Superman

Director: James Gunn

We find Superman (David Corenswet), battered and bruised having lost a battle at the hands of the Hammer of Boravia, a country that Superman had put himself in the way of invading its neighbour. The Hammer seems to be in collusion with long time Superman enemy, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). Luthor’s aim to discredit Superman and get him out of  his way. Superman’s own beliefs are turned upside down, first by “girlfriend” Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), who questions his involvement with Borovia. But finally when he finds a message from his Krypton father and mother, may not be what it seems, it leaves him unsure of who he is and at the mercy of Luthor’s plot.

I was looking forward to this new Superman but was unfortunately very disappointed by it.

There are pluses. You can see how Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan can grow into a strong Clark and Lois. Nicholas Hoult has lots of fun playing Lex Luthor. And enjoyable performances from Nathan Fillion and especially Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific.

But it was only moments that worked. Its problem is its story, a random mess of ideas and characters, none of which seem to have any kind of depth to them. From the start, you feel dropped into the middle of a story and that feeling never goes away. This leaves you been asked to invest in characters who are meant to be important, but you don’t know why, the story and relationships are never established. The problem with that is that when it comes to it, there is no real investment in anyo me and to be honest I found myself rather bored by it. 

This latest incarnation of Superman was a real disappointment. It has its moments and Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan have potential as Clark and Lois. But moments are not enough. The rest of it feels a mess, a story that you feel dropped into the middle of and characters with no depth or background which never earn your investment. All this left me with a story or characters I cared forwhich means you don’t care for or about. Leaving me bored long before the end. I wish I’d liked this. I just didn’t.