******KRYTONITE-LADEN SPOILERS!******
Warner Bros recently dropped the latest three minute trailer for “Guardians of the Galaxy” writer-director James Gunn’s new “Superman” reboot movie (arriving in theaters July 11th), and while there were a number of elements that piqued my interest, the trailer had many of the same issues plaguing the current superhero movie sub-genre, as well.
The Trailer
My Comments
Bear in mind, I’m an old man; and for me, 1978’s “Superman: The Movie” (1978) was the movie that made my generation believe a man could fly. I admit, I have a nostalgic bias towards the Christopher Reeve-era movies (at least the first movie and the Richard Donner Cut of “Superman II”, as well as the imperfect “Superman Returns”), so I was glad to hear the trailer using a reorchestrated version of John Williams’ soaring original “Superman” theme. I’m also a fan of the recent CW series Superman & Lois (one of the surprisingly freshest and most poignant takes on the story I’ve yet seen). That’s the extent of my onscreen Superman fandom. So, with that out of the way, let’s dig in…
Protesters toss garbage at Superman’s head (!), while his worn suit suggests he did his best to defend these ingrate Earthers. As we saw with “Man of Steel” (2013) and “Batman v Superman” (2015), today’s Earth isn’t as blindly accepting of super-saviors as they were in prior Superman movies. A modern Superman movie failing to acknowledge this probably wouldn’t work for today’s more cynical audiences. Superman’s classic spit-curl is back, too.
Given the increasingly hostile and draconian actions taken against immigrants in the United States these days (documented or not), it figures that a masked, ICE-like anti-alien team would take the undocumented Superman into custody. I could be wrong (?) but the black clad woman to the center-right in the image appears to be a fellow Kryptonian too, though I’m not certain.
Superman is shoved into the pavement by an overzealous ICE-like agent. Originally conceived of by teenagers Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster in the 1930s, Superman is once again presented as an almost Christ-like savior, who does his best to save the people of Earth, only to be maligned and misunderstood by those he seeks to help. We saw this happen to the character in the aforementioned “Man of Steel” and “Batman v Superman,” where Batman blamed Supes for causing 9/11-style destruction when he battled General Zod and his cohorts.
Superman, who seems a lot more vulnerable in this film, is helped to his feet by a stranger, after being slammed into Earth. The trailer features fleeting scenes of Superman intervening in foreign conflicts; setting right what seems obviously wrong. Similar to Marvel’s “Iron Man” (2008) and the more recent Superman movies, the trailer suggests there are consequences to acting as Earth’s beat cop.
Lois is being played by Rachel Brosnahan, who made a name for herself as an aspiring Jewish female comedian from the 1950s in Netflix’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Brosnahan is an inspired choice for the role. I was a huge Margot Kidder fan (I met her in 2009), and I really enjoyed Bitsie Tulloch‘s interpretation in “Superman & Lois,” as well, so I’m very interested in Brosnahan’s take. Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman are a lot more open with each other in this film, and I assume she figures out his secret identity far earlier than her predecessors.
This scene homages Lois’ interview with Superman from the 1978 Richard Donner movie, though it’s a more hard-hitting, realistic interview than the romanticized Donner movie’s version. This version of Lois’ “My Night with Superman” interview is a lot more angsty too, as Superman airs his grievances with the human race instead of just giving Lois his vital stats, turn-ons and turn-offs. Given today’s angrier political vibe, it makes sense that Superman would feel a bit more put upon, as he’s chided by Lois for interfering in a genocidal conflict halfway around the world. We live in very different times. And while US journalism standards have dramatically fallen in the ‘post-facts’ era (watch any current White House Press Briefing), I imagine Lois Lane, in any universe, is too sharp to do a fluff piece.
Lois and Superman share a moment together in (what appears to be) their Metropolis apartment, as some kind of wormhole, spacetime bugaboo looms menacingly outside. With so much else going on in this movie, I’m not surprised that their long, labored courtship is a bit more abbreviated in this version.
Despite Lois and Superman’s more open relationship in this movie (the glasses ain’t foolin’ anyone), it’s nice to see there is still room for romance, as a kiss between them causes both of them to soar high–evocative on their romantic first flight together in “Superman: The Movie.”
