Superman

 

Superman

Writer + Director ~ James Gunn

Writers ~ James Gunn

Superman created by ~ Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster

2025, USA

Stars ~ David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult

   

No origin story here. In fact, there could have been one or two prequels before this point, detailing Lex Luther’s growing grudges and plans, Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s  (Rachel Brosnahan) romance and revelations, even the kidnapping and coercion of Metamorpho. Instead, Gunn wastes no time dropping us in midway through a fight that Superman has lost. In fact, the film spends a lot of time and is pretty good at making Superman vulnerable-adjacent. The first images we see of him is beaten and dabbed bloody. David Corenswet as Superman-Clark may have the looks and disarming charm, but where he doesn’t have the extra smooth cocksuredness of Christopher Reeve, he has a Twenty-First Century “I’m just doing my best”.

Mostly, it is obvious everyone is having a ball. There is an unmistakable party vibe to Gunn’s superhero romps, even as laced with darkness as they are. Actually, ‘Superman’ is markedly lighter than his earlier imaginings, deliberately brighter and positive in tone whilst still having a little time for the horror of war and vulnerability.  Superman can be, as ever with superheroes, accused of fascistic and imperialistic dogma, but I tend to see superheroes as a wish-fullfilment for the disenfranchised. As Superman was created by two Jewish nerds in the late Nineteen-thirties, how else were they going to punch Nazis? There’s room in the film for debate in how Kal-El’s good deed-doing is just as dogmatic and potentially blinkered as his opponents accuse, because there’s self-awareness; even The Justice Gang's more mercenary nature keeps his ethos questioned. We have Homelander and Omni Man to express our distrust and deconstruction of an invincible paragon. But ultimately it chooses Superman as the myth that we need – even with flags.

Gunn unashamedly posits super-heroes as a force for good to call on in warzones whilst the bad guy is a money mogul destroying the world from his own pettiness. Lex Luther (Nicholas Hoult) is obviously modelled on the Elon Musk type, rich beyond imagination and unable to placate his own ego, playing at war and interdimensional black sites for his own perceived grudges. The analogies can’t be missed and pleasingly roused the wrath of the anti-woke types who have no understanding of the character’s origins and meaning. It’s not subtle. But there is again attention to the casting to give Luther’s team flickers of individuality, cheering on his success at besting Superman as they might a pal’s game-playing, elevating them above just mindless minions.   

Gunn is here for the comics fans that already know their stuff, and everyone else will catch up quickly. Fan service is satisfied by taking namechecking John Williams’ original score, by utilising lesser-known characters – Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) is fearsome with that battlecry, Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi, very cool and beguiling facial markings; Fantastic was taken) – as well as taking serious-ish the absurdities – scene-stealing Krypto the superdog, Metamorpho (an emotionally pained Anthony Carrigan), Guy Gardener (Nathan Fillion; Gunn loves a lunkheaded, slightly misguided but ultimately good hero). As underwritten as Hawkgirl and Metamorpho may be, there’s the feeling that there’s other films happening with them elsewhere, that they have fuller stories that we’re not seeing (oh, Metamorpho has a family?). Gunn will make room for kaijus, and pocket universe black sites too but he knows how to root in the small stuff. The early Lane-Superman interview is where the film truly locks in after leading with the super-stuff. And in terms of giving and sidestepping a lot of exposition, the scene where Lois goes to the Justice Gang for help only to have Gardner spill the beans on Superman’s secrets is a masterclass, conveying so much under the guise of a funny interaction and goes down so smoothly you hardly realise the work it’s doing. Or he’ll make sure the Justice Gang is battling an interdimensional being while Clark and Lois are having a heart-to-heart.

Typical of Gunn, ‘Superman’ is overstuffed but always fun and light on its feet. It cracks along at a breathless pace, offering new details right until the very end (red suns make you drunk!). It is daft and heartfelt, committed, and lands its humanitarian anti-ego message with an almost naïve clarity totally befitting its hero. Perhaps it’s not up with the top-tier superhero flicks, but it’s colourful pell-mell entertainment and certainly demonstrates that a desaturated palette is not needed to get your points across.

2023 Film Round-Up part 2: action & animation & franchises

• ·         Oh, so animations and franchises and action and such:

 Part 1 has the dramas.

