Superman: Unbound

'Superman: Unbound (2013)' attempts to bring a more rounded and humanised vision of its eponymous hero by, essentially, making him more vulnerable and connecting the flick's central conflict directly to his home-world, introducing the beefy 'Brainiac' as its antagonist and having him 'collect' fragments of different civilisations including a segment of the long-gone Krypon. This makes for an experience that tries to emphasise the empathy with its protagonist, and does so successfully to a degree, but also resorts to the high-powered fisticuffs the character has ostensibly been known for without much hesitation, delivering these moments with confidence and providing some excitement at the same time but largely seeming 'stakes-less' since there's little other to care about besides some basic (if realistically rendered) relationships. The issue is that making the 'man of steel' physically weaker, or weaker compared to the antagonist as least, has been done before and better. It also isn't as interesting a conceit as when the hero is challenged mentally or emotionally. Still, there are some more cerebral and emotional elements here. For one, the inclusion of 'Supergirl' allows for some unique characterisation. Namely, a different examination of the abilities and responsibilities associated with being a 'superhero' of this sort. She's scared of the villain and shows it, at least initially, which is distinct and, actually, quite natural. It allows her to feel more 'human' and gives her something to overcome internally, rather than a baddie to beat with her fists. A few sequences of off-world antics open up the 'universe' in interesting, usually unexplored ways, too. The climax, however, comes down to the typical 'beat 'em up' type of stuff and even, in its conclusion, comes across as quite contrived and convenient, even if it is left somewhat open for a sequel. 6/10

This movie is brought down by its villain. Braniac is a complex character. Things felt convoluted at times. There is an inconsistency in the strength of the characters. They would be weak and vulnerable one moment and too strong and successful in the next. There is a lot of action but it gets redundant. I needed something more.

I've been unsystematically going through a lot of these Warner movies and this is one of the better ones for me, if not the best. I'm an old (uh, maybe that's not the best word) Superman - Batman fan, so I keep an eye on the the two series and the Justice League from time to time.

Though others have described this movie as a basic super-people brawl, I found enough character development and interpersonal "stuff" to make it more interesting than a simple super-fistfight.

I would have preferred a bit of the "old" (40 years ago) comic book Braniac, as the current Brainiac doesn't seem very "brainy" in this outing, but I like what's going on with Super Girl.

My favorite Superman characteristic is that in the end he USUALLY outwits his opponents rather than simply pummeling then into the ground, and there is a version of that in this movie as well.

I don't know the numbers, but count me in as as adult fan who likes the stories to be as intelligent and "meaningful" as possible. Keep 'em coming, Warner Bros.

You have seen this story at least once, in one way or another. This movie is nothing new or special, doesn't try to explore anything that wasn't already done multiple times before, nor does it translate its story into an interesting form.

Whoever titled this movie "Superman: Unbound" was probably well aware of its quality and pulled "Unbound" from the "Box of titles for bad movie sequels" after the first two tries turned up "Returns" and "Lives".

This flick feels like a "monster of the day"-story for a television- series. It could make a nice two-parter in an animated superman series, but it has not the feel of a movie to it.

The basic plot is (no, that is not a spoiler): Bad guy threatens to destroy earth, superman stops him. Period. Insert super-powered fights, a mad super-villain, occasional hero-villain-banter and the last-minute- rescue in there and you got your movie.

The movie isn't more than that, it does not try to be more than that, but it fails in making a simple story an enjoyable ride. Two reasons for that are the emotionless voice-actors and below-average fight scenes. Because of that the movie fails in conveying the feeling that anything is at stake.

If you are a fan of animated superhero-movies, you won't miss anything if you skip this one, if you are not a fan of such movies, there are better movies to begin with.

Conclusion: Meh.

Terrorists kidnap Lois Lane who is not that concerned. Superman and Supergirl come to the rescue. Something is falling out of the sky. It's a robot and Superman defeats it. Supergirl recognizes it from before. An army of them sent by Brainiac had devastated Kandor on Krypton and somehow took away the city along with thousands of Kryptonians.

It's basic animated DC. It's much better than I expected. There is some character work. It's revealing a well-known Superman villain. He's not as formidable as he should be. Then Superman is too lackadaisical in handling the aftermath. I guess that he's not always the smartest superhero in the bunch.