Very rarely, but on occasion, I regret the star rating that I give to a movie. Today is one of those occasions. After watching "Superman" for a second time, I realized that the criticisms I had, while there, aren't even close for me to give this movie a demerit.
The first thing to note about this movie is that after a very brief set up about the new DCU and how Superman got to Earth, Superman hits the ground (literally) and we are officially off to the races. Beyond a few earned moments where the film slows down for a minute, the rest of the film moves faster than a speeding bullet.
Now, I do have a couple of minor criticisms for the movie and they are minor, but they are noticeable enough to mention here and get it out of the way. There were a couple of times when Superman was flying where the camera was a little too jerky and it didn’t seem real enough and I was very briefly taken out of the movie.
In addition to those (again, very) few shots, there was also an action sequence where things got a little too messy and I was kind of wondering what was happening. It’s not a deal breaker and in a film filled with amazing action sequences, if this was weakest, then we’re still in good hands here.
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| Superman and Krypto in the Fortress of Solitude in "Superman"! |
If you’ve seen any of Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, you can definitely tell that this is Gunn’s movie. He successfully includes several characters and they all get their chance to shine, but they never take the focus completely off of Superman himself.
Make no mistake, while the trailers showed that there would be several other characters such as Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific, Superman is definitely the star of his own show.
There are a couple of scene stealers worth mentioning, though. Krypto the Superdog is every bit as charming and mischievous as he could be and the special-effects artists are to be praised for work that brought the character to life.
Then there is Mr. Terrific, played perfectly by Edi Gathegi, he is both serious and has a dry sense of humor. Beyond Superman, he also has more time onscreen than other superheroes featured here and I really do hope we get a Mr. Terrific movie at some point because he killed it here.
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| Superman gets a little assistance from some fellow superheroes in "Superman"! |
Now, to our main stars. David Corenswet is, without a doubt, the best actor to have played the role on the big screen since Christopher Reeve himself. Superman is a kind, altruistic superhero and the Big Blue Boyscout comes out in a massive way thanks in large part to Corenswet’s performance and Gunn’s fantastic script.
Rachel Brosnahan is also the best person to play Lois Lane in a long time. She’s got a little bit of an edge to her character and is quickly established as a no holds barred and respectable journalist. She is also contending with the fact that she has just started dating a superhero and what that might mean for their future, if there is one.
Of course, every great superhero needs a great supervillain and Nicholas Hoult gives us just that as the maniacal Lex Luthor. Make no mistake about it, this is one dangerous villain that will stop at nothing in order to try and kill Superman and there are moments where you might even believe, even for just a second, that he may just pull off that feat.
I mentioned before that there are several action sequences that are simply amazing. I don’t want to talk about them for the sake of spoilers, but there were several moments during these scenes where I wanted to get up on my feet and exclaim, “Now, this is Superman!”
And I think that’s ultimately the point. This is the Superman film I have been waiting on for a long time to receive. As it turns out, all those noble and good traits that some claim make Superman boring end up being his greatest assets in a movie that is not only a fantastic Superman movie, but it may just be one of the best superhero films of all time.
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