Superman review — this migraine of a movie is superhero soup
And so Superman has indeed returned in a maximalist migraine of a movie, directed and written by the Guardians of the Galaxy veteran James Gunn, a film-maker also charged here with launching a new 'universe' of DC-sourced movie adventures. Good luck with that. Gunn approaches the nerdosphere's most celebrated property like a giddy amnesiac who has missed the precipitous rise and fall of multi-character Marvel superhero movies and is instead stuck somewhere in the early 2010s. Nor has he apparently seen the recent Marvel instalment Thunderbolts, a genuinely delicate film about mental health that ended five 'phases' and several billion dollars of lycra-clad mayhem with the tacit acknowledgment that comic book bombast was dead.
Superman begins in medias res with a battle between Corenswet's hero, a mysterious masked villain called Ultraman and a mutant female villain called the Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria). Both baddies are controlled remotely via series uber villain Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult with the kind of screen-chewing, jugular-busting intensity that suggests his only directorial notes were 'More! More! More!'
• James Gunn: Some people will take offence at my new Superman
Luthor is furious with Superman for interfering with a lucrative military conflict between the fictional warring neighbours of Boravia and Jarhanpur. These nations are variously coded in newsy exposition as either India and Pakistan or Russia and Ukraine until, in a sun-scorched sequence near the end, we witness a skirmish that has unfortunate, and deeply uncomfortable, echoes of an IDF incursion into Gaza.
Meanwhile, on Planet Overkill a giant lizardy thing is about to crush Metropolis too, but thankfully Superman is joined by his super-dog Krypto (breed: CGI) and a friendly team of Avengers-lite superheroes called the Justice Gang, including Nathan Fillion's Green Lantern and Isabela Merced's Hawkgirl. Fillion, mugging broadly in a bowl cut, is presumably awaiting a DC Studios spin-off and plods dutifully through some 'ironic' genre gags that would've been cut from even the weakest episode of the TV satire The Boys.
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Meanwhile (yes, we're still on meanwhile), Luthor is experimenting with an atomic collider that has accidentally torn asunder the fabric of the universe and created an all-consuming black hole. This is the cue for some enervating 'fifth dimensional' sequences that are very Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and ultimately suggest that some kind of AI for blockbusters has masticated and then vomited out the narrative lowlights of almost every superhero movie since the first Iron Man.
There are glimmers of intrigue, as well as quirks and curios. Rachel Brosnahan performs miracles with her threadbare Lois Lane, making you wish for more than the paltry scenes she's given with Corenswet (a serviceable turn). There's a handful of callbacks to the Reeve era, including the title font, as well as a belaboured running gag about office gofer Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) being irresistible to women. Plus, in this world, the power of the broadsheets is unassailable. They can stop war, instantly, with a single headline. And they can alter the fate of the entire universe. Turning back time and creating better superhero movies? If only.★★☆☆☆12A, 129minIn cinemas from Jul 11
Times+ members can enjoy two-for-one cinema tickets at Everyman each Wednesday. Visit thetimes.com/timesplus to find out more.Which films have you enjoyed at the cinema recently? Let us know in the comments and follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
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