I loved it. After all the boring Marvel stuff I thought I was totally done with superhero movies. The way it began was so odd it grabbed my interest straight away and Superman had more personality than in all the movies he’d ever done while still being a goodie-two-shoes nerd.
I’m by no means a DC fan. I dont’ like the movies, I can’t stand the comics (other than the recent Absolute stuff which has been pretty good), and some of the animation is great. I’ve always been a Marvel Comics fan.
That being said, Superman was fantastic. other than 89 Batman, Batman Returns, and Dark Knight, this is easily my favourite DC movie.
What I like about this film is that there’s no damn origin story which I’m so tired of in comic book movies. It’s essentially just some text on the screen before the movie starts. It doesn’t hold the audiences hand as you SHOULD know who Superman is. And what I also love is there’s no big ‘oh my god’ reveals. I loved the way they just casually dropped Supergirls name as though you should already know and then her appearance at the end is just so casual. I love that. It felt like a comic book in that regard. Even the justice Gang it’s like “yeah, you should kinda know these people exist”
It was funny, it was campy, It’s just a fun movie and if Gunn and DC continue with this and STOP doing reboots when things go slightly wrong then it’ll be a great and refreshing comic book cinematic universe. Just keep everything fun.
Yeah, it’s a movie that starts when it needs to and concludes well. Not that it’s Superman’s only leg up on the competition, but it’s a shame that’s the kind of thing that sets movies apart nowadays.
Also, Gunn has said he’s not doing a Superman or Batman origin story, because we already know those. So I hope that his Batman is good enough to end up on your list, too!
I liked it, and it had personality, but the one thing I didn’t like was that there was not enough Superman and too much everyone else. For me the ‘78 Superman is the gold standard that every other version should aspire to, and there was only one super hero in it - Superman. There’s too much copying of the Marvel universe, where every movie has to involve a team.
That said (and I guess to contradict my own self), it was cool seeing the live action Hall of Justice from the ‘70s cartoon! And Krypto stole the movie! He elevated it from being just good to great.
Gunn and Safran are putting the DC universe on film the right way for the first time. Those characters all live in that world and it would be weird for the film to pretend they don’t. We’ve done so many movies with a single hero as the center of the universe, it’s time to do comic movies right.
I feel like the current iteration solves an interesting dilemma in writing for Superman, how do you deal with him being so overpowered over humans?
In this case, there are existing power structures in place that can fight Superman. Hell, there are existing power structures that can replicate what Superman does and these power structures are threatened by Superman.
I think the population, as a whole, can get dropped into a super hero saga in media res. You don’t need an origin story for the universe any more.
Personally I thought it was just “fine.”
Probably one of the best reviews I’ve seen for it is “Superman acts like Superman” which is a good critique, but imo that’s one of the few things going for it.
I do feel like we needed a little more Superman in the Superman movie, and I feel like we didn’t really see Lex’s motivation other than him just saying that he hates Superman in almost every scene he’s in. I also didn’t like the overuse of the “Superman Theme” for practically every little thing Superman did; it got to be too much, like the Avengers theme playing whenever they do something slightly heroic in Endgame. By the end of the movie, it felt cheap. Compare it to movies that John Williams actually did score: Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.; they all have just a couple “themes” for their characters and the rest is fantastic score that whenever you listen to, you can pinpoint the exact scene it plays. You don’t have the Star Wars theme playing whenever some of the main cast does something heroic in any of those movies. Could you imagine how fast how old it would get?
I did like the very comic-booky feel of the movie, although it also felt very “James Gunn” if that makes sense. Especially the fight scenes.
Which version?
The one true version, starring Christopher Reeve, 1978.
You’ll believe a man can fly.
The best review I’ve seen for the 1978 Superman said “you won’t just believe a man can fly, it’ll make you want to.” That’s what we go to movies for. Not Nicole Kidman.
That said, I don’t remember what all Marvel movies came out before the 1978 Superman? I thought those were only this century. Could be wrong though. I would have assumed they meant the other self-titled Superman movie from this year, but hey, what do I know?
Congrats, I done with all supercape shit.
