- 4 days ago
It's bird, it's plane, it's James Gunn! And he's coming to reboot the DC Cinematic Universe, kicking off with David Corenswet stepping into the tights for the best Superman on film in decades!
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00:00Hello and welcome to Projector and on this episode David Korenswet is the Man of Steel
00:05as James Gunn kicks off his new DC Cinematic Universe in Superman.
00:09After intervening to stop the bravian invasion of Jahanpur, Superman, played by David Korenswet,
00:32has drawn criticism for his actions, even from his girlfriend Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan.
00:37Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult, who is allied with Bravia,
00:42seizes an opportunity to destroy Superman and his reputation once and for all,
00:47forcing Superman to prove to the world that he is the hero he aspires to be.
00:52With James Gunn rebooting the DC Universe on film, after his success at Marvel with Guardians of the Galaxy,
00:58the first thing he's done, like Zack Snyder before him, is begin with Superman.
01:03And Superman is a character that is notoriously hard to get right.
01:06The fact the character is so strong and powerful can make it hard to feel like he's in danger,
01:11and his ideals of truth, justice, and the American way can feel old-fashioned and anachronistic.
01:17But while he's often derived as a big blue boy scout,
01:20Superman might not necessarily be a cool superhero to like, but his idealism is his strength.
01:27That's the reason why the character has endured and remains so popular.
01:31But maybe it's so hard to do well because the character was done so right before.
01:36Richard Donner's 1978 Superman remains a remarkable accomplishment,
01:41and remains the blueprint from which so many superhero films are made from even today.
01:47Donner's commitment to verisimilitude, to taking the character seriously and treating it with respect,
01:52created a beacon of hope in the cynicism of 70s post-Vietnam America.
01:57And while they are definitely showing their age now,
02:00the then groundbreaking special effects lived up to the promise that you will believe a man could fly.
02:06But we also believed in the man.
02:09Christopher Reeve's performance in the title role not only defined his career, but the character too.
02:14He is, and will always be, the bar to which all actors in the role will be compared to,
02:20because he simply embodied the character.
02:23His physicality, his comic timing, his likability.
02:26The films may have gotten worse with each passing entry,
02:30but Reeve always elevated them with his commitment to the part.
02:34The Donner film has stood up against time and advancements in special effects,
02:38but when they've tried to bring Superman into the modern era, it's proven very hard to top.
02:43Superman Returns tried to solve the problem by being a sequel to the Donner film,
02:47but it's a surprisingly dour, uneventful movie,
02:50which didn't give Brandon Routh a ribbon to shine, and has frankly aged like milk.
02:55And Zack Snyder's bombastic Man of Steel suffered by comparison by trying to do the origin story again,
03:02and then dissolved into a deafening, numbing succession of action scenes.
03:06I always thought Henry Cavill got a bit of a raw deal.
03:09He can be charismatic, but he so rarely got to show that as Superman,
03:14especially as he got such limited screen time after his first film.
03:18In Batman v Superman, he has about as many lines as the Terminator,
03:22and is about as cheerful, and he spends most of Justice League dead.
03:26I know Snyder's films do have their fans, but I think he was ill-suited for Superman,
03:31and his take has always felt bitter and joyless to me.
03:34And James Gunn might not be the obvious choice to reboot Superman,
03:38especially since he produced Brightburn, written by his brother and cousin,
03:41which was basically a horror movie take on the character.
03:44What if Superman was evil?
03:46There was itself a pretty mean-spirited and cynical slog.
03:50But Gunn has always had a long connection to comic books and superheroes.
03:54He's gone from working at Troma, making films like The Specials and Super,
03:58very counter-cultural satires of superheroes,
04:01to the mainstream, running the show at DC Studios.
04:05He's really grown and matured over the years,
04:07and you can see that in the superhero films he's been involved with.
04:11And Gunn's take on Superman is very much identifiable as his own.
04:15Like Guardians before it,
04:16it not just acknowledges the silly and surreal side of comic books,
04:20it embraces them with a knowing humour.
04:23There's a distinctly Silver Age flavour to this Superman at times,
04:26and when an adorably ugly beastie is released,
04:29that swiftly grows into a giant kaiju in the very next scene,
04:32you know you're watching a film from the same eccentric that made The Suicide Squad,
04:37even with much less blood and F-bombs.
