Superman Review
This is a spoiler-free review of Superman.
Over a decade after Zack Snyder’s controversial Man of Steel, Clark Kent returns to the big screen in his own movie with James Gunn’s Superman. With a simple title and the promise of kickstarting Gunn’s new DCU, Superman has big shoes to fill and a lot depending on its success. While it ultimately falls flat in some respects, the film successfully reintroduces iconic characters in a familiar environment, returning to the comic-book origins of the franchise to remind us why we love these characters in the first place.
But while the cast is fantastic and the superpowered fights are bombastic and exciting, here on this website, I analyze things from a writing perspective. Let’s take a closer look at James Gunn’s Superman to see what it does well and where it falls short. Specifically, I’m going to cover the six pillars of storytelling: Plot, Conflict, World, Characters, Story and Theme.
Plot
Unfortunately, we have to start with a bit of a weak area for this film. Superman’s plot is its kryptonite, as with so many characters and ideas introduced in the first act, the second act doesn’t get the time needed to fully explain them all. What’s even worse is that, as rushed as the second act is, it still feels too long because of the lack of clarity. The plot doesn’t feature the clarity that’s needed for the audience to know that their time isn’t being wasted. For much of the second act in particular, things feel like they’re going nowhere. This isn’t to say that the movie isn’t entertaining, but we’re not given a reason to feel a sense of progression. Something that any plot must do is ensure that things are getting done. If there’s no feeling of advancement toward a final goal, scenes feel pointless and events unnecessary. Superman fails in this regard during its middle, but thankfully manages to more or less pick things up in the third act.
Superman’s plot was basic and, at times, disappointing. It both lost momentum while staying fast-paced, which I suppose is impressive, but it certainly doesn’t do the middle of the movie any favours.
Conflict
Superman is a difficult character to write conflict for because… well, he’s Superman. Not much can get in his way, providing writers with the unique challenge of finding ways for him to face adversity with real stakes. Thankfully, Superman avoids Man of Steel’s generic route of having the main villain be equally as powerful as the hero, instead having Lex Luthor be the brains to combat Clark’s brawn. Luthor’s strategic mind is a genuine threat to Superman’s incredible strength and seeing him come up with clever ways to measure up to him was an effective way of keeping Superman his unstoppable self without undermining any true stakes.
The conflict wasn’t just with Luthor as the media plays a big role in this film. Clark and Lois’ reporter lives are featured heavily as both part of their characters and the conflict. Superman isn’t very popular, and since Clark believes he’s only doing the right thing, it’s frustrating that this isn’t a problem he can solve by flying around and punching something. It’s yet another great way of creating tension without detracting from Superman’s capabilities.
Ultimately, the conflict was good. There was plenty of it and it was resolved effectively, being specially tailored to Superman’s abilities to make him neither overpowered nor criminally weak.
World
Superman’s worldbuilding was a step in the right direction. It wasn’t perfect as there was a lot of expository dialogue and many moments where characters simply told the audience bits of information about kryptonite, pocket dimensions or each metahuman’s superpowers. Part of the problem here is that Superman drops the audience straight into a world where the Man of Steel is already established. While Snyder’s take on the character gave us a glimpse into his origins and allowed the audience to be introduced to the world with him, Gunn drops us right into Metropolis and has his characters directly speak all of the essential information we need to get the story started. I’d argue that Man of Steel introduced its world more effectively, but the world of Gunn’s Superman is stronger overall. Once you know everything you need to know, you’re immersed and can enjoy the story for what it is.
Something the worldbuilding does particularly well is establish every metahuman’s powers and limits. We know how far Superman can go and what his breaking point is. This adds tension during fights as we understand that Superman’s not invincible. We know it’s possible for him to break, and the movie is always consistent in keeping that limit tight. It also follows its own rules pertaining to the other characters’ powers, which can be rare in stories with such enormous casts of superpowered beings but is certainly refreshing.
The world of Superman, while not introduced in the most subtle of ways, is well thought-out and gives hope for future installments to explore it more thoroughly.
