Movie review: 'Superman' celebrates comic book fantasy to extreme

LOS ANGELES, July 8 (UPI) -- Superman, in theaters Friday, is the boldest approach to a comic book movie the genre has seen yet. Its niche is already large enough to make it an enormous hit, but its unprecedented commitment to the source material should be celebrated regardless.

The film begins after Superman (David Corenswet) has lost a battle for the first time, against the Hammer of Boravia. Right off the bat, writer/director James Gunn has made the invincible superhero vulnerable and relatable.

Superman lost the fight while interfering in a war between the fictional nations of Boravia and Jarhanpur to prevent casualties on both sides, but mainly the overpowered Jarhanpurians. This gives Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) an opening to turn the U.S. government, and the world, against Superman.

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Gunn depicts a world in which superheroes already exist, but the heroes never take over Superman's movie. Superman is only the most recent in centuries of metahumans, including the Justice Gang of Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who come to Superman's aid.

As such, the inclusion of Krypto the Superdog is not just one unusual addition -- it is the norm of this world, along with the robots in Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) already knows Superman's (David Corenswet) secret identity in "Superman," in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and DC

Luthor's plan involves opening pocket universes that allow him to travel quickly between Metropolis and Boravia via portals, and abduct characters from other dimensions. Much of the film takes place in a pocket universe, and many scenes have Easter eggs from comic books in the background.

Gunn never tries to mitigate the fact that this is a comic book movie. Some such films have taken a grounded, realistic approach, while others have given a more whimsical take, but Gunn's Superman just accepts that wild characters with extreme powers are the status quo.

Superman (David Corenswet) meets Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) for the first time in "Superman," in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and DC

Marvel, of course, built up a world like this by introducing each hero one by one. Interestingly, Superman is not presented as special, just the latest in a world of meta humans. Unlike in Batman v Superman and Justice League, where Superman still came first.

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Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films also embraced their source material, but various aliens were at home among contemporary sci-fi films.

Eve Tesmacher (Sara Sampaio) takes selfies in "Superman," in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and DC

Even with its humor, Superman makes no apologies for being a complete fantasy. Marvel movies tend to undercut their sentiment with jokes. In Superman, the humor is largely embracing the absurdity of having super powers.

Amid all this, there are still intimate moments between Superman and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), and between his alter ego Clark Kent and his parents (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell). It is a nice touch that none of this film involves Superman rescuing Lois from peril.

From left, María Gabriela de Faría, Sara Sampaio and Nicholas Hoult star in "Superman," in theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and DC

The cast is committed to their characters: Brosnahan captures Lois's insatiable curiosity even if it jeopardizes her relationship with Clark, Hoult equally portrays Luthor's charm and lashing out, and Corenswet handles Superman's struggle with his own purpose.

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The comic-first approach, however, means Superman is not shown existing in the otherwise real world, but that's okay. Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh made those movies.

Gunn does address some themes from previous Superman and superhero movies. Though not a real-world analogue, the film handles the issue of Superman involving himself in geopolitics with more nuance than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The inclusion of so many comic book characters speaks to Superman finding his chosen family on Earth. One's chosen family is a major theme of Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy too.

Gunn makes some tweaks to Superman mythology, but not arbitrarily. The message Superman's Kryptonian parents sent with him to Earth does not explicitly forbid him from interfering in human affairs. Superman's decision to interfere makes it a more powerful choice to reconcile when it backfires.

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Luthor's henchwoman Eve Tesmacher (Sar Sampaio) takes selfies and it makes sense that the modern evolution of the character would be an influencer. Cable news covers Superman's battles, Luthor sometimes uses the language of Fox News, and Gunn has a very apt take on Twitter trolls.

Though government agents express misgivings about Luthor, it is possible he hasn't shown his true nature to the world at large, as he only meets Superman for the first time in this film.

Or, it's even more poignant to imagine Luthor has shown himself to be evil and the public still takes him at face value. The film leaves that issue open to interpretation.

Technically, Superman holds its own with contemporary superhero movies with some improvements. The camera flows, even when actors are performing against obvious green screens, so visual effects shots remain dynamic, even the flying.

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The impacts from super actions and battle look real and tangible -- when big creatures slam into things, the debris looks physical.

As much as Superman has a finely honed tone, a few glaring oversights crack through. One of Luthor's metahumans, The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) tells Luthor she sacrificed her own humanity to battle Superman. Her character is otherwise formidable, so it is a shame to saddle her with a line as reductive as a dialogue bubble in comic books.

The treatment of Eve by multiple characters retains hints of misogyny. Luthor is obviously evil, but other characters make fun of her feet because somebody thinks it's funny to mock an otherwise attractive woman for something about which she is insecure. That's called "negging" in dating circles.

Superman is the beginning of a new comic book movie franchise and many of the characters introduced in the film will appear in other movies moving forward. Like the most successful of those tie-ins, Superman stands on its own and hopefully each subsequent entry will also.

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Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.