Thoughts:
It was kind of surreal seeing Matt Bomer introduce this movie for the FanDome screening. It's like you'd expect him to have been the lead of this Superman movie instead of Darren Criss, but I guess he's always kind of gravitated a lot towards Superman beyond voicing him in
Unbound.
This movie was a beginning in a lot of ways. The beginning of a new Superman's story, the beginning of Butch Lukic's tenure as executive producer, and maybe potentially the beginning of a new DC Animated Universe? Obviously this is meant to be a standalone feature, and it is, but maybe it's just because I can't get the idea out of my head but this felt like the start of something more than just a one-and-done Superman origin. The start of a journey with potential for follow up instead of just a normal adaption that is over and done with once the credits roll. I feel like if we ever see Lukic do another Superman movie, it'll likely star this Superman rather than a new take. Will that hold true for future films starring other heroes? Only time will tell.
As far as Superman origins go, I thought this was pretty fun and solid. It gave me vibes of each modern Superman origin (
Birthright, Secret Origin, American Alien) all condensed together, which was interesting. I think it did a good job of capturing the heart of the character and his world, and the art style felt very much like an animated comic book. It kind of feels like what I would'v liked to have seen them do with the New 52 instead of how it was actually executed (which I guess lends to the post-
Apokolips War reboot vibes).
I know under the Tucker era there were complaints of stiff and unmemorable voice acting, but I felt everyone brought their a-game here and really shined as each character. We got a lot of new voices, some reprisals exhibiting their characters in new ways, and all presenting these characters' timeless qualities that make them so beloved.
Darren Criss was a good Superman. I wasn't sure how he'd sound as Clark/Superman but I thought he did a good job of capturing the character's enthusiasm, humanity, humor, and duality. I also like how you could tell the subtle differences between his "Clark" and his "Superman" where his Clark is more outwardly dorky and clumsy while Superman is much more serious and commanding. All around it felt like a bit of a softer take on a millennial Superman ala New 52 Supes (with a dash more classic Supes), which I thought worked really well here.
Alexandra Daddario's young Lois was pretty fun and interesting to watch. She's not the glamorous ace reporter of the Daily Planet yet (she hasn't even won a Pulitzer), but she still has that commitment to truth, justice, and responsibility that drives Lois as a reporter. She's also much more brash and a little quick to assume regarding people, which ends up leading Superman to knock her down a peg by the end. Can't say I ever expected to see a bit of Superdickery like that pop up in a modern story. But I also thought she and Clark had really good chemistry with each other, and you can see why Clark starts to idolize/crush on her so quickly.
Zachary Quinto's Luthor reminded me a lot of Rainn Wilson's Lex, honestly, just less high-pitched and nasally. Luthor throughout this movie exudes this false charisma and charm that belies his absolute ego and sinister intentions so you're never quite sure what his angle is other than the fact that he knows he's the smartest person in the room and loves to flaunt it.
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And of course he ends up betraying Superman, because of course he does. |
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I wish we had gotten to see more of Mercy in the movie. Y'know how in the comics she was actually an Amazon at some point? Here she really has the build to where I could believe that.
Yeah, Perry was a bit of a jerk here. On the one hand his ruining Lois' standing with her new co-workers and berating his reporters was kind of funny, but also not very endearing. Maybe he just needs Jimmy around to channel his frustration.
Ron Troupe! It's always nice to see Ron show up and get some actual character. I got a kick out of his cameo in Red Son so it was nice to give him a bit more of a role here.
The movie made a very sympathetic and easy to like Rudy Jones...at least until he becomes Parasite and immediately starts absorbing/killing people, which was honestly a little jarring. I know it's Parasite's whole shtick but I feel like they could have done a better job of building up to it. And the movie definitely leaned into a more monstrous Parasite that stuff like Supergirl and Justice League Action have been moving forward with, right down to turning him into a straight-up Kaiju. He was basically Godzilla by the end of the movie, right down to the spikes on his back and a breath attack.
(Speaking of breath attack, we never saw Freeze Breath at all, did we? Or Super Breath).
Lobo was basically Lobo. Pretty pitch-perfect adaption of the character and he certainly made an impact, and in my opinion had some of the best lines in the entire movie. Ryan Hurst really was born to play Lobo, and the Main Man sounded exactly how you would expect him, including all his favorite phrases. Superman and Lobo have a pretty entertaining history, so it was nice to see that on-display here.
I liked the take on the Kents here. They were a very warm and relatable parents trying to do their best for Clark, and had some good lines here. I never expected to see Neil Flynn go from being Vixen's adoptive dad to Superman's, but he and Bellamy Young were surprisingly convincing as Jonathan and Martha.
It seems like the film took some cues from Supergirl by making Martian Manhunter into a mentor for a Super-character after initially playing hardball with them, before revealing that he's still J'onn J'onzz at the end of the day. I thought it was a good role for J'onn and I was really interested in finding out more about him over the course of the movie, like how he ended up Earth, how he had been living, etc. Ike Amadi also perfectly captured J'onn's serene, calm, and alien demeanor and his inner compassion and wisdom. Maybe they should do a DC Showcase Martian Manhunter short one of these days.
Was that a hologram of the future Fortress of Solitude or a Kryptonian city? The dome made me think of Kandor.
J'onn's fakeout death felt a little unnecessary. I think we could've shaken Superman's confidence without it and just have J'onn come into help at the climax without needing a fakeout death that didn't really add much otherwise.
I love how it looked like Lois was going to comfort Clark only for it turn out Perry sent her to fire Clark and she was also going to use it as a chance to either steal his story or jump on his byline.
So Superman is publicly active for little over a few days and gets to talk to convicted criminals with no hassle? And how did Luthor get his day off?
Oh hey, Warsuit cameo.
Not often you see Lex and Superman team-up as their first initial interaction. Luthor and Superman don't end the movie as Archenemies yet (heck, Lois and Martian Manhunter catch Luthor instead of Superman himself) but you can definitely see that they don't like each other and that Luthor is wary of Superman's stature and power compromising Luthor's control.
Honestly I don't think the climax was as exciting as it could have been, especially compared to the Superman/MM vs Lobo brawl. I've seen more dynamic Superheros vs Kaiju fights. I guess it was refreshing that the movie ended with Superman appealing to Parasite's inner humanity by injecting him with Superman's, but considering Parasite would've likely jumped on the reactor even without that, it felt a little hollow or unclear why Parasite did what he did (even if the creators probably intended it to be from Superman's influence). Kind of a more bittersweet and less resounding way to end the final battle in an origin story.
I think that's the first time I've seen them treat Lobo being the last Czarnian because he killed them all as a joke he tells to build his rep. It's actually surprisingly in-character.
Y'know, with J'onn's luck those other Martians are probably going to turn out to be White Martians. Or maybe it's M'Gann. I kinda hope J'onn sticks around as a hero on Earth for a while though. |
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One thing I still don't get:
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Why was Brainiac on the spine of the Blu-Ray DVD if he was never in the movie at all? They never explained who set the bounty for Kryptonian's so I have to assume it would've turned out to be him, but he never appears at all and it's left as a loose end. Was he planned to be in the movie but was cut because they didn't want to include such an obvious sequel tease? |
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