'Superman' review: James Gunn's cheerful metahuman reboot is the best since the Richard Donner original

James Gunn's Superman took me back to that day in 2006, when I'd just finished watching Daniel Craig's James Bond in Casino Royale and was so enamoured by what he had done that, as I walked out of the theatre, I felt that it's the kind of performance that has possessed you in such a way that you cannot imagine anyone else in the role after. Incidentally, a few months before Casino Royale came out, there was another reboot of another iconic franchise: Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh who, to me, was the perfect actor to take on the mantle of the Man of Steel, who was earlier personified to near perfection by Christopher Reeve in the Richard Donner films.

Now, I bring up James Bond for two reasons. One, the simple fact that it gets you thinking about the heavy burden borne by every new actor chosen to take on an iconic character. Imagine all the unfairly harsh comparisons and toxic debates on social media! Two, the fact that sometimes you can cast the right actor, but the movie doesn't do justice to him, and the actor also gets blamed for it. Look, I'm a strong defender of the Brandon Routh version of Superman. I wish he had been allowed the opportunity to don the cape again. It's a pity that never happened. Looking back, I think Brandon Routh was a great Superman in a not-so-great Superman movie.

In that regard, David Corenswet is very fortunate, because not only he is pitch-perfect casting as the epitome of good, in a way that you cannot imagine anyone else in the role, but he also gets a movie that does him justice, all thanks to James Gunn's remarkable handling of the material. It's a Superman movie for the Instagram and TikTok generation, meaning there are enough situations to hold the attention of people who need to see a lot of activity on the screen and also enough personal, human, and romantic interactions, all done with a genuine touch.

You can tell James Gunn treated the movie and his characters with as much love as he did his three Guardians of the Galaxy movies and the exceptional Suicide Squad from 2021. Most action movie directors would ideally start with a big spectacle. James Gunn, though, takes the same template and does something different. Before we get to the action, he takes a little bit of time to ease us into the movie slowly. He opens with Superman reeling from the after-effects of an ongoing battle, demonstrating his vulnerability — basically, the simple idea that no matter how powerful he is, Superman, too, needs help — sometimes from a superdog!

It's the predominant idea at the core of this film. Superman may be an alien, but Corenswet plays him as a metahuman who feels everything that a human being does. There's a reason why these characters are called 'metahumans'. It's a film that doesn't shy away from giving Superman some assistance in some of the most crucial battles. Contributions come from the superbly cast bunch of metahumans that comprise the Justice Gang: Green Lantern, played by Nathan Fillion as a showman-type who, if not for his superpowers, would've probably become a stage performer in Las Vegas; Mr. Terrific, played by Edi Gathegi with just the right combination of stoic demeanour and deadpan sense of humour; Hawkgirl, played by Isabela Merced with the temperament of someone constrained by some emotional baggage.

But the best thing about James Gunn's version of Superman is that he knows perfectly well he is not making a Batman movie. He is not here to explore these characters' past traumas. He already did that in the darker superhero adaptations like Peacemaker or The Suicide Squad. So, he knows not to repeat what other filmmakers did before him. This Superman is a James Gunn film through and through, packed with a healthy number of flawed, goofy, and eccentric characters.

Nicholas Hoult's interpretation of Superman's arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, is marked by an immature adult's enthusiasm to get everyone's applause, combined with the wooden personalities of real-life entrepreneurs whose identities are defined only by the products they sell. Hoult doesn't play Luthor as a conventional villain. He isn't ashamed to admit that he is envious of Superman's abilities. Among the many interesting qualities about James Gunn's storytelling here is how he imbues even the seemingly "unemotional" characters with a touch of humanity. There are occasions where Superman gets help from the most unlikely characters who were earlier assumed to be cold and detached.

And when it comes to the spectacle, there's a neat balance achieved here between the heartwarming character moments and all the heroic situations that demand a stunning demonstration of whatever powers these characters possess. The action sequences are more coherent this time around, unlike what we saw in the Zack Snyder movies, which benefited more from Hans Zimmer's background score than the strength of their scripts. James Gunn shoots the action as though there is another superhero nearby holding a high-definition camera, capturing everything that Superman and all the Justice Gang members do. And all this looks great on an IMAX screen, in 3D.

But what ultimately emerges as the winner, though, is David Corenswet's convincingly human portrayal of Clark Kent and the nature of his association with all the characters who come into contact with him. The Clark Kent-Lois Lane dynamic is the most impressive. Lois is already aware of his true identity, and Rachel Brosnahan completely embodies the part of the driven journalist who doesn't spare even her lover from the challenging questions. Despite all their verbal sparring, Corenswet and Brosnahan play Clark and Lois as the perfect couple, drawing comparisons to the portrayal of the same characters by Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder in the very first Superman movie, the 1978 version directed by Richard Donner. I liked that James Gunn acknowledges its influence by having the opening and ending titles carry the same design instead of completely going modern.

Do you remember that feeling you got when you were a kid, discovering the 1940s Superman animated films for the first time and getting so addicted to their warm and comfy storytelling? That's the exact feeling I got from this one.

Film: Superman

Director: James Gunn

Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced

Rating: 4/5 

Movies Review