At my early screening of Superman, writer-director James Gunn gave a short introduction for his highly anticipated superhero movie. While the Guardians of the Galaxy films were about his love for cinema, he said, this one was about his love for comic books. And Superman, for better and for worse, fulfills that statement in every possible way.
Superman is a comic book come to life in every sense of the word: visually bombastic and narratively indulgent to the point of near-overstimulation. From the very first frame of the wildly colorful and tooth-achingly earnest comic book epic, it’s clear that Gunn’s love for Superman is so abundant that it threatens to overflow. It shows in the niche Easter eggs (hypno-glasses! robots!) that are littered throughout the movie. It shows in the alarmingly large ensemble, which includes no less than four other superheroes and a handful of worldbuilding cameos, in addition to the regular Superman supporting players. It shows in the surprising amount of emotional heft that Gunn gives every scene with Krypto, the super-dog that had never previously been depicted on the big screen for fear of being too cheesy a concept. But most importantly, it shows in how nakedly earnest the movie is.
Like its Superman (David Corenswet), the movie wears its heart on its sleeve. As chaotic and narratively overstuffed it is, and as much as you wish it felt like an actual movie instead of a series of comic book deep cuts, you can’t help but be a little charmed by the gee-whiz corniness of it all.
Superman opens with its titular hero at a low point: three years after making his debut as Superman, he’s just lost his first battle. Bleeding profusely and barely able to move, he whistles for Krypto, who immediately pounces on him, worsening Superman’s wounds and cracking a few more ribs. But after a while, Krypto gets the hint and takes Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, which appears to emerge from the ice as soon as they near it. However, as Superman gets treated by the Fortress’ robots and a concentrated beam of sunlight, he is unaware that one of Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) grunts has been tracking his movements. It turns out that his fight with the “Hammer of Boravia” is just one of many distractions that Lex has orchestrated in his scheme to destroy Superman’s reputation.
Superman drops us into a world already populated with working superheroes, along with a story that’s already fully in motion. In many ways, this is the most comic book-accurate approach that Gunn could take — it’s just like picking up the final issue of a massive comic book crossover, and having to figure out what’s happened from there. It’s a joltingly geeky approach… but it does make for a baffling cinematic experience.
That’s because Superman is overloaded with stuff — not just subplots and twists, but full-fledged character arcs. There’s Lex Luthor’s nefarious scheme, which includes secretly engineering a geopolitical conflict that will put Superman on the ropes; there’s the “Justice Gang” and their wary alliance with Superman as they bicker over their official team name; and there’s a thriving Daily Planet sitcom happening in the background. Watching Superman is like tuning into the finale of a TV show that you haven’t seen, or like switching on a Saturday morning cartoon halfway through the episode. It’s crowded and chaotic, but you like, or even love, the characters. And the characters, in particular its two leads, are the saving grace of the movie.
Early in the film, Gunn wisely gives the spotlight to the most important dynamic of the movie: Superman and Lois (Rachel Brosnahan). In the film’s longest, and notably, its calmest, scene, Lois “interviews” Clark Kent as Superman, running through his latest exploits and the precarious position it puts Superman in. It’s a handy device to give exposition, yes, but it also gives us a beautifully vulnerable glimpse at Lois and Clark’s budding relationship — the secret ingredient that is perhaps more crucial than any supervillain Superman faces off against. And as Superman’s many subplots come to a head, the movie never loses sight of the emotional core of Superman and Lois.
It helps that Corenswet and Brosnahan embody Superman and Lois to a T. Corenswet is perfectly cast as a Kansas-bred, bleeding-heart hero who has no idea how to navigate the complicated world that he’s decided to protect, much less the complicated woman that has captured his heart. And Brosnahan delivers the best onscreen Lois Lane since Margot Kidder: snappy, prickly, and no-nonsense. That she’s as unsure about Clark Kent as she is about Superman makes for a refreshing change to their traditional dynamic, and offers the film’s push-pull as Superman experiences a dramatic identity crisis.
Corenswet and Brosnahan are just the tip of the iceberg for the film’s pitch-perfect casting. Nicholas Hoult is fantastically unhinged as a Superman-obsessed Lex Luthor, in a boisterous characterization ripped straight out of Gunn’s beloved All-Star Superman. The Daily Planet crew are wonderfully fully-realized, with Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen getting to play a surprisingly crucial role in the plot. And while the “Justice Gang” threaten to be little more than caricatures, particularly Nathan Fillion’s cocky Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Edi Gathegi’s hilariously stoic Mister Terrific gets a lot more narrative weight than expected.
However, one glaring flaw that threatens to derail Superman entirely is its abominable visual style. In keeping with Gunn’s statement about the film being a love letter to comics, every frame of Superman is shot like an 8-year-old’s dream of a comic book. Most of the film, especially its frenetic, breathless fight scenes, are shot in a gaudy, violently bright, style that seems to be devoid of any cinematic weight. Most appallingly, Gunn insists on shooting all of Superman’s flight scenes in an extreme close-up with what appears to be a fish-eye lens, which only serves to disorient the viewer.
Any sense of visual gravity that cinematographer Henry Braham brought to Gunn’s last two Guardians of the Galaxy movies seem to have been lost in service to whatever Braham picked up from working as the DP on Andy Muschietti’s The Flash. The film seems so devoted to creating a sense of outsized otherworldliness that it tips over into uncanny valley, its bright primary colors feeling more freakish than cartoony. It’s unfortunate that this seems like it could be the house style of the DCU going forward, as Gunn has spoken about how Superman was the film where he felt his vision for a comic book movie was fully realized.
But despite everything… you can’t help but be swept away by the sheer awe that Gunn has for Superman. Gunn’s Superman believes, more than anything, in the aspirational nature of its hero. It’s earnest to the point of being corny, a feeling that recent quip-heavy superhero movies have felt deprived of. Like the blast of yellow sunlight that heals Superman, Superman blasts the viewer with every kind of optimistic, hopeful storytelling it can muster. The only thing you can do is try to absorb it all.
