The Freaking Film Fanatic with Nathan Unck
Superman Rated: PG-13 for language and comic book action violence.
When I was a little little kid, my dad bought a Betamax VCR machine, and I had two tapes that I watched all of the time. The first one had the original Rocky film and Rocky III. The other had Superman, Superman 2 and Superman 3 with Christopher Reeve. Ever since I can remember, I have always loved Superman. I was so excited 19 years ago for Superman Returns. I thought it was okay, but not great. Then 11 years ago, we got Man of Steel. I really liked Man of Steel, but it felt dark and bleak, and Superman comic books are not dark and bleak. Here I am today, 44 years old, and this new iteration of Superman made me feel like I was a little kid watching those Superman movies that I loved.
This movie is a complete 180 degrees from Man of Steel. I still really enjoyed Man of Steel, but James Gunn, who directed all three Guardians of the Galaxy films, wanted this new reboot of the DCU, to feel like you were reading an awesome silver age Superman comic book, and he succeeds to the fullest degree. The movie does feel a little short because it moves fast, and the two-hour nine minute felt like 90 minutes. There are a bunch of great secondary characters that should have had a few more minutes focused on them, but the movie is so entertaining, you kind of don't seem to notice until after the film ends.
David Corenswet was an incredible Superman, Rachel Brosnahan was perfect as Lois Lane, and their romantic chemistry is off the charts. Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner Green Lantern character was hysterical. The other awesome characters in the film like Mr. Terrific and Hawkgirl was also great. Nicholas Hoult was so perfect for Lex Luthor and is a perfect supervillain that you love to hate. Even Jimmy Olsen's character in the film has a very fun and interesting side plot. Lex also has a couple of "Metahuman" villains that take their orders from Lex. The cast was just great. Even the CGI Krypto, Superman's dog has a lot of great laugh out loud moments.
There are a couple things I didn't care for. I already mentioned that some of the awesome secondary characters deserved more time. I'm sure the film was longer that the theatrical cut we get, and I would love to see it someday, but for now, I am good with this one. I heard someone complaining about the special effects in a certain part of the film. Without spoiling anything and also telling you what it entailed had to deal with a river. That's all I will say. I can understand those critiques, which is fair because that is what I am giving you right now. For my personal opinion, I thought those comments were a little harsher than they needed to be.
The other thing I love is there are some moments that are so funny. The funny doesn't take away from the action and drama, but it's in there, and most of it is great. There is a great scene where Superman and Lois Lane are having this really beautiful moment, and in the background is a window, and you see that Guy Gardner Green Lantern is fighting a big monster, and it's so funny, but it doesn't take away from the drama of the scene at the same time.
(I'm just going to jump in here really quick and say, if you don't know much about Green Lantern, in the comics, Earth has four humans that are Green Lanterns, which are like intergalactic police, and you have to be a person who faces fear, but doesn't get scared of fear, and the one Green Lantern we get in this movie is the Guy Gardner Green Lantern, and he's a total jerk. You don't have to be nice to be a Green Lantern. Also, the new DCU is already filming a show called Lanterns that will introduce you to what the Green Lantern Corps is, and hopefully way better than the Green Lantern movie from 2011 with Ryan Reynolds).
I thought that I might have to show my kids and wife a couple of character videos on YouTube so that they would know and understand the movie better, but the movie does a great job at setting things up for itself. In the very beginning of the film, it gives you information that set things up. For example, we learn that there are "Metahumans" or people with superpowers have been on Earth for 300 years before this movie's starting point. You don't get an origin story from anyone, which we already have seen three iterations of Superman's birth and spaceship ride to Earth. If you feel like you want to know more about the characters, a simple google search will help, but it's not needed. I do need to mention the language a little bit. There were quite a few "S" words, and no, I don't mean Superman. It's not too much, and I think kids eight and up will be okay.
All in all, I really liked this movie so much. It's not exactly perfect. Not everything in the plot is perfect and some of the jokes don't land, although most of these things do, and they do it enough to make this film a great time at the movies. It feels like not just a reboot of the old DCEU, but it felt a lot different than Marvel films, almost like it was planned to be more like a comic book instead of a movie based on a comic book. If you like superhero movies, you will really like this one, but it does depend on how much you liked Man of Steel. I still really like Man of Steel, I don't have to pick and choose which one I like better, but this new Superman film felt very comic book accurate. Not everyone will like this film, but this is what it made me feel like this.....
