Would you look at that?! I made it to a movie for opening weekend? It’s true. And to commemorate the occasion, I’m writing a review right away. Heading into it, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I only made the decision to go see it a few hours before, and I hadn’t really read much of anything on the movie. I knew most of the reviews were fairly good, and I knew James Gunn (of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) directed it, but that was about it. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been pretty let down by the DC movies for the last while. They all just seemed so . . . broody. I don’t go to superhero movies to be reminded how dark the world is. Not usually, at least. Batman is a different story, but it felt like success of the Batman franchise had persuaded DC that all of their movies had to follow suit.
Gunn is definitely not a broody director, so I was interested to see what came of the movie.
What did I really want out of the film? I wanted a movie that embrace the Superman I loved growing up. The one who’s unabashedly good. I wanted the John Williams theme music back. I wanted fun.
What did I get? Most of that, actually.
I really enjoyed the movie. Overall, I’d give it an 8/10, I think. It was very much a summer movie. So lots of fighting, plenty of explosions, and tons of special effects. But through it all, Superman was just genuinely who I wanted him to be: someone trying to do the right thing, no matter what. When he’s fighting an enormous monster, he takes the time out to go save a squirrel, for goodness sake. He really does his best to try and make everyone happy and okay. He gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. I really enjoyed that.
The movie was fun and fast paced. Yes, there was some angst in there over debating what was “right” and how to make the right decision, but not in a way that brought the movie down. It was colorful and upbeat. None of the bland palettes that have dominated DC movies for the last while. It was the first DC movie I can remember that I finished and thought, “I would like to see a follow up to that.”
(Though please. PLEASE. No more movies that you need to watch other movies to make sense of. Standalones if possible.)
I really liked that we didn’t get yet another retelling of the origin of Superman. No Smallville escapades. No big Ma and Pa Kent raising him as a child half hour sequence. No “Clark Kent discovering who he really is.” He’s Superman, right from the beginning, and the movie expects the audience to know what that means. It was refreshing.
It also embraced the sometimes nuttiness of comic book logic. Yes, Krypto the superdog is in the movie. He plays a huge part. Yes, he wears a cape. Why? Does it really matter? There are cameos and small parts by other super herow\es and villains as well, but I won’t spoil them.
For me (and this is nitpicky) the one thing I wish had been different was the theme music. They tapped into the John Williams theme, but they never had it just breathe. It was always interpreted through this strange sort of electric guitar synth filter. I was dying for trumpets the whole time, and I never got it. That was a disappointment that was significant enough for me to mention, though I get it might be unique to me. Mind you, I loved the Johnny Depp Lone Ranger movie primarily for the climax, where it fully embraced everything that the Lone Ranger ever was for me as a child, and it did it primarily through a spot on use of the classic theme. If they had chosen to do some synth remix of it, it wouldn’t have been the same.
But overall, it was a good time. If you like super hero movies, you’ll most likely enjoy yourself. If you don’t . . . I don’t think you’ll have a bad time, but you should maybe do something else for a while. 🙂