Superman review: Utterly charmless. And as funny as toothache
Director
:
James Gunn
Cert
:
12A
Starring
:
David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion
Running Time
:
2 hrs
There is no point pretending we haven't been living in Superman's universe for the past 90 years or so. Still, it comes as a jolt when
James Gunn
's sickeningly busy reboot – an attempt to launch a whole new DC Universe – throws us so unforgivingly in medias res.
Superman is already an established defender of the American way. Clark Kent is already a busy journalist. He is already dating Lois Lane, and she already knows of his double life. Lex Luthor is already a scheming maniac. Sorry if that spoils the first 10 minutes for anyone who's been living in a cave since 1938.
Gunn might, reasonably enough, not have had the energy for rehashing origin stories, but the effect is of arriving halfway through the first season of a television series that, on the remaining evidence, will struggle for renewal.
Excising the story of Superman's arrival on Earth, his courtship of Lois and his evolution as superhero doesn't just deprive the film of useful structure; it also deprives it of vital humanity.
READ MORE
How is
David Corenswet
in the lead role? It is hard to tell. Rarely has an actor appeared in virtually every scene of a film while barely being in the thing at all.
There is a lot of Superman action. Corenswet puffs and heaves as kaleidoscopic mayhem builds behind him. But there is precious little of the shy, bumbling Clark Kent with whom the late
Christopher Reeve
had so much fun. The similarly misused – though not exactly underused –
Rachel Brosnahan
has, as Lois, a modestly amusing scene opposite Clark early on.
Nothing after that point escapes the deafening tumult of a rolling apocalypse. Close your eyes and you could be listening to the aural torture once directed at General Noriega. Open them and the clench of vulgar CGI further increases the dislocation and confusion.
At least Zack Snyder's earlier (largely terrible) takes on Superman for the DC Universe paused for breath. One unexpectedly finds oneself yearning for Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Clark's calming human parents in Snyder's so-so
Man of Steel
.
You may as well try to summarise a coastal typhoon as synopsise the mounting chaos.
Perfectly tolerable actors play supporting heroes called Hawkgirl (who?), Green Lantern (back again?), Metamorpho (what?) and Mr Terrific (cool name for a Mr Man).
There is some – I'm guessing here – well-meaning political commentary in a subplot about a tyrannical east European dictator who, with the assistance of the tech-bro Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult, flailing), is threatening to invade a docile neighbouring country.
Evil Lex uncovers a message from Superman's birth parents that seems to reveal he has been dispatched to conquer, rather than protect, Earth. Superman is eventually locked up in an ultradimensional detention area that could be an allegory for Guantánamo Bay.
Fair enough. Gunn deserves some credit for the effort, even if none of these parallels does little more insightful than acknowledge bad things are happening somewhere in the real world.
The tone is, as you'd expect from earlier Gunn efforts such as Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, endlessly larkish and sophomoric. It is nice that he clears such space for Krypto the Superdog. It is a shame the mutt's exploits are so blandly digital.
One welcomes the score's occasional nods to John Williams's theme from the 1978 film. One bemoans the failure to replicate the uncomplicated heroics that fanfare once greeted.
A few hilariously misguided references to 'punk rock' are (to say the least) misplaced in an enterprise that cost north of $225 million – which is to say at least €195 million.
The cartoonish closing battles make it clear that, not for the first time, Gunn is striving for high trash, but what he achieves here is low garbage. Utterly charmless. Devoid of humanity. As funny as toothache.
