I also just got back and I loved the film. While it does have its flaws, the overall experience is filled with so much fun and heart. Easily the best DC film since Birds of Prey (still lamenting no sequel), even if that's a low bar for me. If nothing else, this was the most excited I've ever been about going to see a Superman film since the Christopher Reeve films and this film didn't let me down.
What I loved
What I didn't quite enjoy
I know I come off pretty critical on the back half of my review but I really do love most of the film and perhaps my issues with it will improve on rewatch. I certainly hope so.
Lastly, I love that Gunn kept to his word about post-credit scenes as reported a few months ago (and posted by yours truly) and the film did not feature any sequel/spin-off teasing and instead returned to the Ferris Bueller nature of post-credit scenes: Just a little bit of extra fun and nothing more.
What I loved
- The Clark/Superman/Lois relationship. Well, it was really mostly Superman/Lois since Clark is hardly ever around (and no one really seemed to notice...). I particularly loved how their relationship wasn't easy or taken for granted or super soppy, but at the same time, you can feel how much they deeply care about each other. That's a credit to not just James Gunn's directing and writing, but especially to David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan's raw chemistry. This was most noticeable during Lois' predictably doomed interview of Superman and I loved how she didn't pull any punches when questioning his actions, regardless of what she felt or any insider knowledge she held. Strike that, it was most noticeable when they reconciled later on just before Superman turned himself in.
- The lived-in world of the DCU. I feared going into the film that Gunn might have overstuffed the film with lots of characters and ideas but I was relieved to see that he managed to strike just about the right balance for almost everything (more on that later). I loved that the film jumped right into the fray with little exposition aside from the opening crawl and a few moments of awkward dialogue at the beginning. We quickly saw the nature of the world, its place in the universe, how metahumans exist and how they are and aren't accepted, and the story never felt like it existed in a bubble as a result. This is an excellent starting point for the DCU that easily opens avenues such as the past 300 years of mutahumans, the Lantern Corps, the Justice Gang, Mister Terrific, The Engineer, Supergirl, Rick Flagg, and a plethora of other heroes, villains, and organizations, but the best part was how none of that felt forced or unnatural to the overall story. Even the random Peacemaker cameo felt right at home and I say that as someone who hasn't watched the show yet. Okay, Supergirl's cameo was a bit tacked on but it was still fun.
- Lex Luthor. Nicholas Hoult lived and breathed the character and he properly captured Lex's visceral hate and fear of Superman. His megalomania knew no bounds and Hoult effortlessly demonstrated the scale of it from quiet moments of full control to the loud ego-driven disgust. I also liked how the film didn't mince words in demonstrating Lex's racism against Superman and how that motivated his every waking moment in his dark vendetta against the superhero.
- The Daily Planet. Even though it was surface-level journalism, I enjoyed the Daily Planet's role in the story and how it was pivotal in taking down Luthor, even if it hinged heavily on Eve's vapid-but-not-so-dumb selfies. Granted only Lois and Jimmy got much to do, although Wendell Pierce clearly relished every little moment he got to portray the limited role of cigar-chomping Perry White. I know there is a greater cast in that sphere but we didn't get to see much of it beyond the surface. Hopefully they'll get to play a larger role in the next film.
- The Justice Gang. The name aside (sorry, Guy), I loved everything about the team, from the weird team dynamics to the wildly different personalities. I'm glad they were a group that existed outside of Superman but I was also thankful that they were ultimately allies, contrary to how the trailers made them feel like they were in the way of each other. I'm also glad Metamorpho joined their ranks in the end, even if Guy's reasoning for letting him join was dumb. Each character is a lot of fun and I look forwarded to seeing more of them, both individually (the upcoming Lanterns show, the rumored Mister Terrific show) and as a team.
What I didn't quite enjoy
- I'm willing to look past most junky science in a superhero films but the anti-proton river was quite silly...and I found it profoundly weird that something so fundamentally destructive to the fabric of space as presented in the film was then treated in the third act as a mere computer program gone array as if the characters were in a simulation that can easily fixed with the right coding. I get there was some big technologies going on between Lex Luthor, Lantern Corps, Mister Terrific, and the organization operating the pocket universe portals (I forget their name and I can't find it in a quick search), but it really felt like a stretch to treat such a cosmic threat as secondary to a fist fight between Superman and his clone, no matter now neat that reveal was.
- The third act doesn't quiet work. There are a lot of moving parts going on there and the focused became rather muddled as a result. As I said above, the cosmic danger taking a backseat to fisticuffs was bizarre, but having the Boravia/Jarhanpur conflict playout in the background was also a bit unnecessary. It was there to help drive the Daily Planet's take down of Lex, but that could've easily been done with Lex's reckless role in creating a pocket dimension that now threatens the entire planet. Because of all of these balls were in the air, it was hard to focus on the gravity (pun intended) of the stakes when the severity of them were so significantly different from each other. Each of them has their own merit but I don't think all of them should have been coming to a head at the same time during the third act. The primary focus should've remained on the cosmic threat and how it tied directly to Lux's machinations, which then lead to his downfall in the public eye.
- Speaking of the public eye, while I get the point Gunn was trying to get across about how the public could so easily and so swiftly change their opinions on Superman and then Lex Luthor, I found it a bit hard to swallow that everyone would so easily believe that a video with an unknown alien language that purportedly reveals Superman's monstrous plans. Even if you looked past how quickly that video was supposedly translated and then "authenticated" by experts, I find very hard to believe all people as presented in the film (aside from Superman's friends and the citizens of Jarhanpur) would so easily be swayed and so damn quickly (literally minutes and without any reflection). I know critical thinking is scant these days but as someone who has leaned heavily on it his whole life, I'm not willing to believe it was gone as it was presented in this film. Again, I get the theme Gunn was trying to present but it fell flat for me, especially when he did it again with Luthor.
- I get why everyone loves Krypto but I found his level of aggressiveness at times very off-putting. Granted I'm not much of a dog person and I do not like hyper dogs at all but his behavior bothered me for much of the film. I appreciate finding out why he acts that way by the end and the film makes it clear that it doesn't condone much of Krypo's behavior as a result, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. That said, I did enjoy his love for attacking Mister Terrific's gizmos (and not just for Terrific's reactions) and how that ultimately came into play during Superman's fight with Ultraman.
I know I come off pretty critical on the back half of my review but I really do love most of the film and perhaps my issues with it will improve on rewatch. I certainly hope so.
Lastly, I love that Gunn kept to his word about post-credit scenes as reported a few months ago (and posted by yours truly) and the film did not feature any sequel/spin-off teasing and instead returned to the Ferris Bueller nature of post-credit scenes: Just a little bit of extra fun and nothing more.
