Action/adventure/fantasy

Film review by Jason Day of Superman (2005), director James Gunn’s reboot of the DC Comics superhero-based franchise. David Corenswet takes the title role, with Nicholas Hoult as his nemesis, the villainous billionaire Lex Luthor.

Synopsis

(From IMDb.com): Superman must reconcile his alien Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as reporter Clark Kent. As the embodiment of truth, justice and the human way he soon finds himself in a world that views these as old-fashioned.

Review, by @Reelreviewer

The latest Superman movie reboot features in the title role another strapping, 6-foot-plus slab of divine, the relatively unknown but wholly charming David Corenswet.

Thank heavens these seemingly altruistic, all-powerful superheroes are so physically attractive and fit that the weakling humans they ‘protect’ can swoon in romantic appreciation.

These hunks and hunkesses don’t have to worry about whether their autocratic, like-it-or-lump-it way of stewarding world peace is ever found out for being anything other than benign – they’re hot! Take a selfie with them, have a quick kiss or give them some free falafel (as the street vendor played by Dinesh Thyagarajan proudly recalls of his Superman ‘moment’), and then they’ll merrily go on their way. If they were mingers, we mere mortals might not be so engaged and see through their neatly black and white views of the world.

In the 2025 reboot, ‘The Big Blue’ faces an existential, personal and professional crisis as the public and government officials no longer have faith in him.

The script takes in modern-day issues that would have had Christopher Reeve scratching his head in bafflement.  Social media usage, consciousness in AI robots, needing helping hands when the heat gets too much and having a sunbed session to recuperate.

The last point leads us to one of the delights of the new Superman, the Justice Gang. Led by Nathan Fillion – who sports one of cinema’s worst hairdos, worse even than Janet Gaynor’s wig in Sunrise (1927) – this trio of ‘metahumans’ (superheroes) arrive on the scene when Superman is up against the wall. They make a muddy, marvellous mess of things, but at least they get Superman’s need to serve.

Performance-wise, writer/director Gunn is well-served by a hard-working cast giving realistic performances with a soupçon of comic book OTT camp.

Take a bow, Nicholas Hoult, who has great fun as Lex Luthor, hinting (as does the script) that there’s a deeper, possibly personal reason why he so vehemently loathes the planet’s darling.

Rachel Brosnahan is like an acting quarterback with her plucky and resourceful journalist Lois Lane, picking up and running with the modern feminist slant. She’s more political and less career-obsessed than past incarnations of the character.

There are sweet and affecting turns from Sara Sampaio as Lex’s current girlfriend, the selfie-obsessed influencer Eve Tessmacher and Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor-Vince as Superman’s adoptive parents. Ma Kent’s confusion about how to use FaceTime is something many of us can relate to when introducing new tech to the folks (I’m still pained after explaining text messages to my late Nan many years ago).

The notion that Superman is an immigrant (truly an ‘illegal’ alien) is something I wasn’t sure would work, but of all the political messages in the movie (not all of them properly explored, by the way) it’s the one that actually makes most sense.

Lois’ geopolitical interrogation of Superman at the start of the movie grates a little – she comes across as culturally imperious as her boyfriend – but what could be construed as ‘woke writing’ quickly dissipates with the fabulously over-the-top Zlatko Buric as a vaguely Russian totalitarian despot.

The effects are, of course, superb. The big set-piece is reminiscent of 2012 (2009, which, by the way, also starred Buric as a Russian oligarich/despot) with collapsing skyscrapers as the ground is torn apart, but what’s most impressive is Superman hurtling across the Earth. Compare this to when Christopher Reeve does the same in his first two movies to see just how far cinema magic has come.

The one downside for me is the CGI ‘super dog’ Krypto, a joke too far that muddles with the narrative’s main thrust. I can accept the notion that Superman gets a helping hand from other ‘metahumans’ as comic relief, and I know this is a fantasy film, but ‘Bluey’ needing support from an intergalactic pooch (who has a cape of his own!) is ridiculous and further robs the lead character of his ‘superness’.

See the full trailer here.

Cast & credits

Director: James Gunn. 129mins/2hrs 9mins. DC Studios/Troll Court Entertainment/The Safran Company/Warner Bros. (12A).

Producers: James Gunn, Peter Safran.
Writer: James Gunn.
Camera: Henry Braham.
Music: David Fleming, John Murphy.
Sets: Beth Mickle.

David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Skyler Gisondo, María Gabriela de Faría, Sara Sampaio, Wendell Pierce, Zlatko Buric, Neva Howell, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Bradley Cooper, Angela Sarafyan, Dinesh Thyagarajan.