cliftonofun

For the most part this movie felt like a retread, an unfortunate byproduct of 20 years of the MCU formula and gradually diminishing returns. But whenever the plot felt predictable or the action felt stale, Florence Pugh and David Harbour came to the rescue. They are funny and watchable and human enough to salvage what would have felt like a pretty empty exercise otherwise. This isn't top tier Marvel story or top tier anything else really, but it winds up being solid enough thanks to their performances. It is also a reminder that stars matter, regardless of what superheroes may or may not be involved.

Well, that was the most fun I've had watching a Superman movie since I was a kid and Richard Donner was involved. James Gunn clearly understood the assignment and the comic books better than most. And so did the casting director, who just plain nailed it: this cast brought us truly great versions of Clark/Superman, Lois, and Lex. So we got the right vibe and the right cast, which goes a long way. But there were still some tradeoffs. When you lean this hard into the comics and building a "universe," there will be moments where the story feels too packed, too complicated, and (in Superman's case) too earnest. And boy did it. I mean, the whole reason I looked forward to seeing this one was not having to watch 5 shows or previous movies to jump into the story...but Gunn still couldn't resist cramming this one movie with too much of just about everything (including sappy speeches). But I showed up for a Superman story, and I got one. Even if it was a little too much at times, even if it got distracted, even if the central plot was a bit too cliche/predictable. After the last few attempts fell as flat as they did, it's hard to complain about this one.

I hate to be all contrarían, but this movie is absolutely gorgeous to look at...and also a little lacking when it comes to compelling characters/conflicts. You would think a movie about another planet colliding with ours as a dysfunctional family struggles to find its footing would have plenty of plot to work with, but I will mostly remember the slow motion sequences set to loud orchestral movements in the first 5 minutes. Pretty? Yes. Compelling? Not really. Sometimes a movie is just a bit less than the sum of its parts. The performances were great and the cinematography was wonderful and, and, and...I just wanted to spend the last couple days of our planet's existence with more interesting people.

The part about the earth being evil, though? Resonates.