Characters
The characters are, perhaps, Superman’s biggest strength. Of the massive cast, everybody is interesting in some way, despite some of them having incredibly low screen time. They’re not the most deep or complex characters in the world, but new life is breathed particularly into Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and the titular hero himself. Having such a diverse and colourful cast makes the film feel more lively and helps make up for the lacklustre plot. In addition to the metahumans, we even get a few interesting non-super side characters. None of the supporting cast steals the show, but they all contribute to the film in a meaningful way, even if their presence is purely for comic relief. It would be easy for the movie to feel overstuffed with forgettable nobodies, but Superman manages to have its characters all be distinct and memorable. There are exceptions, of course, but they are few and far between. The real highlight is on Clark and his relationship with Lois. I felt like their relationship was a bit rushed, but there was still plenty of genuine heart behind it.
Heart is perhaps the best word that can be used to describe Clark Kent in this movie. What makes him far more interesting and likable than Man of Steel’s interpretation of the character is that, in Superman, he’s just a great guy. We learn his motivation for becoming Superman pretty early on, but even beyond that, he just wants to do good. He’ll save anyone and everyone he can, from a child in the street to an annoying dog to even a squirrel at one point. Each of these acts goes to show what separates Superman from other superheroes; he’ll go out of his way to save people more than he will to fight the bad guy.
Ultimately, Superman’s characters are fun and memorable, with special praise given to the lighter, more heartfelt version of Superman himself. None of the characters are especially deep or complex, but Lois and Clark have enough going for them to make them engaging and relatable.
Story
Unfortunately, the meandering plot of the second act drew points away from the story as well. Superman takes time to find its footing, and while it knows what story it wants to tell by the end, it takes a bit too long to get there, especially for how simple its story ends up becoming. There’s a small plot twist near the end of the first act that’s probably the most interesting thing in the script, but it doesn’t get much of a payoff until the third act. The story just goes to show how much the directionless second act damaged the film, but at least the third act wrapped things up in a satisfying way.
The story that was ultimately told, regardless of how well it was conveyed, was effective. It tied in to the world and the character of Clark, especially concerning his ideological battle with Lex Luthor. When two opposing forces fight with their fists, it’s engaging. But when they fight with their philosophies, everything heightens to the next level. It’s nowhere near the ideological battle of The Dark Knight, but the story of Luthor’s ethical irresponsibility versus Clark’s unyielding morality held emotion and truth.
Superman suffers from second-act fatigue, but thankfully, not enough is lost to keep the beginning from being interesting and the end from being satisfying.
Theme/Tone
The message conveyed through Superman’s story is a powerful one that resonates with his character, but unfortunately, it gets lost in the endless quarrels of metahumans and doesn’t reach center stage until the final confrontation between Luthor and Superman. The theme is also very on-the-nose, being explicitly stated a few times, most notably during the porch scene with Clark and Pa Kent. However, some redeeming points have to be awarded to the way this theme interacts with the rest of the film. Across Superman’s plot, conflict, world, characters and story, the tone is consistent and rings true with the theme. It’s a bit of a departure from the modern dark and grittiness of modern blockbusters since the Dark Knight trilogy, and while the new style is obvious and holds nothing back, the heartfelt sincerity at Superman’s core prevents the film from being lighthearted simply for the sake of being lighthearted. It’s something that especially serves the character of Superman and what he stands for.
The theme, while quite on-the-nose, serves the film and its tone well if you can ignore the obvious moral question being explicitly answered.
Final Verdict
Superman isn’t a perfect film, but it’s a triumphant departure from the dark and gritty tone that’s plagued many Hollywood franchises in the last couple of decades. That’s not to say that dark and gritty films can’t be great, but as films such as Man of Steel have demonstrated, being dark and gritty doesn’t automatically make a movie great. Superman reminds us that the titular character is a bright, heartfelt, ethical person who ignores the moral complexities of being a superhero to simply save lives whenever he can. It’s a style that lends itself well to a film that embraces its comic-book origins. Superman’s characters are introduced with exciting potential for future films, although a bit more clarity given to the plot and more time devoted to establishing the world through less-expository dialogue would have taken this movie from good to great. Still, it’s an all-around good movie that delivers sincerity amidst bombastic superhero action.
7/10
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