04:40However, this wears its numerous influences on its sleeve,
04:43from many different incarnations of the superhero,
04:45but especially that of the Donner film.
04:48The main tiles are those distinctive blue trails past the camera,
04:52and there's lots of little nods like Luthor with Otis in his Tesshmarker,
04:56and of course, the classic John Williams theme is incorporated
04:59into John Murphy and David Fleming's impressive score.
05:03Because again, how can you improve on one of the most iconic bits of music in film history?
05:09You can't.
05:10Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh.
05:11Duh, duh, duh.
05:13The marketing that's been leading into evoking the Donner film,
05:16especially some of the posters,
05:18and like that one,
05:19it's updating Supes for a cynical time.
05:21And for once,
05:23it's a comparison a Superman movie can live up to.
05:26So how exactly do you introduce a new Superman
05:29when his origin story is so well told?
05:32Simple.
05:33You turn the story inside out.
05:35Gunn makes the bold choice to start in media res,
05:38with Corrin Sweat's Man of Steel already established.
05:42We open with a bunch of text captions very quickly,
05:44setting up the history,
05:45and then it's right into the action.
05:47It makes for a bit of a strange start,
05:50because it doesn't feel like one.
05:52And I do have to admit that the opening section did throw me a bit off balance,
05:56because there's a lot going on,
05:58and it dares you to keep up.
06:00But I soon found myself getting into the film's groove.
06:04It's the kind of thing that you can only pull off
06:06if the character is so well established
06:08that he doesn't need an introduction,
06:10or it's simply been told too many times,
06:13like Spider-Man before him.
06:15But thinking back upon it,
06:16I realised just how clever this is.
06:19Not only is not starting on Krypton a relief,
06:21but it also invites us to rediscover the Superman story through the plot.
06:26And that puts us in the same mindset as Supes himself,
06:29who is disconnected from his birth planet and parents.
06:32He only has fragments,
06:34which were damaged when he came to Earth,
06:36and so fragments are all we have.
06:38But it isn't just Superman who arrives fully formed,
06:41but the whole world he inhabits as well.
06:44This version of Metropolis is filled with brand names for companies in-universe,
06:48nor is Supes the only hero around,
06:51as we have fellow Meta-Humans in the form of the Justice Gang,
06:54like Eddie Gathegi's Mr. Terrific,
06:56Isabel Merced's Hawkgirl,
06:58and gun-regular Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner,
07:01an egocentric Green Lantern,
07:04whose ludicrous bowl-cut hair
07:06draws a laugh every time he appears on screen.
07:09It's a universe where large monster attacks are so routine and commonplace
07:14that a lot of the time citizens seem barely phased by them anymore,
07:18where they're not just gawping at them from the windows.
07:20Or a moment where the Justice Gang fights an interdimensional imp,
07:24which is just playing out in the background of a lengthy dialogue scene.
07:28It's heightened,
07:29sometimes to the point of absurdist humour.
07:32There's other links as well to Gunn's other DC properties,
07:35like Frank Grillo reprising his role as Rick Flagg Sr. from Creature Commandos,
07:40and there's a fair number of building blocks being put in place for future entries.
07:44The world building here just screams confidence,
07:47especially after the haphazardness of DC movies following Snyder's departure.
07:52But how do you make an audience care about a character like Superman?
07:56Again, it's simple.
07:58You make him vulnerable.
08:00The very first time we see Corrin Sweat's version,
08:02he's smashing into the ice and spitting up blood,
08:06having lost a fight for the very first time.
08:09And it won't be the last time this Superman will get seriously injured and knocked around.
08:14In fact, he spends a lot of the movie getting beaten up,
08:16both literal and figurative,
08:18probably the most we've ever seen in a film before.
08:21But the most important part is that he gets back up again.
08:25He heals, he dusts himself off,
08:27and gets into the next battle,
08:29because this Superman will never stop fighting for what he stands for.
08:33He's tough, resilient, and he's human.
08:37And Gunn foregrounds that as much as he can.
08:41Kal-El may have came from another world,
08:43but he was raised on Earth,
08:45and tries to do the best that he can given the circumstances.
08:49He's not perfect,
08:50but he aspires to be the best he can possibly be,
08:54and inspire others to do the same.
08:57That's Superman.