In cinemas from Friday, July 11th
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RTÉ News
7 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Superman sees David Corenswet get to the Clark of the matter
If the cape fits, wear it. The biggest (and best) takeaway from Superman is that David Corenswet is just right for the dual role of The Man of Steel/Clark Kent as the new DC Universe takes flight under the stewardship of writer-director James Gunn. Watch: Behind the scenes on Superman Eternal teenager Gunn hit franchise paydirt and then some with his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for the competition, Marvel, and has now been hired to give DC Comics' IP a new lease of big-screen life as co-CEO of DC Studios. Gunn has said his film is "really about presenting the Superman to the world that I love and have loved since I was a kid", and the kind of fans that would break any director's heart get enough here to take to theirs. Those weary of superhero movies may also find the energy to stay invested in a hit-and-miss story, thanks to Corenswet's all-the-feels performance and his chemistry with co-star Rachel Brosnahan as the new Lois Lane. The highly politicised plot takes in megalomania, big business, and cancel culture as the tide turns against Superman just when Metropolis and the wider world need him most. Pushing the buttons and pulling the strings is his arch nemesis Lex Luthor, now convinced he's come up with a foolproof plan to do away with Superman once and for all. Stage set, Gunn goes like the clappers to cram as much as possible into two hours, from characters to combat. Content-wise, he can't bring the snarky, anarchic spirit of Guardians to Superman - he's just too much of a stand-up alien - and the film lacks the flow of Gunn's best work. Indeed, by stuffing so much into the script, Gunn reminds you of the fella who goes on holiday for four days with 15 t-shirts. Even at the end of the movie, he's still trying to find room for more! The set-pieces are the collapsing buildings, black holes, and lads larruped into the ground that the genre ships by the tonne. Hampering Gunn's efforts to sell the spectacle is a miscast Holt, who is devoid of, say, the late Gene Hackman's love-to-hate chutzpah as Lex Luthor and makes for a run-of-the-mill villain. Yet again, it's in the smaller moments where there's room to breathe that Superman works best. The message of love is, well, lovely, and Corenswet pitches it bang-on, so much so that even Superman's dog Krypto does a blink-of-an-eye, phonebooth-worthy transformation from FFS to BFF. Overall, this is a solid but unspectacular start as DC seeks reel renewal. Next up is Supergirl in June 2026, directed by Cruella 's Craig Gillespie and with House of the Dragon 's Milly Alcock in the lead role. A Corenswet cameo is in order, and then DC should move mountains to get him back for a streamlined, superior Superman sequel.
Irish Independent
7 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Superman review: Two-star reboot fails to fly despite the intense chemistry between its lead stars
Reeve understood the difference between Clark Kent, the clumsy, mild-mannered reporter who's never on time and rarely in demand, and Superman, the big, blue boy scout who made us all believe that a man can fly. It's two different roles, and Reeve nailed them both. Released in 1978, his debut Superman outing was one of a kind; a cinematic gem that, though copied a hundred times by a hundred different storytellers, will never be equalled. Someone should have told James Gunn that. Gunn, director of Marvel's well-received Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, is the new big chief at Warner's DC division. This, apparently, is a time of reboots and remakes at DC towers, and it's pinning all its hopes on Gunn's creaky, cartoonish Superman do-over. True, Gunn knows his comic books, and his first Superman film will almost certainly please the purists who've waited years — decades, even — for Krypto the Superdog (you read that right) to claim the spotlight. Fans may yet appreciate relentless cameos from various Justice League favourites, and the constant nods towards future tie-ins. Good luck to them. The rest of us know a bad film when we see one, and Gunn — a filmmaker in too much of a rush, with too many resources — is in way over his head on this one. Try not to worry about basic storytelling foundations, or coherent character motives — Gunn certainly doesn't — and his Superman film plants us right in the middle of a tale with no beginning, and no real direction. Here, says Gunn, is David Corenswet's Clark Kent, a heroic 'metahuman' in a world that's surprisingly full of them. Clark, we're told, has been Superman for three years now. He and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan, one of the few shining lights here) are very much an item, and Lex Luthor (a shouty Nicholas Hoult), the billionaire man-child in the corner, is already a super baddie. Eventually, sketches of a plot start to take shape. It seems Superman has come under fire for preventing a war between two fictional regions. A good day at the office, reckons Clark, but Lois thinks otherwise. People are afraid of Superman, apparently, and Lex designs a dastardly plan to convince humans that the Man of Steel cannot be trusted. The wicked scheme works, and before you can say 'faster than a speeding bullet', poor Supes is placed in a 'pocket universe' holding cell alongside various otherworldly goons and goblins. A handful of costumed misfits with silly names and foolish haircuts assist in the