I must preface this by saying that I have not seen most of the recent Superman films, including the nearly universally derided Man of Steel, blasted for its indifference to civilian casualties during the battle sequences. I have seen Christopher Reeve's original Superman, widely regarded as the best, but that was years ago. So I suppose one could say that I am coming to the franchise and character with fresh eyes, my opinion unaffected by reactions to the previous iterations, able to judge this film on its own merits.
Unfortunately, this film, while hopeful and uplifting in some ways, suffers a basic flaw that cannot be worked around: it was made in the age of superhero bombast and CGI spectacle, when films have to be bigger! badder! louder! with exploding third acts and ever larger, nastier monsters! And it really suffers as a result. At least James Gunn had the sense to get rid of the origin sequence entirely; so, after a rather inspired Star Wars-like crawl explaining who Superman is and why, three minutes ago, he suffered the first defeat of his life, our initial glimpse of the titular hero is of him crash-landing in the snow on the Antarctic peninsula where the Fortress of Solitude is buried, and Krypto the Superdog coming out to rescue him.
(Krypto is one of the best things in the movie, but like everything else, his portrayal eventually goes waaaaayyy over the top.)
Much of the tension in this film is derived from the inherent conflict of the main character: an alien being, essentially a god, is let loose on Earth, and despite his obvious desire to do good and help people, the people of Earth might not want his help, and regard his assistance as interference. (And sure, people can be stubborn and stupid like that, rejecting help they clearly need, but it's still their choice.) This is made clear in the film's best scene: an interview/argument between Clark Kent and Lois Lane (who, in another modern twist, not only is aware of Superman's dual identity, but has been dating the two of them for months). Lois warns Clark that he might not like the questions she is going to ask. Sure enough, he does not, as she digs into why he took it upon himself to stop a war between two neighboring (fictional) countries, without even attempting to go through diplomatic channels. His defensive rejoinder, "People were going to die!" may have been true, but it also brings into view the double-edged sword of his existence: the fact of a godlike alien being who can do whatever the fuck he wants and nobody can stop him, and what if he decides to do bad things, or at the very least presumptuous, unnecessary things, instead of what he thinks are good things?
(This was actually the premise of a film I watched several years ago, Brightburn. I suspect I would have an entirely different view of that movie today if I revisited it.)
This scene was the best part of the film, precisely because of the ethical and emotional conflict, but also because it had no special effects and was allowed to play out the length it needed to be without rushing. Which brings up my biggest problem with this movie: the overwhelming CGI. Now, I realize in this age of $200 million (or more) superhero films, CGI is a necessity. After all, we presently don't have alien or genetically engineered actors who can take on these roles. But the computerized special effects in this movie were pretty much overwhelming from beginning to end, from the Fortress of Solitude's popping out of the Antarctic ice to Superman's fight with a gigantic Gremlin in the second act to the Green Lantern's awful fake-looking ooze (that particular CGI element was not good at all, almost as bad as Nathan Fillion's blond bowl-cut wig) to Lex Luthor's pocket universe with its multicolored "proton river" that Superman tumbles through holding an alien baby for freaking ever, to Superman's fighting a longhaired voiceless clone of himself, a fight that seemed to go on for hours; to the black nanite stream that Lex Luthor's henchwoman the Engineer pumps down Superman's throat and into his lungs in an attempt to suffocate him, which he pulls up in an icky black rope out of his mouth; to the "dimensional rift" that threatens to cleave Metropolis in two, toppling thinly disguised New York skyscrapers like dominoes, and then after it is shut down the halves of the ruined buildings are put back together, which seemed to me to be supremely useless, as their stuctural integrity is now completely wrecked; to Krypto's spinning through the air like a furry top, chomping on the drones Lex Luthor was using to direct his Superman clone; and I could go on and on and on. All this over-the-top spectacle left almost no room for the film's needed emotional beats, and those that were there got short shrift. In particular a scene between Superman and Pa Kent that should have been the heart of the film, when Clark's adoptive father impresses on him that his choices are what matter, not his bloodline, and states how proud he is of his Kryptonian son, was cut abruptly short. This scene should have been slowed down and allowed to breathe, and instead is rushed through so Mr. Terrific can yell for Superman's help.
(And may I say that the message Lex Luthor discovers when he raids the Fortress of Solitude, the message from Jor-El and Lara that Superman never heard the latter half of until now, is completely repulsive? His Kryptonian parents sent their baby to Earth to ostensibly "do good," but said "good" was supposed to consist of a) Superman's conquering and ruling the entire planet; b) taking on a "superharem" of unwilling human women; and c) raping and impregnating said harem so the Kryptonian genes wouldn't die out. And Superman doesn't even react to this, or rather he reacts only to the first part and not the other two, as in "MY FUCKING PARENTS SENT ME HERE TO DO WHAT?" Hell, the villain of this movie recognized the horribleness of this statement more than the supposed hero.)
Watching this well-intentioned but misguided mess of a movie actually made me rethink a film I saw earlier this year, Marvel's Thunderbolts*. Now, lest I sound hypocritical, Thunderbolts* is not CGI-free (although it reportedly had more practical effects than is usual for Marvel nowadays). However, the effects took a back seat to the fully realized, if entirely dysfunctional, characters and their relationships. Also, at the climax, the non-superpowered Yelena Bulova took down the villain by recognizing and acknowledging the conflict within him and telling him he was not alone (to be fair, the "villain" Bob was a half-hearted villain at best, nothing like Lex Luthor). Thunderbolts* is not top-tier Marvel, but comparing it to Superman levels it up several notches.
I will say that David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult were very good in their respective roles as Superman and Lex Luthor, and Rachel Brosnahan made for a nicely updated, modern Lois Lane. (Corenswet, in particular, almost looks like he could be Christopher Reeve's son.) Unfortunately, the scant few minutes of real emotion that float to the top of the swirling sludge of CGI bloat (and then are sucked right back down again) do not a satisfying film make.
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