Superman has had a few different iterations on the big screen over the years. The first and most obvious is the iconic performance by Christopher Reeve as the world’s big blue boy scout and his alter ego intrepid reporter for the Daily Bugle Clark Kent. Later, Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill both donned the blue and red tights to play these characters. Caville’s a little darker than Rouths.  When the Snyder-verse ended, the Warner Brother boss David Zasloff hired Marvel alum James Gunn to create a new DCU from scratch. His first job was to start with the most notable character in DC, and that’s Superman. Gunn wrote and directed this new Superman film, and you can clearly tell it’s all him. Well, it gets relieved. Well, time will tell? 

This version of Superman (David Coronswet) has already been established, and a crawl at the beginning of the film gives information regarding where the story begins. I think by now, a fan of the character already knows Superman’s origin story by now. There is no need to rehash his story again. The new Superman is battling a man in an iron suit who says he’s the guardian of some fictional Eastern European country called Borovia, similar in tone to Russia.  Superman is blamed by them for stopping an invasion of another neighboring country called Jarenpour. This seems all too familiar to anybody who has watched the news in recent years. Gunn is clearly taking from the headlines.

With this being a Superman movie, you know his arch nemesis Lex Luther (Nicholas Hoult) has to have a role in all of this. Let’s head a group of computer geniuses who help him control the man in the suit by telling him the moves he’s predicting Superman to make. It’s a different Lex, albeit very sinister like his predecessor, who played the character, most notably Gene Hackman. Hoult does a great job being evil and showing he has a clear vendetta against Superman because he’s an alien. Once again, it seems Gunn is using somebody specific to that we know to model this character off of.  Except the real person isn’t this smart. Hoult embodied what it means to play this character. He was amazing, and I believed he was Lex Luther the entire time I was watching this film. Holt is a star who can do it all.

Another character that is in all of the marketing is Krypto the Superdog. This is the first time this creature has been in a live action DC movie. Gunn didn’t disappoint with how he wrote this K-9 Kryptonian. Like a regular dog, Krypto was happy to see his master and jumped on him and licked him in the face.  This dog acted like any normal dog, except he was super, so everything he did was accentuated. Even when he helped Superman save the day, it was in a way a dog would act. Like chasing a ball, for instance. Or even protecting his master by biting those who would do him harm. This was a terrific addition to the story by Gunn. I’m sure people will come away from the movie with fond memories of the many scenes with this Super Dog in them. He clearly stood out to me while watching the film.

Another key character in the life of Superman/Clark Kent is Daily Bugle reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). Famous for her role as mother Turner stand up comedian in The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel. She was perfectly cast as this quick-witted curious reporter. The relationship that is already established in this movie with Superman/Clark Kent is pretty awesome. She acts exactly the way you’d think she would. She even holds Superman accountable for some of his actions. When it matters, though, she is there for him, and they truly love each other. She believes in him and his cause to be a symbol for good in the world. She, with the help of Jimmy Olson (Skyler Gisondo), helps clear his name and even helps rescue him from a prison cell at one point in the film. Brosnahan is a great actress, and I can see her playing this character for years to come.

Different from the Reeve or Routh Superman movies, this one has him teaming up with a group of superheroes called the Justice Gang. Why not just call them the Justice League? I don’t get that. Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) Mr. Terrific (Eddie Gathegi) , Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan).These were an interesting group of heroes to see be chosen, but I’m sure Gunn has a good reason he chose these specific heroes for Superman to team up with. The banter between the group and comedy that came from them was a nice respite from the more serious elements of the story. This was a more lighthearted group than the previous darker Justice League in the Snyder-verse. Fillion as Guy Gardner was specifically a delight in this movie.

The big question I’m sure people will ask is how does David Coronswet measure up to Christopher Reeve or or Henry Cavill for that matter as Superman/Clark Kent? I’m here to say he passed the test if you will with flying colors. He was everything I wanted Superman to be and more. There were many scenes where he was beaten to a pulp, but this actor owned every one of these scenes. There wasn’t a lot of hand waving or kissing babies for this version of Superman. Right from the very beginning of the film, he was in some kind of peril. Gunn didn’t go light on the character or the problems he had within the context of the film. Coronswet was dare I say super as this character and his alter ego. I can’t wait to see him in The Brave and the Bold in the future where he gets to team up with Batman, who hasn’t been cast yet in Gunns DC Universe. I was genuinely pleased by Coronswet in all aspects of this movie.

Gunn has a specific tone to the movies he writes and directs as evident by the Guardians of the Gslaxy films and The Suicide Squad film he directed prior to this one. That tone is lighthearted, funny, and colorful. That’s what he gave the audience this time around for Superman. He wanted to get away from the darker, grittier previous iteration of the DC Universe. No knock to Henry Cavill, who did a great job as this character, but a new vibe needed to be created. This was a much lighter in tone version of the character similar in a way to the first two Reeve films by director Richard Donner. Gunn balanced the lighter moments with the more serious story beats. This film had his fingerprints all over it, though, with the use of goofy characters and some over the top dialogue.  He clearly wanted audiences to come away feeling good with this movie, not feeling exhausted by what they just saw.

With any Superman movie, the big question that is brought up in the context of the film is whether or not Superman is doing the right thing by helping people. In this movie, it goes even further because the fact comes up that he’s an alien. Who does he think he is going around doing whatever he wants even though it’s in the name of good? Why does he think it’s okay to stop an invasion of another country by a different country that doesn’t accept him as one of their citizens.  Who gave him the right to be the world’s police. Yes, Suphumans exist, but that’s not his purview to invade other countries. Gunn doesn’t shy away from difficult topics of sovereignty and citizenship in this film. He wants the viewers to determine what they think is right and wrong, but he has a slanted view on the topics. I think Gunn means well by infusing real-world topics and politics into this movie. I just hope it doesn’t hurt the film because of it.

Superman was a pleasant surprise.I shouldn’t have doubted Gunn for a minute, though. He’s made  too many good films in his day. Add this one to the list. This was everything I wanted and more from a Superman movie. It had amazing action sequences. It balanced the more comedic elements with the serious tone perfectly. That’s what a comic book movie should do. The cast was fantastic with the standouts being Hoult as Lex Luther, Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and last but not least, David Coronswet as Superman/Clark Kent. Krypto was a delightful character as well. Even the cameos were cool. When I think of a way to start the new DC Universe, I couldn’t have thought of a better way to start it than by what Gunn did with this film. This is a great first step in starting the new DC Connected Universe of films. I had an absolute blast watching this new Superman.  It harkened back to my childhood when I saw the Donner/ Reeve version for the first time. Even the music gave me goosebumps.  Hopefully, audiences will have a similar feeling as I did while watching this new iteration of Superman.

4 ½

Dan Skip Allen