REVIEW: Superman

I feel like it's essential that I establish early on in this review that this marks my first time seeing a Superman movie in theaters.

The Zack Snyder saga was actually in swing while I was in high school and college--back when I was in what most would consider in the target audience for these films--but that kind of passed by me without my attention.

And I'll be clear that I take no specific pride in this. I wasn't really avoiding the films by any means. My buddies all just went to see them without me while I was at a church youth-camp, and I just didn't bother catching up until much, much later. I'm disclosing all this to lay down that I don't really have any nostalgic partiality to the Superman story. Most of my context for the mythology comes from its echoes on larger pop culture.

I know, for example, that Clark Kent was raised in a smalltown farm community with his adopted parents, and it was them who really built him into a pillar of goodness. That is why even when he steps into the thick of the human messiness, such as you would find in a place like a human city, and encounters such paragons of villainy of evil overlord, Lex Luthor, his unwavering goodness elevates him into a templar of decency and altruism against all odds.

James Gunn's new installment certainly uses all that as a starting point, but it introduces one crucial wrinkle into the Superman narrative. The film finds the world uncovering a vital piece of Superman's backstory, leading Clark Kent to question who he really is in a world that is wrestling to define him. As his story approaches several critical junctures, Superman will have to put his ideals to the test and figure out whether the world really has a place for the kind of goodness he knows how to give.

This film's economy runs on both wide-scale global set pieces and intimate character moments, and these progress hand in hand. Without ever feeling anything like an origin story, each bit of this relay race juxtaposes Clark against the people who have formed him.

This being that kind of movie, there are all sorts of high-octane action bits. The movie's visuals prove the scale of the conflict less by furnishing the battlefield with computer-generated explosions and more by adding in a great deal more vibrancy than you'd expect in an earth-bound action pic, giving the film the feel of an adult coloring-book.

But the plot also rests on the outcomes of much smaller players on the board: dogs, street vendors, literal babies, and this is where the story really finds its muscle. This superhero's circle is not insular, the film commits to the superhero thesis of fighting for those who can't fight for themselves in a way few other superhero movies have. By the time judgment day is on for Superman, we know where we stand because we have seen firsthand who he serves.

David Corenswet's instinct seems to be to look for the least decorated reading of any given line. Eschewing unnecessary pretense helps this Clark feel unguarded and without ulterior agenda: we feel like we know who Clark is because he is completely willing to show us.

Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane has substantial presence in the narrative--without ever insisting too hard that she's not a damsel in distress, guys!--and Brosnahan effortlessly carries a character who is at once empirical unto sterility and also deeply principled.

Again, I'm not partial to the Superman story. But after he helmed the most important superhero saga put to film, I will admit I am partial to James Gunn and anything he wants to do with the superhero world.

We can perhaps speculate on exactly how large Gunn's fledgling superhero team will grow in the years to come. However that plays out, the narrative will bear out that the modern DC film canon started out just like Clark Kent: an agent of the ordinary, and an advocate for the vulnerable.

--The Professor

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