Superman (2025)

[selenak]

Very enjoyable indeed, and it seems we’re finally free from the Snyder influence as well as the colour-drained imagery. This is Superman not just in primary colours but as an unabashed boy scout, a good person who often lets a nice, calming remark go with the rescue of an understandably frightened person. I was often reminded of JMS’ memoirs in which he wrote what Clark Kent meant to him as a child - someone who is above all other things kind, who combines his strength with decency, who was a friend. (Given JMS had the abusive childhood from hell, fictional Superman was literally the only person who was.) Also, director James Gunn doesn’t go for the relentless slapstick/gag machinery which had put me off the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie for a while (and off Thor: Ragnarök), which isn’t so say the movie is without humour, absolutely not, but it’s used in a way that leaves the more serious scenes room to breathe. Perhaps the fact helps that we have here in the year 2025 a movie with a hero who is an illegal alien (and gets explicitly attacked for that reason), whose enemy is a demagogic techbro billionaire who uses literal evil monkeys on social media to campaign against him (and that’s the most restrained thing he does, his other plots going all the way to the usual world endangerment as par the supervillain course), and a US government who thinks nothing of teaming up both with the billionaire and with villainous foreign dictators, outsourcing the imprisonment of our immigrant hero to them to get rid of the pesky human rights he’d nominally have on US shore…. Yeah.

(Subtle, this movie is not.)

I loved how absolutely committed to its comics origin the film is, most obviously with Krypto. If you’ve seen the trailer: Krypto’s appearances in the movie are all like this in tone during the movie, and it’s adorable even for a cat person like me. Most of all, I loved that Lois Lane, played by Rachel “Mrs. Maisel” Brosnahan, really gets to be a reporter in every fibre of her being, in a show, not tell manner. The scene in which after Clark made the mistake of saying he’d let her interview him as Superman she relentlessly grills him (not in an unfair way, I hasten to add, but asking exactly all the questions which a good reporter WOULD ask in this particular situation) is as good as advertised, and it’s Lois’ reporter instincts that hugely lead to saving the day. (Along with various other factors and people, making this in addition to everything else a good ensemble movie. Also, since the movie starts with her and Clark already in a relationship and with her knowing he’s Superman, we skip the Lois-Clark-Superman-secret identity trope. (Look, I loved Lois & Clark in the 1990s, but it really would not work anymore today if we’re to believe in Lois the excellent reporter. )



I was in two minds about the plot twist regarding Clark’s biological parents, since it felt a bit like Gunn stealing from himself (i.e. the second Guardians movie), but otoh, I think Smallville did something similar with Jor-El already (I never watched more than a few episodes of the show, so I wouldn’t know, I just go by fannish osmosis)? Anyway, I can see the point, not just in the nurture vs nature, and Clark is who he is because he was raised by decent people, but because of the whole immigrant barely subtext - i.e. yes, some may come with ill intention, but you have to judge on a case by case basis, not “because there is one with ill intentions, all get condemmed”.



In conclusion, I really liked this one, and look forward to Gunn’s further contributions to the DC movieverse.

Comments

[lightofdaye]

Oh glad you saw it and liked it!

I don't necessarily dislike the twist with the bio-parents, I like the pay off with the recovery videos at the beginning and end.

But it did seem very convenient that the lost second half of the message was everything Luthor could have hoped for and more.

[selenak]

True, though I think they wanted not to waste screen time. The news had to get out in the most public way imaginable, and in a way that provided a flimsy pretense to the fictional government to hand over Superman to Luthor, and Lex Luthor had to score an emotional victory over Superman as well as the physical one he scored at the start of the film. Ergo, Lex had to be the one to find that bit of information, though he wasn’t looking for it.

[lirazel]

Agreed about everything! I am also of two minds about the bio parents thing--on the one hand, I think it's extraordinarily effective as an emotional twist on a character level (and I haven't seen the Guardians movies so that doesn't bother me) and on the other, in our current climate the idea that an immigrant is sent to a place to take over is...not a great one to be putting out there.

[selenak]

Yes; I mean, I can see the problem of finding something else that would accomplish the trick of a) being emotionally devastating to Clark, and b) provide the US government with a flimsy pretext for handing Superman over to Lex Luthor, and which would allow an emotional pay off with the final montage later. But there is that problem.

[watervole]

Sounds like an awesome movie! (I know I'm in a minority, but I love the cheese in Love and Thunder!)

[redfiona99]

>>(Subtle, this movie is not.)<< I <3 James Gunn's films but I don't believe he believes in subtlety.