08:59In stark contrast,
09:00the huge implied body count of Man of Steel,
09:03Gunn makes a conscious effort to show just how much Supes goes out of his way
09:06to try and save people from danger and collateral damage.
09:10Chris Reeves saved a cat from the tree.
09:12Here we get Corinne Sweat dramatically saving a squirrel.
09:16It's funny,
09:17but it's also keeping in spirit with the character.
09:20And Corinne Sweat is fantastic in the title role.
09:23His heightened mannerisms immediately evoke Christopher Reeve,
09:27and I think he gets the character in the same way that Reeve did,
09:30but he also makes it his own as well.
09:32Certainly, it's the most assured film version of the character in decades.
09:36Corinne Sweat has the sincere hopefulness of the character down.
09:39There's a charm and confidence to him that makes you believe in him and his ideals.
09:45He just radiates strength without being forceful about it because he has conviction.
09:50One of Gunn's recurring themes is parenthood and identity,
09:54and his Superman is at his weakest point where his connection to his past
09:58and the ideals that make him who he is are threatened.
10:01He becomes lost.
10:03He doesn't know what to do,
10:04and it's his connection to his Earth parents, the Kent, that allow him to heal.
10:09Unlike previous film versions,
10:11Pa Kent is still alive, played here by Pueric Taylor Vint,
10:15and it's clear where Clark gets so much of his compassion from.
10:19He is the embodiment of a good man and a supportive father,
10:23and is unafraid to show his emotions.
10:26Tellingly, the film was released on the birthday of Gunn's late father,
10:30and this theme is the core of the film.
10:34I do wish we got a bit more of Clark Kent the disguise,
10:37because what we briefly see shows Corinne Sweat has the comic chops to pull it off,
10:41but we spend a fair chunk of the movie with Clark Kent the man,
10:44which is not the same as when he's got his superhero costume on.
10:48The scenes he has where Rachel Brosnan has Lois Lane are among some of the best in the movie.
10:53Because they're already in a relationship when the film starts,
10:56there isn't the will-they-won't-they of Reeve and Margot Kidder,
10:59but they do have the chemistry.
11:02She is the person he allows to see the real him,
11:05and they have a dynamic that feels real and intimate.
11:09They're funny, they fight, it's complicated,
11:12not least of which by having to try and keep up his secret identity,
11:16and especially the fact that he ostensibly interviews himself,
11:20which is a pretty serious breach of journalistic ethics.
11:23The scene where they're talking about punk rock,
11:25and Clark says that he's a fan of a popular but uncool band called the Mighty Crabjoys,
11:30is a pivotal moment in the film,
11:32almost like a response to all those who think that Superman is uncool.
11:37But he's not about what's trendy,
11:39and what he stands for might seem corny,
11:42but he loves what he loves,
11:44and he cares for people unabashedly,
11:46and he doesn't care if people think badly of that.
11:50In a jaded world,
11:52kindness and generosity becomes an act of rebellion,
11:54and what could be more punk than that?
11:57It's the same counter-cultural spirit
11:59that runs all the way through Guardians of the Galaxy.
12:02There's also the key subplot of Bravia trying to invade Jahanpur,
12:06both fictional nations,
12:07but has obvious parallels to not just Russia's invasion of Ukraine,
12:11but also what's going on in the Middle East as well with Israel.
12:15Superman's intervention to stop a war has caused a foreign policy dilemma,
12:19as Bravia is an American ally,
12:21but they are clear villains.
12:23And this Superman places himself above politics.
12:26He doesn't work on that level.
12:28He only thinks about right and wrong.
12:31People were going to die!
12:33He screams.
12:34And that's all the justification he needs,
12:37and the film agrees.
12:38That's what sets this version apart from previous incarnations,
12:42where he's often been the symbol of Americana.
12:44His popular monster includes and the American way,
12:48and we have Chris Reeve restoring the flag to the White House in Superman 2.
12:52But that doesn't really fly in 2025,
12:56pun intended,
12:57because this Superman isn't a representative of America.
13:01He acts on his own beliefs,
13:03which makes US officials rather twitchy of him.
13:06But it's worth noting that Gunn isn't the first to do this.
13:10Zack Snyder's version was also held under suspicion by the American government,
13:14and Batman v Superman also had Supes drawing criticism by intervening in foreign conflict,
13:19which Lex Luthor seized an opportunity to attack.
