I' a bit conflicted with this film after final seeing it. On one hand it's nice to see there's finally a Superman doing Superman things on the big screen for the first time in over 19 years... unless Lego Movie Superman also count. On the other hand the movie in which Superman is doing the things seems adverse to having Superman as a main character. Gunn also seems to try to under cut scenes of levity with humor on and off.
Hoult does a heck of a job portraying Lex being a hater though overall I think Rosenbaum still edges out as best live action Lex.
Could just be personally taste though but
Spoiler:
I do not care for part girl Supergirl at all. Maybe Gunn has a plan for it moving out but I guess making Krypto her dog seems a bit of a copout for the onscreen antics
Just saw this film over the weekend with my family and was stunned. James Gunn knocked it out of the park and delivered a perfect Superman and DC Universe for the 21st century.
I still hold reverence for Zack Snyder's universe (which wasn't killed by him but by greedy studio execs who wanted quick paydays, which is why he was forced to make BVS instead of MOS 2 which completely destroyed the flow of worldbuilding because the CEOs wanted TDK money AND Avengers money at the same time which made them force Snyder to cram Batman and the Justice League into the film instead of letting the universe build naturally like the MCU, thus leading to rushjob films with increasingly diminishing returns) and I will always love MOS as an all-time great alien invasion film, even if wasn't a good Superman film. I think that Snyder viewed Superman like Godzilla, a walking WMD/force of nature that happened to be aligned with humanity, which definitely makes for a great cinematic spectacle, but is also clearly not representative of the optimistic hope that Superman is meant to embody. I also think that Shazam, Black Adam (and the Justice Society introduced in that film), and Aquaman had enough steam to be continued into further installments, although I am glad that Jason Momoa is getting cast as Lobo. WW, Flash, Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker were at best okay and at worst really, REALLY bad.
Regardless of all that, this was a perfect reboot and vision for the DCEU going forward. Superman truly came off as a paragon of altruism and benevolence in this film, and Lex Luthor really tested him on every level, which made it wonderful to see him succeed at the end. The writing in this film was amazing in terms of how it was able to balance all of the film's conflicts and deliver satisfying conclusions to all of them. The Justice Gang were awesome and I hope to see spinoffs of them. I wasn't the biggest fan of Krypto but he wasn't annoying and served his purpose as the cuddly kids gimmick. I really like how Gunn delivered on the action here, as Superman had to face
Spoiler:. It's once again amazing how Gunn was able to balance all of these antagonistic scenarios and that's not even including
an international crisis, a doomsday black hole, kryptonite poisoning, an evil clone of himself, and a nanite shapeshifter that could suffocate him
Spoiler:, yet Gunn was able to deliver satisfying resolutions to all of these plot points while worldbuilding with the Justice Gang.
Luthor's smear campaign against Superman
I truly think this is a 9/10 and should be ranked amongst the greatest superhero films of all time alongside the original Superman, TDK, Raimi's Spiderman 2, and The Avengers, (and Black Adam, although I'm one of the few people who sees that film as the underrated masterpiece that it is) in terms of delivering a truly mesmerizing superhero spectacle that brings the seemingly impossible wonders of the comic book page into live action format. The movie has all of Snyder's cinematographic gravitas but whereas Snyder's movies were essentially disaster/Kaiju movies with superheroes, this film captures the heartwarming heroism that makes Superman the icon of benevolence that we know him as. I can't wait to see more of this Superman and more of this universe moving forward. I hope Gunn brings Shazam and Black Adam (and MAYBE the reboot Suicide Squad and if possible the Pattinson Batman) into this universe, but if not, this is still undoubtedly the perfect start for a new DC Cinematic Universe. Can't wait to see what comes next.
^ Yeah BvS killed the DCEU just as it got started. And yeah WB pushed that. Snyder himself I didnt really see as the problem - MOS and the Snyder cut of Justice League were both decent and I hear he had a hand in the first Wonder Woman as well. That said WB banked on him way too heavily Imho and not sure what he did to earn that.
But yeah this one was great. Great Superman movie and great start to the DCU. With a proper Dc studios and a guy in charge who has more than earned the role.