Up, up and hooray! Superman is a refreshing joy

While it still has its defenders, the general consensus is that Zack Snyder’s DCEU ended with a whimper rather than a bang. But as the old adage goes, the one upside to being at the bottom is that there’s nowhere else to go but up. And in the case of Superman, that’s up, up and away!

Ushering in a brand-new DC Comics cinematic universe faster than a speeding bullet, Superman is DC Studios co-head and writer/director James Gunn’s soaring effort to achieve something you would think is simple, but which somehow has been fairly elusive: Make a comic book movie.

Many filmmakers – including Gunn himself – have given us amazing cinematic adaptations and interpretations of our beloved comic books, but very rarely do they feel like a comic book in movie form. In Snyder’s own work he was a master at capturing splash page visuals, but seldom tapped into the voices of the characters and their worlds.

Watching Gunn’s Superman, though, feels as close to grabbing a random issue of Action Comics off the rack as this writer has ever experienced. And much like opening that first title page of a comic, a rather succinct on-screen text is all that sets up this entire new universe, introducing us to a Clark Kent (David Corenswet) already three years into his public career as Superman.

No exploding Krypton here. This is a world where superpowered metahumans are commonplace and the Man of Steel’s rivalry with Metropolis’s resident genius billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is already fired up. Clark’s romantic relationship with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), his “punk rock” journalist co-worker at the Daily Planet, is also a fair bit along – although, hilariously, not as secretive as they seem to think it is.

Into this, Gunn adds a colourful ensemble cast (including the obligatory “Superman’s friend” everyman), that classic comic book trope of Superman getting involved in global politics, zany science-fiction concepts (Pocket universes! Anti-proton rivers!), some wildly dynamic slobberknocker action beats, and an unabashed heaping of golly-shucks corn-fed charm.

Most notably, this superhero movie features a hero being heroic. I would be remiss not to mention how important that concept is right now, given the state of our world. I can’t think of a better time to be reminded that doing what is right is often not easy, but it is always necessary, even in the face of crippling personal doubts and societal pressures.

Read more: F1: The Movie brings high-speed thrills to the big screen

If you think that sounds preachy, it’s because it is. But Superman has been dishing out morality lessons directly to the audience since his inception in the 1940s.

Why it works here – and where this Superman differs so much from some previous on-screen incarnations – is humanity. This is not an all-powerful deity swathed in godly raiment speaking down to scraggly mortals from his lofty moral mountaintop. Gunn has remembered that along with the “super” comes the “man”.

All of that would fall apart, though, if not presented sincerely. And luckily, in Corenswet Gunn has found a very likeable and charismatic lead actor who is not only able to play both Clark and Superman effectively, but his innate humanity and all the complex emotions that come with that shine through in every frame.

With a suit as well designed as his personality (drawing heavy inspiration from the Superman creative greats like Jerry Siegel, Joe Schuster, John Byrne, Curt Swan, Dan Jurgens, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Gary Frank), he is as effortlessly at home fighting giant monsters as he is having his first big lover’s fight with Lois. It certainly helps that Corenswet and Brosnahan’s chemistry together is more powerful than a locomotive.

Hoult’s villainous Luthor also skilfully straddles a fine line between sympathetic and moustache-twirling, with the young actor clearly having a blast as he makes his energetic hatred of Superman almost understandable, if not agreeable. The cast is rounded out by fellow heroes Michael Holt/Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White (Wendel Pierce), not-so-good-boy Krypto the Super-dog, metahuman Rex Mason/Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), Luthor’s girlfriend Eve Tessmacher (Sara Sampaio), Luthorcorp henchwoman and future member of The Authority Angela Spica/The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría), Ma and Pa Kent (Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince), and more.

That’s a lot. And I haven’t even mentioned the surprise cameos.

With a two-hour runtime, it means that most of the cast outside of the top three billings of Corenswet, Brosnahan and Hoult don’t really get a lot of screen real estate to establish themselves fully. The exception here is undoubtedly Mr Terrific, whose constant scene-stealing will quickly erase the disappointing memory of the last time he was adapted on screen (Sorry, Arrowverse fans).

With all of those things to juggle, though, it does mean that Superman is not a perfect movie. The central plot through-line often feels a bit muddled, and you can see even how even the world’s strongest hero starts to buckle slightly under the weight of setting up an entire universe.

It also doesn’t help that Gunn doesn’t know to get out of his own way at times – his now signature needle drops and some mild but still jarring strong language feel out of place. And staying with the music, it’s disappointing that composers John Murphy and David Fleming’s score is not better, given this franchise’s iconic history.

Following in the footsteps of John Williams and Hans Zimmer is a herculean task, and the effort here is certainly not without merit, but by choosing to build a main theme around Williams’s historic jingle, we end up with a score that just feels like some hastily copied homework.

Despite these discordant parts, though, there’s one thing that Gunn nails from the film’s very first opening moments right to its two post-credit scenes (neither of which is narratively important, I might add), and that’s fun! Superman is a refreshing joy to experience. It’s playful and imaginative in all the best ways, never showing a scrap of embarrassment for wearing its heart on its blue sleeve as it sets out to inspire goodness in people.

Embracing its comic book roots, delightful goofiness and all, with gusto, it’s a Superman movie made by somebody who clearly loves Superman. A wild concept, I know, but it doesn’t just work – it soars! DM

Superman is in cinemas from 11 July. This includes 3D and IMAX.

This story first appeared on PFangirl.