A complaint we’re hearing more often about the genre of complicated, interlinked superhero movies is that if you haven’t been taking notes since, about, 2005, any new blockbuster will make you feel like you sat down in the middle of a story arc.
In the new reboot, called simply “Superman,” the idea from writer-director James Gunn, (not necessarily a good idea), is to embrace that confusion.
The new film begins like a sequel — Part Two or even Part Three — with Superman getting pummeled in an off-screen battle, but managing to escape to his Fortress of Solitude to heal. Back in Metropolis, he’s already a couple with Lois Lane, who is fully aware of his secret identity as Clark Kent.
The newest Superman, David Corenswet, is a slightly shaggy, but down-to-earth version of the Man of Steel — a hero so idealistic that he will stop to save a squirrel in the middle of a mega-battle.
But the actor is stuck with a storyline where Super spends almost the entire movie getting the snot beat out of him, getting arrested or in moments turning impatient and defensive having to justify himself, even to Lois (played as a smart, savvy heroine by Rachel Brosnahan.)
In this sequel world, Superman is just another character getting slammed on social media. The public and the government are restless because Superman made a unilateral foreign-policy decision to stop bad-guy country Boravia from invading its neighbor, pathetic nice country Jarhanpur.
The movie’s villain, tech entrepreneur Lex Luthor, indulges in secret schemes. He’s created a so-called “pocket universe” that might accidentally destroy the world. And he uncovers a dark secret, unknown even to Superman, about his Kryptonian parents, that punches a big hole in the Superman canon. (Lex is played by Nicholas Hoult, who energetically yells and sneers a lot.)
As you might guess, Gunn throws a lot into the mix, including a frisky super-dog named Krypto; big, obnoxious special effects; the first few notes of John Williams’ Superman theme; and a group called “The Justice Gang,” uncertain allies of Superman. Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern swaggers in like folks already know and love him. But Mr. Terrific, played with cool bad-assery by Edi Gathegi, is the guy who ends up stealing scenes.
Maybe “Superman” deserves some cred for tweaking the formula, but it still winds up hammering you with the usual blockbuster calisthenics. It hasn’t cured me of Superhero Fatigue, and rates three on a scale of five.
