Chatter Box Film

I was invited to watch the multimedia screening of DCU Studios new Superman movie, in IMAX.

This Superman film from James Gunn captures most of what I’ve wanted the live-action universe to be, from the comics and animated films, it feels incredibly established, it’s hopeful and fun to watch and there’s plenty of action spread throughout.

In addition to the live-action titles, the past animated DC movies and shows have been some of my favourite to watch when it comes to exploring DC, because the universes are rich with characters and lived in such as All-Star Superman (2011), Superman: The Animated Series (1996) and Justice League: Unlimited (2004). There’s so much that can be done with the animated stories, and now there is finally a modern live-action equivalent, which does justice to the golden age character in film.

There isn’t an on-screen origin story much like other adaptations, although there’s enough exposition in the dialogue and intro text to provide audiences with an explanation about this DC Universe and Superman for both new and old audiences.

David Corenswet appears in the classic red and blue superman suit with his red trunks and red boots. Corenswet gave an amazing performance as a bright, charismatic and uplifting Superman in this action-packed superhero adventure. The best part of Corenswet’s Superman is his focus on saving all life, he has a big heart in a world losing hope. David’s portrayal of Clark Kent was strong in this, although he was mostly on-screen as Superman in this film. The moments Clark Kent did appear were dramatic and heartfelt, adding a great amount of depth to his character.

Nicholas Hoult gave an unchained performance as the maniacal Lex Luthor.

Going into watching this film, I did have an expectation based off of Hoult being inspired by Michael Rosenbaum and Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor, and Hoult has managed to combine a little bit of both into his performance, while also bringing his own take to the role.

Rosenbaum’s Lex in Smallville was stoic and calculating, Lex and Welling’s Clark had a strong back and forth dynamic, however there was years worth of episodes to develop this. Lex did as much as he could behind the scenes to damage any trust left between them, as his obsession with the “red-blue-blur” became unhealthy, and he felt pushed away by Clark keeping this big secret at the same time. Lex realized if he couldn’t be the saviour of the story instead of Superman, he would be destined to become the villain.

In this film, the story jumps right into Hoult’s journey as Lex, and he is the most advanced live-action film iteration yet, more brazen and crazier with his actions and still working behind the scenes to make Superman the villain. He is cold and calculating, his obsession is on display.

The comically wild-eyed maniacal aspect resembles Hackman’s performance as he would stop at nothing to seek power/control, and how Lex interacts is also a combination of Christopher Reeve’s 1978 film iteration and 2001 Smallville series, just not so much exploring the friend to foe story progression.

I also found Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s (Rachel Brosnahan) chemistry to be done well. Brosnahan perfectly nails her portrayal of Lois Lane; the eager reporter putting herself at risk to get the story. There are plenty of scenes with Lois’ involvement being important to the plot.

It didn’t feel bloated or messy with the “Justice Gang” superhero characters included in this film, although, they are a comedically odd bunch right now. In some scenes, it looked like how The Suicide Squad would handle a situation.

The characters in the group did support the story for the better, especially Edi Gathegi’s iteration of Mr. Terrific was awesome and his performance shines in this well. Gunn has got the best out of his character, as the display of his intelligence and tech is put to full use.

In the comics, Guy Gardner isn’t meant to be likeable all that much, he has a ridiculous haircut and acts rashly with his Green Lantern powers, James Gunn and Nathan Fillion have done a great job with bringing this exact character to life; his ego and humour is very direct. Isabela Merced had some cool scenes and appears to do well as Hawkgirl apart from the annoying screeching Hawk sounds she made when she was fighting.

This DC Universe is not as comically stylized, there are still more a realistic environments like the Synder-verse with regular looking cities, except there is finally a large Daily Planet globe again aching to the visusal aesthetic of the Richard Donner films and Smallville. The colour-grading  pops, and the characters are more upbeat/comical in the way they act and dress.

James Gunn didn’t shy away from including issues which resemble genocides mirroring what is happening in our own world; where civilians are being oppressed, resisting occupation against an army fully backed by elites (except these countries have fictional names in this story, Boravia has existed in the comics since 1939). Superman has stood against oppression in many forms.

These types of scenarios have also been explored in DCU Studios recent debut of James Gunn’s Creature Commandos animated series.

Superman movies and comics have also tackled real world politics before with political messaging being there, Superman was fighting the Nazis in Action Comics #1, and live-action films such as in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace; when Superman goes to all of the world leaders and says he is tired of the conflicts and brings it upon himself to rid the world of nuclear weapons, by throwing them into space.

Gunn mentioning the aspects about Superman being an immigrant isn’t a new concept in adaptations including in this film, he is from Krypton and he was sent to Earth. Here is an adaptation example from an episode of Smallville called “Subterranean”, about a Mexican illegal immigrant who is found to be working on a different farm nearby to the Kents. Martha Kent had a dim view of immigrants and was reluctant to get involved until Clark highlighted that he arrived as an alient immigrant to Earth who needed protecting from the government, and Martha and Johnathan did what they could to falsify the papers for Clark, with the help of Lionel Luthor.

There’s one predictable plot point, especially for that certain character in the film, and anyone who has already read the comics and watched many of the previous adaptations exploring this, it’s clear what that variation of the character was going to be. It was still exciting to seem them both fighting in many scenes.

Stephane Ceretti and the rest of the Framestore have done exceptional work on the VFX of this film, especially displaying all of the abilities from the metahuman character.

It’s been such a long time to finally get a live-action Krypto in the films, and this is exactly how a dog would act with powers; a funny, hyperactive, excited and mostly untrained canine who just wants to play around. The CG on Krypto was so cool, incredibly detailed, the same CG teams worked on Guardians of Galaxy Vol. 3, for making ‘Cosmo the Spacedog’. Krypto “stole the show” quite often, although sometimes over-used in certain scenes closer to the end of the film.

John Murphy and David Fleming’s musical compositions leaned heavily into expanding the most popular and recognized Superman theme by John Williams. The scoring is brilliant, and it seems suitable for bringing in new and old audiences.

The tone both visually and storywise of the film is a lot lighter and fast-paced compared to the past 15 years of live-action Superman movies and shows. There are cuts in the film that were supposed to hit a punchline that didn’t land that well.

However, there are still some violent moments which even an adult audience here in this cinema found to be shocking, therefore it makes sense why this film needs parents to accompany a younger audience. I think they should have focused on reducing those types of scenes to make it more accessible to children in terms of humour and what’s shown. The age rating is focused more on teens and upwards.

Superman is a great movie to watch; with a bright, hopeful and heartfelt iteration of the character coming to the big screen, there’s plenty of action, and a little bit of comedy to keep it light-hearted and a good use of supporting characters.

Feeling confident and excited about what’s to come from this new DC Universe.

Superman releases in UK and Ireland cinemas, on July 11.