13:22Both are very post-9-11 versions of the character.
13:26The difference, I feel, though,
13:27is that Snyder seemed to agree with Luthor and others
13:30that Superman is a threat and was frightened of him.
13:34The danger in his films is always the fear that he would go dark,
13:38and no one would be able to stop him.
13:40The reason why Gunn's version of this storyline works
13:43is that he believes in Supes as a symbol of hope and good,
13:47in a way that Snyder just didn't seem to.
13:50Speaking of Lex Luthor,
13:52this incarnation might be the nastiest,
13:54most vindictive version we've seen in any film to date.
13:58Nicholas Holt has certainly played his fair share of weaselly, vile characters,
14:01and his Luthor fits right amongst them.
14:04His Luthor is a raging narcissist,
14:07who is almost entirely driven by his jealousy and contempt for Superman,
14:12rather pointedly referring to him as an alien,
14:15an It.
14:16How very dare It steal the centre of attention that Lex so clearly deserves.
14:23He carries out his attacks on Superman with a team like a rocket launch
14:27and uses his sights recklessly,
14:29throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his own way.
14:32Hmm, I wonder who that could be based on.
14:36But this Luthor, and by extension the film itself,
14:39goes to some pretty dark places,
14:41and I don't just mean the pocket universe that he's using to keep people in prison,
14:45including ex-girlfriends.
14:48A scene of Russian roulette in particular might be the most sadistic and callous he has ever been on screen.
14:54Holt's performance balances this out by making him quite over the top and darkly comic.
14:59There's scenes where you can almost see the veins popping out of Holt's bald head
15:03as he screams into the camera.
15:05And Holt is especially amusing when as Luthor goes on self-aggrandizing tirades
15:10about people not appreciating his genius.
15:14He strikes that line between being despicable and pathetic,
15:17that balance of sweet and sour that Gunn's films so often have.
15:21Moreover, as Luthor is very much one for the Fox News age,
15:25you're constantly seeing all these commentators talking about suits with all their various viewpoints,
15:30and Lex is a manipulator trying to control the narrative and weaponize it,
15:36even having a gag where monkeys constantly type out hate for him.
15:40Superman is proudly unsubtle about its commentary,
15:44which is refreshing for an era where so many superhero films are afraid to revoke
15:48even any real-world parallels,
15:51but it's the reason why this version feels so right for our time.
15:55And if you're surprised that an alien character made in the 1930s by two Jewish craters is political,
16:01yeah, there's some shares in Otisburg I'd like to sell you.
16:04James Gunn's Superman is a rousing triumph.
16:07It's absolutely jam-packed with ideas and characters,
16:10at times a little bit too much so that it can't fit all of it in,
16:14and the exposition does get a little bit clunky at times because of that,
16:17but they're really promising glimpses of the future of DC.
16:21It's just so crammed with stuff,
16:24while also honouring what has come before,
16:27Gunn just throws in the whole kitchen sink.
16:30I haven't even mentioned Gunn's dynamic use of the camera in the action scenes,
16:33where he keeps Supes and others centred in the frame,
16:36but rotates the angle around them.
16:38There's a particularly impressive moment with Mr Terrific and Lois,
16:42there's a standout bit of staging and choreography.
16:44And I haven't even mentioned the absolutely adorable Krypto,
16:48Superman's dog,
16:49who just absolutely steals the show at several points by being a very good bad dog.
16:56But most of all,
16:57it gets Superman right.
16:59It does for the character now what the Donner version did in 78,
17:03making him feel timely and relevant again.
17:05It's optimism and sense of fun is infectious and very entertaining once it builds up speed.
17:12Even that slightly disorientating opener,
17:15I think will play better on subsequent viewings.
17:17It's the Superman this character has deserved after years of being mistreated on film.
17:22This is a crowd-pleasing hopeful flick that this time will make you feel like you could fly.
17:29If you like this review and you want to support my work,
17:31you can give me a tip at my Ko-fi page,
17:33or where YouTube's Super Thanks feature which is right below the video.
17:36Or you can help me take flight over at my Patreon,
17:39where you can see my videos early among other perks,
17:41including access to my Discord server,
17:43and you can also join YouTube memberships for similar perks.
17:46Or you can just simply like, share and subscribe, it all helps.
17:49Until next time, I'm Matthew Buck, feeding out.
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