Finally saw Superman!
Summing up my thoughts, it was a fun, albeit dumb superhero flick that most general audiences will enjoy. As a Superman film, it is pretty bad, feels like a sparknotes adaptation of Superman that “gets” the character, but not enough to write him that well. A lot of dialogue feels like it is ripped straight from this thread and how we describe Lex and Superman, but is coming out of the characters in a manner that feels completely inorganic. As for the other Leaguers, they are sort of just there, mostly adding some fun comedy or action.
Describing the film itself, it is poorly paced and a lot of things are left to assumption. It is very obvious that cuts were made as the film felt like it skipped the entire second act, leaving the last hour to be a bunch of set pieces and fights that just sort of happen. A big issue for me is Superman’s relationship to the Justice Gang. I honestly cannot figure out what there relationship is as we get one scene of them disagreeing, then they all completely turn on him, yet they are said to be friends that he trusts? His relationship to ma and pa Kent, along with his Kryptonian parents is also rather confusing and poorly developed as others have stated here.
Going back to the dialogue complaint, that ending with Lex was painful. Lex basically summing up his character in front of a room of people with no hint of irony was…a choice. Same goes for Superman stating he is more human. These feel like Wikipedia descriptions, not something either character would actually say. Lex would never admit jealousy, especially not out in the open, he would always bullshit up some sort of justification.
Describing Superman, he was fine. The trailers definitely made him out to be more emotional than he was in the film. In saying this, part of him just feels off. He lacks a sort of grounding in the film, coming off a little too passive and weak. I wish we got something more along the lines of STAS’s Superman and Lex meeting, rather than Superman throwing a tantrum. Him flying out the window and coldly threatening Lex would have been have been more in character while still making him look like a threat.
Lex was pretty atrocious. Holt is good with what he’s got, but it doesn’t feel like Lex. Lex leaves way too much evidence against himself for me to think he is as cunning as other Lex adaptations. He also has access to way too much for a first outing. My suspension of disbelief ended once the world was being ripped in two, no way Luthor would be dumb enough basically end the world, Lex usually keeps his bullshit on the down low or in a way it cannot be linked back to him. It would have made for a better story if the plot created a situation in which Lex completely avoided jail.
Plot was a mess that tried to link the heroes to real world consequences but completely gave up in the last half. While they imply a shift (as meta humans get involved) at the end, no consequences really get shown. I guess the US is completely okay with the murder of a leader of a US ally nation? Lex is given another land development plot that they try to BS at the end as it was all about him wanting to kill Superman, but it was so rushed that who cares…
As a final note for now, holy shit Gunn. How the fuck did you get away with the blatant Israel-Palestine conflict, and having it be extremely anti-Israel at that. Don’t tell me it wasn’t, having a white US ally nation invade a nation of mystery meats that are shown as completely defenseless is a little on the nose, don’t you think? No wonder Fox News and Ben Shapiro were shitting themselves over this film.
Film may be a mess, but I have to give Gunn some credit for being this ballsy as to portray not-Israel as the bad guys and have Hawkgirl kill not-Netanyahu.
Glad to see the big man getting gigs again, but what really stuck with me is how the new Kents are just unapologetic Appalachian holler-dwellers, and they have never even heard of Canada. A bold choice, and I respect it.