 

 

Takashi Yamazaki’s ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ epitomised all the fun and seriousness of a kaiju premise, mindful of the wartime origins and analogies whilst giving a worthy human drama with weight instead of killing time. And when the monster action starts, it’s so, so good.

The reality defying action in Chad Stahelski ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ made my gripes about Jalmari Helander’s ‘Sisu’

churlish and unreasonable, but different expectations for different films. I anticipated more from ‘Sisu’ and expected nothing less from ‘John Wick’. (Then again, I recently watched some King Hu films and unrealism has always be a part of action, I guess.) ‘Chapter 4’ was ridiculously long, which was appropriate for its silly self-aggrandisement, and I was just waiting for the undeniable thrill I got from the first 40 minutes of ‘Chapter 3’. Then I began to drift, and John was across the table from another underworld adversary with just a bunch of cards between them and a bunch of expendable henchman standing around the sides of the ornate room… but I had to go for a bathroom break and I figured I could miss the bad guy pontifications and hoped I would be back in time for the action. Well, I went, and about five minutes later came back and the bad guy was still speechifying. Then followed a full-on fight on a dancefloor across several levels but no one noticed because, y’know, fighting is just like dancing or something. Of course, none of this would work without Keanu, a man of a certain age who continues to dazzle taking on these fight scenes – and indeed, learning nunchuks (and yes, yes, Tom Cruise). But it was the overhead view following a gunfight through many, many rooms that really got my thrill levels up. The last movement (last hour?) entertained me mostly. Still that first 40 minutes of ‘Chapter 3’ I will stand by.

 

But if a bloodbath with the same negligible relationship to reality, then Kim Hong Son’s ‘Project Wolf Hunting’ will more than do the trick. A perpetual bloodbath of a film that just changes genre or sends in helicopters with new bodies to massacre when it needs to. To this, one of the film’s strengths is that no one seems to be safe. That guy who you think to be the main villain? The one who you think might be the eventual hero? Pffftt. Not that you’ll be invested, as this is pure 2D stuff, but… Then the sci-fi-horror kicks in. For braindead gory fun, it’s entertaining, undemanding, slick, goofy and unrelenting. Thin on substance, probably overlong, frequently inventive, culminating in a growth of narrative at the very end that probably hopes for a sequel.

Choi Jae-hoon’s ‘The Killer’ had a similar John Wick Vibe with its tongue slightly in its cheek.  A rudimentary set-up is just to prop up a number of action set pieces, the best of which is inevitably a hallway fight. It’s bright and breezy – based on the web-comic! & adapted from a popular novel “The Kid Deserves to Die” written by Bang Jin-ho – doesn’t waste so much time on characterisation, although it avoids overt cartoonery, even some gun-fu that isn’t just pow!pow!pow! - also peppered with some genuine nastiness. We’re left in no doubt that Bang Ui Gang is a brutal piece of shit, but Jang Hyuk can also turn on the charm and reassure us that this is all good movie anti-hero-kicking-butt fun. There no insight or depth, although the plot does weave a decent web, but it’s un-insulting in its shallowness and offers some nice fight choreography (by Hyuk). 

Xavier Gens 'Farang' added to Impressive Fight genre. Action movie cliches perfectly intact: when you go a new city (in this case: Bangkok), find a high building, go to the rooftop and take in the panorama. There’s not the social commentary you might have expected/hoped for, and there’s probably too much ticking of tropes, but when it finally gets to the hallway and elevator fights, that’s everything. A film like Choi Jae-hoon's 'The Killer' and even 'Extraction 2' know to get on with the fights and play cursory attention to predictable, familar set-up, but 'Farang' is happy to wallow in comfort-action.  Nassim Lyles is magnetic enough presence and the fights look visceral and painful. And then it’s just silly season.

Talking of action, Sam Hargrave’s ‘Extraction 2’ shirked much of its bond to narrative and instead offered impressive one take action sequences which, in themselves, were impressive and that’s what we came for, even if the film was average. 