inevitable prison break. Along the way, Gunn reintroduces John Williams's iconic Superman score from the Reeve classic (he really shouldn't). Oh and Krypto, the hyper, hungry mutt with a vicious bark, sadly overstays his welcome (you know something has gone very wrong when a canine in a cape stops being cute). It's all too much, and Gunn throws everything at us. More heroes; more side-plots; more smashy-smash CG super-scraps; more teasers for future DC episodes, and so on. Exhausting doesn't even begin to cover it. It's as if Gunn has decided that nobody wants another hackneyed DC origins tale, and who knows? Maybe he's right. Show me a film-goer who hasn't yet memorised the basic Superman background story – it's been done to death, and Gunn, to be fair, tries to mix things up with his version. But he's gone too far in the other direction. Dizzying and disorientating, this new-and-unimproved Superman is a whole lot of nothing. Watching it is like staring at the sun for too long: it'll hurt your eyes and you'll wonder why you ever thought it was a good idea. Corenswet looks the part, but the film around him is too distracted to tell Clark's story. Likewise, Brosnahan's Lois doesn't get much of a look-in. She and her hunky co-star make for a fine duo, and their chemistry is off the charts. A more attentive filmmaker might have leaned into that. Sadly, this one is too busy thinking about sequels and spin-offs. Two Stars
Irish Times
7 hours ago
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Superman review: Utterly charmless. And as funny as toothache
Superman Director : James Gunn Cert : 12A Starring : David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion Running Time : 2 hrs There is no point pretending we haven't been living in Superman's universe for the past 90 years or so. Still, it comes as a jolt when James Gunn 's sickeningly busy reboot – an attempt to launch a whole new DC Universe – throws us so unforgivingly in medias res. Superman is already an established defender of the American way. Clark Kent is already a busy journalist. He is already dating Lois Lane, and she already knows of his double life. Lex Luthor is already a scheming maniac. Sorry if that spoils the first 10 minutes for anyone who's been living in a cave since 1938. Gunn might, reasonably enough, not have had the energy for rehashing origin stories, but the effect is of arriving halfway through the first season of a television series that, on the remaining evidence, will struggle for renewal. Excising the story of Superman's arrival on Earth, his courtship of Lois and his evolution as superhero doesn't just deprive the film of useful structure; it also deprives it of vital humanity. READ MORE How is David Corenswet in the lead role? It is hard to tell. Rarely has an actor appeared in virtually every scene of a film while barely being in the thing at all. There is a lot of Superman action. Corenswet puffs and heaves as kaleidoscopic mayhem builds behind him. But there is precious little of the shy, bumbling Clark Kent with whom the late Christopher Reeve had so much fun. The similarly misused – though not exactly underused – Rachel Brosnahan has, as Lois, a modestly amusing scene opposite Clark early on. Nothing after that point escapes the deafening tumult of a rolling apocalypse. Close your eyes and you could be listening to the aural torture once directed at General Noriega. Open them and the clench of vulgar CGI further increases the dislocation and confusion. At least Zack Snyder's earlier (largely terrible) takes on Superman for the DC Universe paused for breath. One unexpectedly finds oneself yearning for Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Clark's calming human parents in Snyder's so-so Man of Steel . You may as well try to summarise a coastal typhoon as synopsise the mounting chaos. Perfectly tolerable actors play supporting heroes called Hawkgirl (who?), Green Lantern (back again?), Metamorpho (what?) and Mr Terrific (cool name for a Mr Man). There is some – I'm guessing here – well-meaning political commentary in a subplot about a tyrannical east European dictator who, with the assistance of the tech-bro Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult, flailing), is threatening to invade a docile neighbouring country. Evil Lex uncovers a message from Superman's birth parents that seems to reveal he has been dispatched to conquer, rather than protect, Earth. Superman is eventually locked up in an ultradimensional detention area that could be an allegory for Guantánamo Bay. Fair enough. Gunn deserves some credit for the effort, even if none of these parallels does little more insightful than acknowledge bad things are happening somewhere in the real world. The tone is, as you'd expect from earlier Gunn efforts such as Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, endlessly larkish and sophomoric. It is nice that he clears such space for Krypto the Superdog. It is a shame the mutt's exploits are so blandly digital. One welcomes the score's occasional nods to John Williams's theme from the 1978 film. One bemoans the failure to replicate the uncomplicated heroics that fanfare once greeted. A few hilariously misguided references to 'punk rock' are (to say the least) misplaced in an enterprise that cost north of $225 million – which is to say at least €195 million. The cartoonish closing battles make it clear that, not for the first time, Gunn is striving for high trash, but what he achieves here is low garbage. Utterly charmless. Devoid of humanity. As funny as toothache. In cinemas from Friday, July 11th
