Here are some thoughts that I sent in to Ray at The Flitecast podcast:
Overall,
I enjoyed SUPERMAN and I'd say that it did lots of things really well,
but I don't think it did anything superbly well. More on that in a
moment, but I also want to start off by saying that I am truly happy
about its success and the positive reception it's getting in society. It's good to garner more Superman fans,
to keep the superhero movies going, and to give WB executives the
confidence to let DC Studios continue without creative interruption.
Plus, my wife and kids really liked it, which has been fun for me since I
already have lots of Superman content that I enjoy, and now they are
joining in. (And to be fair, my kids also like My Adventures with
Superman (HBO Max).)
And
I did enjoy this new SUPERMAN movie, too. I would probably give it a
7.5 out of 10 at this point. Solid, but not quite up to the heights of
BvS, MAN OF STEEL, WONDER WOMAN, or THE DARK KNIGHT.
Some
positives were the general likeability of David Corenswet, the Lois and
Clark dynamics and the brave choice to give them some relationship
tensions, everything about Mister Terrific, the fact that the side
characters were interesting but did not detract from Superman's central
story, and some nice moments of heart.
The
tone and pacing were also well drawn, so that did make it an enjoyable
experience just as a typical movie viewer. I think these are some of the
reasons that it is getting a generally positive reception.
But
there are some things in my subjective view that were good but not
great. I felt like the action was big but it wasn't epic. I also thought
the physics and the fight choreography were fine but not top caliber,
and some moments were kind of disappointing like Superman in the
anti-proton river, just flailing about for several minutes and then
blowing wind way late in the game (though luckily this scene was saved
by Metamorpho). Or another example is the fight with Ultraman at the
end, where Superman dislocates his shoulder, which is kind of a cool
idea and fits with the humanizing theme, but he doesn't use the
dislocation to escape, he actually uses the now-dislocated arm to throw
Ultraman over to the other side into the bus that sends him down toward
the black hole. I have no idea how a dislocated arm was able to make
that throw when his healthy arm couldn't. So again, it was a key fight
scene with Superman that ended in a very disappointing manner, in my
view. The flying straight up with the nannites was also a weird choice
because how could Superman have known that it would work out perfectly
to his advantage that the Engineer would catch up to him and encase him
safely?
Some
other broader things that I think were fine but not great were the
music, the cinematography, and Lex Luthor's portrayal. To me, Lex's
motivations were pretty straightforward, and he always seemed like an
actor playing the part, I didn't buy into him as a real character like I
did most of the others.
My
other big thing is that the movie had a few decent attempts at broader
themes, like what it means to be human -- that it's about culture and
choices, not DNA -- but that human culture does have the danger of being
influenced by shocking new information or by manipulations of the
powerful. But these themes were not deeply embedded in the movie, in my
subjective opinion. I got the sense that this movie was mostly
constructed around characters, tone, and plot, not around philosophical
ideas.
But
that's okay. I know most people like films to be about character and
plot, not about philosophical themes. And even for myself, I only need
certain movies, from time to time, to take on that heavier stuff. I also
like entertaining movies, and SUPERMAN is one of those.
I
also thought the rural stuff with the Kents was good, not great. I'm
from the rural Midwest, and I grew up on a farm. I think this movie went
more for the rural, not very much about the farming. But that's okay.
At first I thought it was conflating rural with stupid, but I was won
over by the end.
So
overall, I like it, and I am glad that the mid-credit and post-credit
scene were connected to this movie, not re-directing attention toward
the next movie. I like it that people can settle in and talk about and
enjoy this movie for quite awhile longer before the next thing.
There
were also a few very minor things that I noticed, like the Engineer
flying way too far, too fast to arrive at Lex's headquarters near the
beginning, or Superman going way too far under the sidewalk before he
pops out, Lex not flinching at all when blades are flying right past his
face in the Fortress (I know he's cocky, but does he have no reflexes
at all?), the Engineer reforming her self upside down in the Fortress
for no reason other than to show that she has that ability, which never
matters again, or Mister Terrific, a man with human strength, punching
out multiple guys with helmets at the beachside base. But all of those
were very quick and easy to brush aside -- they didn't negatively effect
the overall movie.
But
that sort of thing does put SUPERMAN a notch below MAN OF STEEL in my
own subjective ranking, because I think MAN OF STEEL only has like two
very small moments that I'd want to change (Clark looking down too
severely with his baseball cap in the cemetery, which looks to obviously
like blocking so that he can look up at Lois, and then the line after
the kiss where he says that it's downhill after the first kiss if you're
kissing a human, because he is kissing a human even if Lois is not).
Well,
this has already gone on longer than I thought. Although it might seem
like I have a lot of critiques, I do want to reiterate that I liked the
film. And I have not shared any of my complaints online, because as
you've discussed before, there's no need to spread the negativity, and I
do want the word-of-mouth to continue so that it can have some legs at
the box office. James Gunn said $500 Million would be a success, and I
think it's going to end up over $600 Million... $700 Million is a
possibility and that would be super!
