Jithindurden

This might've been pretty serviceable and even feminist for the time it came out, I'm not too familiar with the time, but that's the only way I can see how some of the positive reviews here make sense to me. But as much as it's great to know there was a female-led franchise back then, it is so confusing what they want to say through it. On one hand, our main lead is a journalist who'd go to any length for the right things, but even while doing the best she can, they make sure there's always a handicap because she's trying too much for a woman. Her love interest, the cop, is a despicable character who is still treated by the film as a good guy who is just trying to be sensible. There's so much that the woman accomplishes, but even after all that, at the end, it wants to establish that she's still a woman who would ultimately be just a homemaker. The problem with the film is that it doesn't really commit to one idea or the other; the actions that result in justice are all from the woman, but it still ends up saying that's not the right thing.

It's a mess of a film. It seems that the production of the movie was a nightmare that went on for years after so many rewrites and reshoots, which can be seen in the main characters too, where the character arc is there, but the way it is presented is with so much of the everyday ups and rises without the feel that it's everyday. So it feels like these are supposed to be great people, but they come off as stupid.

But at the end of it, all that melodrama doesn't matter. It's Hedy Lamarr, you can just sit and look at her for two hours, and it won't be a waste of time. She shows she can act too. The character's ex got a shrine for her. What more can you ask for? Want her to make an invention that would help the American Navy in World War 2, which would form the basis for wireless technologies like Wifi, she did that too.

James Gunn heard all the complaints about the previous iteration and decided to give the Superman that the fans want. The way the plot unfolded felt very much like a few episodes spanning story from the Timmverse Superman animated series. The character development or even the information about the world is given almost like that, but simultaneously builds a proper comic book world where a lot can happen. Due to these factors and the general style choices of Gunn, the film does have its flaws but they seem to be aware of it. There are a lot of dialogues from Superman and Lex Luthor that are very expositional, which felt like Gunn added that because people didn't understand a lot of those in some of the previous movies when it wasn't spelled out like that. But the exposition is very cleverly placed to feel like a natural progression and doesn't affect the film. There's also a certain plot point that feels like Gunn intentionally added as something that mirrors a previous controversial decision, while making sure this would be received more positively.

If it were just a couple of years ago, a lot of the stuff that I see in this movie as highly political would've been just normal Superman story stuff for me, but in today's global political climate, the stance this movie took truly needs to be appreciated. This movie dealt with an American billionaire's egotistical, greedy involvement in the war in Asia basically. I would guess that they would go on with the President Luthor storyline from the comics in the future, which made no sense to me as a kid, but makes total sense nowadays.

From the very first teaser, I had doubts about the color grading, also considering how I didn't like the color grading of The Suicide Squad, but in the film, the color grading worked perfectly. 3D was also really good with giving proper depth and immersion as well as certain shots that give that extra gimmick, but gotta say it's been a good while since I found 3D to be worth it for a movie like this.

Overall, it's very entertaining, fast paced with a good message, and I did love the experience, but it did feel like some 20 minutes more with a bit more breathing space than what it got now could have been truly epic. The original Superman Theme's new version felt like it was mostly used low-key or in moments that didn't really earn it. I really wanted that music to have a grander feel in an epic conclusion, which could have made it an exceptional experience. But this film felt like it was going for a safe presentation, which Gunn can easily pull off to get a firm start for the new DC universe. So, I hope that they will explore a lot of that stuff in the future. For now, this is a damn good summer blockbuster.