American way. His Kansas roots show through in all the best ways. He plays this nonsense straight and tries hard to sell his own tenuous situation and that of his adopted country. He’s not helped a great deal by the turgid dialogue. Rachel Brosnahan, Lois Lane, intrepid reporter, is no damsel in distress. She believes in her man (she already knows that Superman is Clark Kent) but recognizes that the gulf between their realities may be insurmountable. Wendell Pierce, Perry White the publisher of the Daily Planet, is called on to deliver gruff homilies a couple of times; truly a waste of a terrific performer. Shortcomings abound. Coming to Superman’s aid, at least on occasion, is the nascent Justice Gang (it’s not League yet). Brought on for comic relief, their actions and dialogue are forced and singularly unfunny. Nathan Fillion plays the Green Lantern strictly for laughs, but the jokes are thin and his strutting and bad haircut are not enough to resurrect the character. Better is Edi Gathegi playing Mr. Terrific. He plays it straight and is effective as one of the minor heroes. The true star of the movie is Krypto, the superpowered dog. Some of the best scenes are designed around this naughty dog with a cape. More than comic relief, he inspires fear, threat and joy. Maybe a movie could be designed around him next time. Who doesn’t love a misbehaving terrier?
No Superman movie ever works without a villainous Lex Luthor, and Gunn tried to bring Lex into the modern age by making him a tech billionaire. It’s easy to imagine that he patterned Lex after the high-foreheaded Elon Musk or the previously bald Jeff Bezos. Unfortunately, Nicholas Hoult, a very fine actor in the right role (“The Menu”), lacks a threatening presence. It’s not enough to do bad deeds, stare at the camera with his steely blues and be a horrible person, but a movie supervillain must make you shake in your boots. Gene Hackman, the original cinematic Lex Luthor, played his villain with scenery-chewing panache, sense of humor clearly intact, but a truly threatening presence and someone to fear. Certainly this Luthor does some truly horrible things and acts with impunity, but it’s one thing to quake at what he does and another to quake when he enters a room. Hoult, thin of voice, instills no fear or even creepiness when entering a scene. Certainly his Lex Luthor fits into the category of entitled rich boy, something Hoult plays very well, but he doesn’t have the gravitas to pull off an otherworldly villain.
The pyrotechnics and video effects are excellent, and this is what sells the movie to the audience it is aimed for. The cinematography by Henry Braham is fine but doesn’t rise to the level of the effects. Truly disappointing was the music. Snatches of John Williams’ score are occasionally heard, perhaps as an uncredited homage, but the music by David Fleming and John Murphy, which should have underscored the tension, is just loud. Gunn, who rose to justifiable fame with “Guardians of the Galaxy” (Parts I, II and III), is loyal to his creatives and has employed many of them on this film.
And therein lies the problem. James Gunn the director did not insist on a cohesive script from James Gunn the writer. There is no actual identifiable plot and when all is revealed at the end, the stakes were never actually high enough. Call me old fashioned, but I like a story with a beginning, middle and end, with characters I can root for and those I can boo. Filling the screen with robots and hideously unappetizing hybrid lizard monsters doesn’t work for me. I don’t mind a few supersized creatures, but I need an actual story, not a series of hyper events being shoehorned into an expositional narrative. “Jurassic World Rebirth,” full of hideously reptilian monsters, at least had a plot that held your attention.
I may be too harsh. This movie is burning up the box office and is on track to make a billion dollars globally. I’m not an adolescent video gamer and some of this vitriol may be because I was really looking forward to this film. It was definitely time for a reboot; for me, this was just the wrong one. Be aware, however, that mine is a voice in the wilderness. Many reviewers have been ecstatic about “Superman,” and despite my opinion, you may love it. Certainly my disappointment colors my reaction. “Caveat Emptor.”
In wide release at a theater near you.
