By Trudi-Rose Edwards
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s…a surprisingly good superhero film!
I’ll be honest, I didn’t have the highest expectations going into this movie. Superhero movies peaked in 2019 and, apart from a few exceptions, most of what has been churned our by the liked of DC and Marvel has been sorely lacking in what people initially loved about these films: fun, creativity and a hero you can root for. You know the drill by now: a misunderstood, wise-cracking superhero takes on another forgettable villain and falls in love with another generic love interest, all accompanied by a dollop of CGI, a ‘cool’ soundtrack featuring forgotten songs of the 70s and 80s and cheesy cameos that do little more than add on to an excessive run time.
Superman…doesn’t really do any of this.
The first thing you’ll notice – and believe me this is a breath of fresh air – is that this isn’t another origin story. We arrive in a world where Superman exists, the public know and love him, Clark Kent works at The Daily Planet, he’s dating Lois Lane, who in turn, knows that he and Superman are the same person…the wheels are already in motion and we don’t need to waste time with ‘getting to know you’.
David Corenswet makes for a decent Superman – he’s an earnest, slightly impulsive do-gooder with just a hint of cockiness (he’s very pleased that Clark Kent is able to get all the ‘exclusive’ interviews with Superman). He’s not wise-cracking or particularly suave but manages a fair few laughs simply on the back of his good-nature – at one point he is particularly irritated that a gruesome monster that’s terrorising the city is killed, noting that it could have been taken to a ‘space farm’ or ‘euthanised more humanely’. It’s refreshing to see a superhero film gently poke fun at its own star. The film doesn’t try to make Superman cool, he’s no ‘genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’. He spends the opening minutes of the film being terrorised by Krypto the superdog; enjoys hot cocoa and rescues squirrels from danger.
His nemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is far from forgettable. Smarmy, arrogant and so jealous of Superman that you feel he might explode at any second, Lex Luthor is a dangerous villain not because of any magical powers, hoard of alien followers, or insane quest for vengeance – it’s the fact that this man is literally an evil genius, capable of creating alternative universes and teleporting via black hole. All done by the power of science and tech.
Meanwhile, we have Lois Lane played by the fabulous Rachel Brosnahan – she’s spikey, snarky and the perfect journalist, needling Clark about his superhero actions in an off-the-cuff interview that takes place in her apartment (by far the best scene of the movie). Anyone familiar with her work on The Marvellous Mrs Maisel will know how good Brosnahan is with snappy dialogue and one-liners and her chemistry with Corenswet is palpable – sadly, despite a strong first half, her character does fade into the background of the second act which is a real waste of her talents.
The only real problem with Superman is the plot. Or at least, understanding it. Lex Luthor simply has too many devious plans up his sleeve. Initially the focus is on Superman’s interference in a conflict between warring (fictional) neighbours Boravia and Jarhanpur (his reasoning? People were going to die), Luthor had planned on making big bucks off the conflict by supplying governments with his specially developed team of super-defenders. So far so straightforward. Except that Luthor has also been using an atomic collider to create alternative universes (because why not?) where he imprisons his enemies. There’s more that I won’t spoil (I couldn’t if I wanted to, to be honest) and as the movie progresses, Luthor’s motives become less and less clear.
You could argue that the second half in general is weaker that the first. Superman does eventually fall a little into CGI hell – something superhero movies seem contractually obliged to do – and dialogue-heavy scenes like Lois and Clark’s off-the-record/on-the-record interview are non-existent. In fact, everything that made the first half fun and original is replaced with your more generic superhero cliches: the buzz of The Daily Planet (the superhero version of All the President’s Men) is replaced with Lois and the reporting team sitting in a CGI spacecraft for no real reason; witty dialogue is replaced with punching and kicking accompanied by an obligatory thwack sound; and Krypto the dog’s screentime is dramatically – criminally – reduced.
Despite the muddled plot and slight dip in quality after the halfway mark, Superman is a great watch; entertaining, funny, littered with strong performances from a capable cast, and – hopefully – a great launchpad for the Man of Steel’s future adventures.
Superman is on at cinemas in the UK from 11 July
Photos by Jessica Miglio and courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures