What’s it about?
Mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent (David Corenswet) is secretly Superman (also Corenswet), and has been Supermanning for a few years now. While he’s universally beloved, he’s recently interfered in a border crisis that has raised political and diplomatic eyebrows, as well as providing the perfect opportunity for evil billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) to enact a nefarious plan. Good clean fun ensues.
What’d we think?
Pete Linning thinks: Good clean fun is the name of the game here. I took my 12 year old nephew to see his first Superman movie, and I couldn’t be happier that this was his first exposure to the big guy. This movie takes Superman back to basics in a true deconstruction of the character, while fully embracing the sillier elements from the comics. I’d go so far as to say that this movie captures the feeling of jumping into a random comic more than any other – things are already happening, nothing is explained (because it doesn’t need to be), and everyone already knows each other.
The plot isn’t anything terribly complex, and doesn’t need to be. Lex is up to no good, and Superman and his mates need to stop him. What’s important is that they’ve nailed the tone of the characters, and the world they live in. David Corenswet brings warmth, kindness, and an incredibly human fallibility to his performance, playing wonderfully off of Rachel Brosnahan’s (slightly) more cynical Lois Lane, as well as the colourful cast of heroic weirdos that he knows. It’s Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor that steals the show with a pitch-perfect portrayal of a man as brilliant as he is petty, a bloke who could achieve so much more if he wasn’t blinded by childish envy.
Superman is a real breath of clean air for comic-book movies, and while in recent years we might have seen Superman doing good, it’s nice to see Superman doing well.
Elizabeth Best thinks: This is the most grounded a guy in a cape has felt in years. It’s hopeful without being corny, and somehow makes Superman feel like a real person you’d actually want to grab a coffee with—if he weren’t busy saving the planet, of course. The humor’s there, but it’s subtle and smart, not trying too hard, which is a nice change. You can tell Gunn actually gets the character—this isn’t about making him cool, it’s about reminding us why he mattered in the first place. Nick Hoult brings a sharp, unsettling calm to Lex Luthor that we haven’t seen in ages. He’s not just a villain, he’s a ticking time bomb wrapped in a tailored suit. Gunn’s Superman is a fresh take that still feels classic, and yeah, it works.
