vaultoverseer_15

I was looking forward to this movie for a while, ever since the first trailer dropped. I am a big fan of James Gunn, I love his style and his movies (making the best MCU movies you ask me), but I was admittedly skeptical about him doing a more conventional superhero movie til the first trailer dropped. Yet this seemed to be a movie that would forgo a lot of the recent comic book movies by appreciating all the zany comic elements to tell a truly fun and hopeful superhero story. After all, that;s what superheroes are.

And I think that's exactly what this movie is. Hopeful, extremely optimistic in a way which summer movies rarely are. I walked out of this movie feeling happy, joyous, something that a lot of big budget movies haven't done for a long time.

Upfront, this is not a flawless movie, not by a long shot. This movie wants to do a lot, and it's biggest issue is that it's just a bit of a mess. There are so many characters, so many ideas, and the movie does not have a clean plot structure. As I will get into, I love a lot of the characters and ideas it sets about, but it struggles to tell the story in a cohesive way. I feel like every character who gets a little arc gets enough, but we don't quite need this many characters. Gunn clearly had a big vision not to start at the inception of these superheroes, a decision I like a lot, but I also feel that a lot of these characters should just appear and then disappear, because it becomes a bit busy as is. And I think some of the comedy is a bit much, and while I don't believe it is as bad as a lot of MCU movies I would really prefer less of them.

Obviously there are some issues that more people will have, as has been very clear about this movie from the beginning. It's sad that this movie came host to so much drama, and it's why personally I'm going to be off movie discussions about Superman for a while. I wish people could just like or dislike something, and it wasn't a tribalistic affair.

But I think James Gunn will be the deciding factor in people's enjoyment of this movie. Which is fair enough: this is very much a James Gunn movie. For me, James Gunn has a lot of style in his movies, as we see here, colourful visuals and dynamic camera work, and some great set design and costumes. He loves the pulp, he loves the camp, but he also wants to interject heart into the film, and have emotional moments.

The real question to me was, can James Gunn do Superman? The biggest hurdle for me was that James Gunn always exceeds at creating sardonic, often slightly amoral characters. I wasn't sure if he could create this sort of Superman. And David Corenswet did: he is about as pure as a person can be, but in a way that feels fake or inhuman. He is the most powerful person, but I think what makes him so powerful is his convictions, and this movie being a lot more about other characters helps us relate to him more in being a hopeful force in stopping the bad things rather than just being the godlike figure to save everything. Which also, despite being the most powerful character, he rarely feels invincible, a lot of action sequences he feels quite vulnerable and it feels like he might lose.

James Gunn always has had a more, I guess you could say edgy or mean spirited aspect to his movies that I just couldn't see either him getting rid of or working for Superman. And he still has that here, and surprisingly, it works. There are some dark moments in this film, and there are a lot more sarcastic, kinda mean heroes here. What this does I think is contrast Superman so well that when we get to the end, it feels truly triumphant. It feels like he overcame something, him and his friends, and there is something much more rewarding in that.

Which is also to say, Lex Luthor, oh my god. James Gunn has been getting better and better at comic book villains, starting from pretty weak (Guardians 1) to very strong (Guardians 3). And it's appropriate that he now gets to film one of the most iconic supervillains, and my god does Nicholas Hoult deliver. He absolutely nails this vengeful, angry, egotistical guy who has this deep seated hatred towards Superman. I love first his rationale and how he argues with Superman. But I also love as Gunn did in Guardians 3 how absolutely hateable Luthor is. I'm glad we're getting back to villains you actually want to see lose, and there are a lot of terrible things Luthor does. But the next thing is which a lot of comic villains miss: he's dangerous, and kind of scary. Superman is of course infinitely more powerful than Luthor, but this movie gives him so many resources, that at points not only are you wondering how Superman can beat him, you're feeling scared for Superman. He's definitively the antagonist of the movie.

Which again is Gunn's strength. There may be slightly too many characters here, but they're all very strong. Lois Lane here is finally an actual character, she constantly challenges Superman in ways that act to actual improve his character: there's a fierceness here not in any sort of superhero power way but how she gets people together to do the right thing. Which, all the Daily Planet staff and Justice Gang members I love. Mister Terrific especially is a scene stealer.

What I also really respect is the themes on display here. Without going into spoilers, Superman is questioned a lot in this movie, but this movie embraces this heavily idealistic viewpoint, which is both very superman and very hopeful, something that is I think needed in a big blockbuster right now. And I was very surprised by an extremely topical and important plot point that while the comparison is never drawn out, is so blatant as to be what I think it is. I won't spoil, and I also won't get too political, but I appreciate this being made in such a big movie, especially when most celebrities and directors are afraid to even broach that subject.

This isn't a deep philosophical movie; it's a blockbuster, big budget fun. And with all it's bright colourful visuals and fun sequences, it really is. And I think especially in it's last half an hour, there's no doubting the entertainment value. There's a lot of great, tense action, lots of fun moments and characters. And some heartwarming stuff. Definitely a fun movie.