SUPERMAN
- filmsinreview
- Jul 31
- 3 min read
by Victoria Alexander
I always thought Superman was special. He flew, was strong, and had superpowers no one else had. Writer/Director James Gunn’s SUPERMAN is just one among many superior metahumans crowding Earth. Who is the villain?
Superman gets beat up a lot. Where did the flying dog come from? Did his bio-parents slip a dog and an embryo cousin in the spacecraft? Was Supergirl locked away in a Smallville barn, or did Superman find her growing up in the Fortress of Solitude, raised by robots?
When we first encounter Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet), he has been defeated by another proto-being and lies wounded in the snow someplace. He is rescued by Krypto, his flying dog with a red cape—a marketing toy for Christmas 2025. Krypto drags the wounded Superman to his Fortress of Solitude, which is not a place for meditation and reflection, but filled with busybody robots. Director/Writer James Gunn threw everything in—a Godzilla monster, a woman with electrical drills for arms, and three silly cohorts.
There are quite a number of beings with more powers than Superman: Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Hawkgirl (Isabel Merced), and Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion). Green Lantern is 54 years old and has a blond Three Stooges Moe hairdo. The action figure for Green Lantern will have hair that little children can curl.
What happened to a Yoda from the dying home planet to nag Superman with righteous platitudes? Superman is conflicted about his mission? Save mankind or audition for THE BACHELOR?
Superman, as his alter ego Clark Kent, has the best no-show job since Capo Paulie “Walnuts.” Kent is never at THE DAILY PLANET and he has no “beat.” He does have a girlfriend, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), who doesn’t seem the least bit awed that she has “won the heart” of an alien being. Lois is the only person who knows Clark is really Superman. You would think Superman would be the hottest stud in Metropolis, hounded by the media constantly. He would have a huge fan club.
Superman may have superpowers, but he’s not the alpha male when it comes to his red-caped dog. Krypto is definitely not Fortress-broken. Krypto is not obedient, and wisecracking Robot No.4 (Alan Tudyk) has to constantly clean up after him. He chews on Superman’s boots.
Superman’s arch rival is The Hammer of Boravia, who has more powers. The Hammer destroys half of Metropolis because he is angry with Superman. Boravia wanted to invade a neighboring country, and Superman intervened, destroying its army. Is Superman making global decisions? Who allowed Superman to fly into a foreign country and destroy an army?
If Superman’s villain is Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), there is not the dramatic face-off of intellectual sparring I was hoping for, like De Niro and Pacino in HEAT. Lex is a tech billionaire without a clever, interesting personality. If Lex is a Zuckerberg clone, then having lousy personal charm fits. He does have a special gift from overlord Xenu—a human-like creature named Angela Spica (Maria Gabriela de Faría), also known as The Engineer, who is a shapeshifter. Not only possessing that skill, her arms turn into Home Depot tools, and she can destroy computer circuits.
But is Angela a nice person? Is she having electrically charged sex with Lex? Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool would have shown that!
I did love Lex’s pocket universe.
Lex, who seems obsessed with superpowers, has found a being named Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), who can change a body part into Kryptonite. Metamorpho’s superpower can only be used against one person? His employment prospects are severely limited.
Superman is no match for these other superheroes. Following the MARVEL UNIVERSE playbook, Superman is given a gang of helpers ready for their own franchises.
How about a commutation for General Zod from the Phantom Zone?
Gunn became co-CEO of DC STUDIOS with Peter Safran, and they began work on a new DC UNIVERSE. They need more fascinating villains and super-beings with interesting psychological profiles. Consider using Commodus in GLADIATOR as an example.
Yes, the box office will show that moviegoers are still interested in SUPERMAN, but Gunn does not allow him to be a lone fighter against evil—just another flying superhero.
SUPERMAN’s box office numbers are assured, but there will be no one buying a ticket for a second viewing. This is where the numbers matter.
"The ALL is Mind; The Universe is Mental."
Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Critic.
For a complete list of Victoria Alexander's movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes go to:
Contributing to:FilmsInReview: http://www.filmsinreview.com
Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Personal email: victoria.alexander.lv@gmail.com