When we talk about IP and superhero movies, there’s always an air of cynicism that is carried. From me, the man writing a film review, you, a reader who cares about the art form and to the general audience who may not care like we do but feel the stench and emptiness in their entertainment even if they cannot communicate it. We all deserve better from the mainstream, and that’s why Superman might be one of the most important movies of the year, or even the decade, without considering how it operates as a film.

James Gunn’s Superman is coming off a post-COVID dissatisfaction in its genre filled with artless, danging keys for basement dwellers on the Marvel side and overly serious edgelord antics on the DC side, and hopes to renew faith in it by starting a new cinematic universe with this film. Beyond that, Superman is a symbol beyond IP and genre; each new iteration is a landmark and a summary of the current culture,  whether intentional or not. There’s a challenge in bringing the Boy Scout energy of Superman in this current political and cultural climate, or it’s an opportunity….

And thankfully, Superman, although it is an imperfect world build and stylistic stretch from James Gunn, is an adaptation that soars when it transparently understands that challenge and builds it into the text of the film, making its efforts to corporatise less disappointing in the larger scheme.

Superman picks up after the dawn of the metahumans, the arrival of Clark Kent to Earth, his announcement to the world as Superman and right into the thick of his life. He’s already involving himself in geo-political conflicts (that may or not parallel an ongoing real world genocide, who could really say), the balance of his life as Clark and Superman and faces constant threats to his worldview; whether that’s from his “in the process of dating but not quite girlfriend” Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), his archnemesis, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) who seethes at him with envy or the “Justice Gang” made up of Guy Gardener (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) who have more gung-ho approach to superhero-ing than goody two shoes Superman (David Cornswet).

It feels hard to talk about the plot in Superman, not because it doesn’t have one, but because James Gunn drops us in his world pretty swiftly. This makes it feel like a sequel to a film that got lost in the ether, but also, there’s a faith in the audience given almost immediately to roll with the punches and tones that this new DC universe will explore. The colours pop, the edits are carefully matched for quirk jokes, the camera whips around Supes in action and flying scenes with a wide-angle lens that heightens the absurdity of the world. As jarring as some of this might be, no director of a comic book movie has wholeheartedly committed to the medium onscreen like this since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy. Superman is not an elaborate rebirth of the character without the use of the origin story like the excellent The Batman, but a headfirst dive into a lovable Superman story, apt for today’s world.

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Superman is at its best when it focuses on its core relationships. Lois Lane has a good heart, but she’s a pragmatic cynic who clashes with Clark’s methodology to do good with no oversight or structure. The chemistry between Cornswet and Brosnahan sizzles, but the ideological differences in their relationship are not just compelling but a thematic reason for Superman to exist in the modern day. Lex Luthor hates Superman as his power and diligence to goodness opposes the space his corporate empire occupies. If Superman is a god trying to be a man of the people, Lex is a man trying to be a god and honestly, not far off the tech billionaires that exist in our world, but Nicholas Hoult brings a grandeur to the role that allows it to feel more pulpy than allegorical.

All of these things feel like new territory for James Gunn, where his cynical tenor seems to be aimed at oppressors rather than being the thematic whole, leaving space for earnest, unsubtle positivity. Where he falters is when his old style from Guardians/Suicide Squad pops up in the peripheral DC characters, who all have a purpose as they are another challenge to Superman’s moral capacity, but their portrayals feel like James Gunn leaning in on his worst, irony-piled tendencies. It’s not “bad” writing, as this thing had legs in his previous films, but with Gunn showing strength in other areas, it feels outdated.

Through its faults, Superman feels like an essential movie to today’s film culture and beyond that. It’s a warm hug for those who have been oppressed by their government and their own neighbours due to their upbringing or country of origin. Its resilience in those feelings and a need for its audience to understand why they’re needed in life, not just movies, left me excited to see more from this character and the new DC regime. Positivity as punk rock.

★★★★

In cinemas on July 11th / David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Ed Gathegi, Isabela Merced, Anthony Carrigan, Skyler Giszondo, Sara Sampaio, Wendell Pierce / Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios / 12A

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