Thoughts on the new Superman movie. Read at your own risk. There are spoilers ahead, but nothing that will ruin your movie watching experience.
Let me be upfront with you and say I liked Man of Steel. It was long, it was dark, but its portrayal of the Kent’s and Clark as a young kid was top notch. But when it comes to a portrayal of Superman on the big screen Corenswet beats Cavill any day of the week.
In the new Superman movie we see something that Cavill never did. Maybe it was because of a difference in plot and writers and technical things he had no control over, but Corenswet gives Superman his heart back. He’s “human” as much as he can be for an alien from a different planet. Not just in the big moments when he’s taking a stand against Luthor (who was portrayed the best he’s ever been on the big screen by NIcholas Hoult in an absolutely unhinged side of Lex that was fantastic to see), but in the small moments.
There’s an interview scene in the movie between Clark and Lois and then Superman and Lois that humanizes him maybe the best possible way in the whole film. He gets passionate, he argues, he gets angry, but it isn’t in an overbearing I’m right and your wrong way. He’s responding to hard questions because he’s done what he thought was the right thing to do, and it has opened a whole new can of worms for him. And his reaction isn’t kryptonian, it’s human. We see not Superman, but Clark despite the interview being him answering questions as Superman. It shows that Clark is Superman not because of what he can do but because of why he does what he does. Here we don’t see a man compulsively saving people because of an obligation. We see a guy saving people because he WANTS to save them. He cares for people. The interview is shown in the trailer but the scene goes much further than the few seconds you see and it sets up so much in the way of showing who he is.
Now to Krypto. I’m not a huge fan of his design being used to seeing the famous dog usually portrayed as looking like a white Labrador. But aside from that he was one of the best parts of the movie. He was very much a terror on four legs and while he was comedic relief and entirely a riff of Gunn’s own problem with his dog who was the pooche’s inspiration for the film, he helps show that Clark doesn’t have a heart of stone in the slightest. He cares greatly for him.
Lois and Clark-This version of them was great. They had fantastic chemistry that actually felt like a real relationship. They teased each other, pushed each other, but in the end they were there for each other and nothing would stand in the way of that. I enjoyed the banter and it is highlighted by the fact that they talk about it when alone as if proving their banter means they aren’t together for some reason when the teasing is definitely a tell that they aren’t just coworkers and are fooling absolutely no one. They feed off each other and their relationship shows them juggling life and being together that is a good look at reality if you forget for a minute that he is an alien and a superhero. But it also shows that he cares. He isn’t just a man flying around helping others, he wants someone to come home to at the end of the day, someone to share his life with that knows exactly who he is, not just one side or the other.
SPOILER below
The Kents- I wasn’t a huge fan of how hokey Gunn wrote the Kents BUT the conversation between Pa Kent and Clark near the end of the movie is one of the best in the whole movie. Like I said above I loved the relationship in Man of Steel between the Kents and Clark when he was young. If you’ve been around a while you know that adoption is a huge thing for me. In fact it is one reason I love Superman so much. There is a line in Man of Steel after Clark saves a bus of children as a teen and he’s sitting with Jonathan after and he asks Jonathan if he can just pretend he’s his son. Jonathan responds with you are my son. It wrecked me then and it will probably always do so. In this Superman he is dealing with basically the whole world hating him and calling him a monster because it is revealed that he was sent to rule the Earth because Earthlings are simple and weak people. So he’s sitting on a bench outside the Kent Farm talking with his dad who knows all of this and his dad looks at him and says a parent doesn’t tell a child who they should be. A parent is there to help a child make a fool of themselves and become who they are. Your choices and your actions make you who you are and I’m always proud of you.
Again WRECKED. I’m fully aware that my children if they happen probably won’t look like me and hard conversations will happen at some point. But you have an entirely normal, humble, farming couple who finds an alien baby, raises him as human, loves him through all the ups and downs of not only life but a life full of super powers as well as puberty (I deal with teenagers regularly and let me tell you that is a whole different ball game compared to a baby that can’t take of himself but you throw in laser vision and super strength and all the things he can do with hormones and its game on). It takes special people to deal with all of that. But they do it. You don’t see struggles. You don’t see doubt. The only thing you see is two people who love their child and despite what everyone in the world aside from a few people namely Lois are saying they don’t give in to what has been revealed and recoil. They step in like they should and nothing changes. In the end Clark is Kryptonian, they cannot change that and they don’t want to, but Clark is not just Kal-El he is Clark Kent from Smallville, Kansas raised on a farm full of cows and hard work.
Sometimes it just takes a gentle reminder from the people who love you most and hearing that they are proud of you even when everyone else has turned away to remind you that you aren’t loved because of what you do but because of who you are and to them he’s not just Superman, he is son.
It was one of my favorite moments in the film and you see Clark as a human just wanting to be reminded that he matters.
Now as for the rest of the film Guy Gardner was surprisingly fun, and both Hawkgirl and Mr.Terrific were great add ons. Jimmy Olson was someone I want to see more of for sure. Overall, I definitely recommend seeing it if you are a Superman fan.
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