Started by Xenokiller, Jun 14, 2013, 12:43:39 AM
QuoteThere are a handful of filmmakers that have managed to break into the comic book movie landscape and truly mold their contributions into something all their own, retaining their own identity and sensibilities in the process of adapting what was there on the page: Sam Raimi, Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, and maybe a small handful of others.But then there is James Gunn, who has somehow come barreling into the genre, adopting it as his sole creative outlet rather than one that he simply dipped his toe into for a time. With every effort he has managed to break down the walls and mix up the formula on what comic book movies can actually be, all while being so completely earnest and reverent about the material that he is drawing from. Superman is unequivocally a James Gunn film, but that doesn't mean it is exactly like his previous output by any stretch of the imagination. The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, The Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker are all fundamentally different beasts, and Superman too is something that none of them can really claim to be: it's a full on superhero movie. Superman lives and breathes as a pulpy, silver age comic book come to life on screen, with superheroics tethered so distinctly to that identity. We literally have Superman here saving squirrels and catching falling buildings that are about to fall on innocent bystanders in this! And then, as if to complete the package, there are all of the vividly rendered monsters and metahumans and pocket universes and spaceships and flying dogs and anything else you'd expect to see in any random issue of a comic from the '60s.All of this would be for nothing, though, if what was at its core didn't come together. Every cast member is fantastic, with David Corenswet's Clark Kent/Superman and Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane anchoring this thing like their lives depended on it (one scene early on with the two of them, you know the one, is the foundation for everything that the movie rests upon). Modern comic book movies aren't exactly known for their romances, and that is such a disservice to what the operatic nature of what these larger than life characters have to offer. Clark and Lois had me swooning here; more of them on screen together, please! Edi Gathegi also manages to steal every moment he's on screen, especially in a standout action sequence around the film's midpoint. Superman is also significantly more politically charged and rooted in (a fictionalized version of) today's contemporary landscape than one would probably expect it to be going in, and like The Suicide Squad before it, this film is not afraid to get America's hands more than a little dirty as it deals with that fallout.Anyways, long story short, I loved this. I can't wait to see it again.Lex is just the world's #1 hater, huh? Nicholas Hoult is incredible. His is probably the film's standout performance. This movie has a 10/10 depiction of the average Twitter user, too.If this is a promise for what James Gunn's new on-screen DC Universe is going to have to offer, then yeah, I'm along for the ride.