But for something more serious, a little more ‘City of God’, there was Jadesola Osiberu’s ‘Gangs of Lagos’. More Traditional Gangland Tropes than the furious criticism like others such as 'City of God' and 'Gomorrah'. Oh, there's anger here - the exploitation of the street-level gangsters by the crime lords living in opulence; political corruption - but it errs on the side of formulaic. Tobi Bakre is a striking presence that centres the whole thing, but there are lapses into cheaper melodrama and a score that is applied to everything in a way that implies amateurishness. The street slaughters pull their weight, though, where it's obvious that budget restrictions aren't hindering the extras'/stuntmen's enthusiasm, and there are a couple of splashes of gore. Most of the ingredients are here, but it's mostly admirable rather than successful.

Dan Tratchenberg’s ‘Prey’ returned Predator to some kind of credibility, very enjoyable and infused with a Girl Power streak. More successful was the hint that a franchise of Predator films set at different periods, against various communities (vs. Centurions; vs. World War I/II soldiers; etc.), was possible and offered a variety of possibilities. But I doubt we’ll get that.

Although erring on the side of earnestness rather than fun – every five minutes we’re reminded that the patriarchy isn’t respecting how kick-ass this girl is – this is probably the least insulting Predator sequel. A little temporal relocation and forgoing the Urban Jungle stuff, a little reboot of the predator’s look and some decent action and we’re in solidly entertaining territory.

Similarly, ‘Evil Dead Rise’ was better than expected. An awful trailer thoroughly put me off, framing it like some ‘Insidious’-inspired pantomime, but people kept telling me It’s Actually Quite Good and then I saw it was directed by Lee Cronin, and I liked ‘A Hole in the Ground’. Some nice claustrophobia and some genuine nastiness and conviction rather than silliness to the gurning possessed. And although it didn’t excel in any way, it wasn’t lazy in intent and didn’t devolve into zingers, despite a reductive promo campaign. It’s debatable whether sticking the ‘Evil Dead’ label to it helped or hindered.

•  Super-stuff
  

Whereas animated features like ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ were too average and ‘Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham’ a mess, ‘Merry Litte Batman’ and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ proved delightful.

Although aimed at a younger demographic and possessed of character design that is often repugnant (even Alfred), Mike Roth’s ‘Merry Little Batman’ is consistently amusing family fare without resorting to nudge-wink gags at the adults or compromising the villains’ nastiness. Well, there are a couple of gags at the expensed of Schumacher’s ‘Batman & Robin’… but it doesn’t indulge. That Batman is voiced by Luke Wilson should be a clue, as well as the pop-rock Christmas tunes, to a more grungey-slacker absurdism. The humour comes from 8-year-old Damien Wayne’s hyperactive desire to follow in dad’s footsteps. Damien (sterling work from Yonas Kibreab: “No pictures! Only justice!”) bounces around causing mayhem and stumbling into Joker’s plan to bring crime back to Gotham City A film that happily embraces the absurdities of the Batman mythology whilst relating to the younger audiences’ need to prove themselves. Bright, breezy, funny and oddly ugly at times.

Taking the cue from the possibilities opened up by the Spider-verse, Jeff Rowe’s ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ happily freewheels through styles when the desire takes. More successfully, it lets genuine teens voice the Turtles and got the cast to do their voice-work in groups, generating a real energy of adolescent banter. It’s this that is the real magic ingredient, as the issues of difference, rejection, and acceptance all coast along merrily. It’s often funny, as grubby as it is colourful, less headache-inducing (or stunning) than the Spider-verse and, most of all: fun.

 ‘Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3’: James Gunn rounded up ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ with more epicness, some fan service, some surprises and some fuck-you as he added vivisection to the mix. There were still Daddy Issues, but the proof of how unpredictable Gunn’s mixture of dark-and-schmaltz outlook on the genre can be is that, at one or two points, you really do think he might kill off some major character. He even throws on an ‘Old Boy’ homage. Overstuffed, yes, but fully entertainment. And me, I could have done with more Baby Groot.

 

 But of course, ‘Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse’ was king of the genre. I had the same reaction as I had to the prequel: immediately – Whooo, slow down! And then – oh, wow! I didn’t know this was a “to be continued” ( I like to know as little as possible) so the ending came as a pleasant surprise and I just chuckled with satisfaction. Groundbreaking stuff. 

One last note on the super-hero stuff: Quentin Dupieux’s ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ happily started from the point of mocking the genre’s absurdism before turning into a portmanteaux that widened its targets to embrace all kinds of silliness with some horror garnish.