‘Superman’ review: James Gunn puts some pep back in Clark Kent’s pants

By David Presley

Superman

Superman might be the most famous comic book character of all time, but he’s struggled in recent years. After Christopher Reeve slipped off the famous branded cape following 1987’s Superman 4: The Quest For Peace, Hollywood has never quite got it right. Brandon Routh in Superman Returns didn’t exactly fly up, up and away, and Henry Cavill’s dour focal point in Man Of Steel could not withstand the crash-bang-wallop of the Snyderverse. Now we have David Corenswet (The Politician), star of the simply-titled and sometimes-engaging Superman.

Pulling the strings is Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn, who at least knows not to give us another tiresome origin story. Bringing newbies up to speed, the opening credits explain that Superman has just stopped a war between the fictional nations of Jarhanpur and Boravia. “Three minutes ago, Superman lost a battle for the first time.” Blood-splattered in the snow, he’s dragged back to his famed Fortress Of Solitude, hidden deep in the ice, by Krypto – a rather unruly white pup who steals every scene he’s in.

Unsurprisingly, Superman is facing off with his old nemesis, baldie entrepreneur Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), who wants to stir up the Boravia war once more. He’s already controlling a puppet politician (Zlatko Burić) and has a gang called ‘Planet Watch’, led by resilient foe The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría). There’s also a giant floating robot that dubs itself ‘The Hammer of Boravia’ and Lex soon releases a cute lizard-like creature that’ll grow to the size of Godzilla, as this tech-savvy billionaire looks to take down Supes amid a PR spin campaign (#Supershit has been trending).

Thankfully, Superman has allies – the Justice Gang. Among them, gadget-carrying Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), the egotistical irritant Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion, looking like Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber) and aerial ace Hawkgirl (The Last Of Us’ breakout star Isabela Merced). It’s a lot to take in, which might account for why we only get glimpses of Corenswet as Superman’s Daily Planet reporter alter ego Clark Kent (which is a real shame), and why his affair with regular love interest Lois Lane (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan) doesn’t ignite into anything interesting.

As Superman outings go, it’s solid rather than spectacular. Gunn’s Guardians humour flashes here and there (but not enough), with nods to DC universe fictional band The Mighty Crabjoys and some crowd-pleasing cameos. Corenswet and Hoult, though, come nowhere near the charm of Reeve and the mischievousness of Gene Hackman, who played Luthor in the OG Superman. Supes is mainly too busy worrying about his rep. “I’m as human as you are,” he cries. “I screw up all the time.”

To give Gunn his due, he crafts a world that’s as close to the DC Comics Superman that we’ve ever seen, with characters like the shapeshifting Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) adding real texture. It’s a promising start-point to his plans for the DC Universe. And while the good-versus-evil plot does little to push the envelope, the idea of Superman being an alien peacekeeper is surely going to stir up political controversies back in Gunn’s MAGA-homeland. Mainly, though, just give us more Krypto – this canine really is super.