Superman the film, like the guy, is good. It bites off a bit more than it can chew but I can confirm that we have an enjoyable Superman tale on our big screens. Which is what we’ve come to expect from Gunn with Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad. He appears to be the only director working under these tyrant-like studios able to throw in his own signatures, even more so with his latest film. From the trailer you can see the wide angle lens shots, the goofy aesthetic played seriously and the undercutting one liners trademark to Gunn’s style. The reason I think he can get away with these directorial choices is because his style and vibe suit the superhero genre which I reckon comes from the fact that he actually really cares about these stories and clearly has love for each character and story beat in them. He’s a comic nerd who’s dream of comic book adaptations dominating the big screen has come true and he’s been in the right place and the right time.

 

The ultimate reward for his comic-nerdness has been getting to launch the new and improved D.C. universe with this film here. If you wanted to know why I wrote it bites off more than it can chew, look no further than this fact. There is a good superman film here that hits all the beats it should. However, there is also tons of world building and set up for future plots that dilute the central plot and characters. Gunn squeezed a three and a half hour runtime of plot into a two hour and ten minute movie without it all breaking down and falling flat. It’s an impressive feat but I do wish we had a more centralised story just focusing on the core tenets of Superman/Clark Kent’s battle with Lex Luthor.

 

What I mean by that is that there is a clear common narrative to the film. Lex Luthor (the standout of the movie played by Nicholas Hoult) has set forth a plan to ruin Superman’s public image to convince the American government to allow him to kill/capture the Man of Steel. Pretty conventional stuff (not that conventional is bad). Superman/Clark Kent has to deal with the responsibilities of heroism and saving people while his relationship with Lois Lane and his public perception are under strife. If that sounds pretty good, you’d be right, the problems comes from the fact that not only do we have this base story but we also set up Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific, Anthony Carrigan’s Metamorpho and the entire staff of the Daily Planet. It’s a lot and I understand that we expect to see more of them in future films but it’s overstuffed. 

 

The consequence is that it forces Gunn to paint every character with broad strokes and have us rely on archetypes instead of characterisation. We need to know that Steve Lombard is an arsehole in seconds and that Jimmy Olsen is a weasel and that Luthor’s girlfriend is stupid (I mean she takes selfies for christ sake). In keeping all of this in we lose a lot of time to develop our main characters. Lois and Clarke have a few scenes together, we spend less than five minutes with Clarke’s parents and it just gets dropped on us that Lex Luthor has cloned Superman in the final act. I haven’t even mentioned the obnoxious Supergirl teaser at the end. 

 

This leaves the film with some awkward and unearned moments. The worst example is when Superman gives what is supposed to be a heartfelt speech right before putting away Lex Luthor about how he is human just like the rest of us and wakes up and just puts one foot in front of another everyday. It reads like that explanation scene from Psycho.

 

I admire that Gunn didn’t do the boring origin story we’ve already seen but he seems to not understand the purpose of it. We want to know the intricacies of the people on screen. We don’t want to be told who they are from what they wear or what they look like. Take down the pace, slow it down and let us live in the world with these people. 

 

I think Gunn knows all of that. He just also knows what most audiences’ attention spans are like and found himself at their whim in the editing room. It’s a shame because I think there’s the potential for one of the best superhero movies ever made inside of the picture, it’s just not allowed to come out. I mean, Pa and Ma Kent have such a powerful scene in this that I got disappointed when Lex Luthor’s plot interrupted it. If this film let itself breath it could’ve been the new definitive Superman film but sadly it isn’t.