Brilliant casting of Lex Luthor with actor Nicholas Hoult (“Mad Max Fury Road,” “Warm Bodies,” “X-Men: First Class”), a proven commodity with hero and villain credentials across several franchises. With his shaven head (the classic Lex look), cool blue eyes and aloof manner, he might just be the best (physical) cinematic incarnation of Luthor to date. Personally, I had issues with the campiness of the late Gene Hackman‘s performance in the Donnerverse. I preferred the more lethal, serpentine Kevin Spacey version in “Superman Returns” (despite the actor’s deserved cancellation). Yet neither of the previous cinematic Luthors quite captured the physical essence of the character quite like Hoult in the trailer. He looks right out of a Silver Age DC comic book. Lex, seen here in a Mission Control center, is reminiscent of a younger, better-dressed Elon Musk (before he went crazy with MAGA).
Superman’s famed “Fortress of Solitude” once again retains the crystalline spires and general architecture of the 1978 model; a standard for the CW’s “Superman & Lois”/“Supergirl” TV shows as well. As a huge fan of the 1978 Richard Donner film, I was pleased to see this, since it’s a timeless design that looks both impressive and otherworldly; much like the crystalline structures of the Martians, as described in Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles.”
In this new Superman cinematic universe, as we saw in “Superman II” (1980) and “Superman Returns” (2006), Lex Luthor once again discovers the Fortress of Solitude, which makes even more sense today, with global GPS, Google Earth and other tracking technology at the fingertips of everyday people. I mean, it’s not as if Lex and Miss Tessmacher (Sara Sampaio) would have to track alpha waves from a hot air balloon these days…
Hard to tell if these are Superman’s own Fortress of Solitude androids reprogrammed to turn against him, or creations of Lex Luthor. Either way, Superman does not appear to be digging whatever they’re doing to him.
As we saw in 2015’s otherwise disappointing “Batman v Superman,” Superman’s enemies have Superman-buster suit technology; I’d give it a few extra points if it’s Lex Luthor himself under that suit–a confrontation we saw more than once in the final season of Superman & Lois (one of my favorite incarnations of Superman, surprisingly). I also see some of Mr. Terrific’s drones nearby as well, so I can assume this isn’t a mano a mano fight and more like a super-powered Battle Royale.
I’m not sure what this keiju-sized creature is, but it seems a bit too much. I’m a lifelong fan of “Godzilla” but everything has its place, and a giant creature on top of everything else that Lex Luthor and company toss at Superman just throws any shred of restraint to hell. Most works of fictional storytelling have an ‘ask’ of the audience, and filmmakers are allowed only a handful of them before incredulity sets in. I’m willing to buy a humanoid superpowered-alien orphan, and even a supervillain or two, but a giant keiju atop of everything else is one hell of an ask. It belongs in its own movie.
Once again, a modern superhero movie overstuffs the bag with appearances from Green Lantern (a terribly-wigged Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) all appear as Superman’s backup, which is one of my key issues with modern superhero movies–they lack focus, which drains them of their impact. Rather than the hero-villain focuses we saw with 1978’s “Superman: The Movie” and 1989’s “Batman,” we get overstuffed bags of comic book eye candy that feel more like backdoor pilots for future franchises.
While I certainly appreciate the Silver Age DC Comics homages, I still think Krypto as a literal “Super Dog” is a few dozen steps too far. At the very least, it’s something new to cinematic Superman lore, since previous incarnations were usually too concerned with maintaining a semblance of realism to attract non-fandom audiences. Whether it works or not remains to be seen, but it looks like a $300 million “Air Bud” movie to me.
This is the type of Krypto I’m more comfortable with, as it feels more like the non-super version of Clark’s canine companion we saw in the elegant last episode of Superman & Lois (“It Went by So Fast”), which was one of my favorite stories from Superman lore. A dog’s real superpower lies in its tireless, heartfelt companionship–not silly rescue scenes.
I’ve long been an admirer of actor Pruitt Taylor Vince (“Heavy,” “JFK,” “The X-Files”), and his deliberate lack of glamor gives this version of Jonathan “Pa” Kent much more realism than casting a traditional movie star, like Glenn Ford or Kevin Costner. I wish other elements of the trailer matched this vibe. The Kents are arguably the most important people in Superman’s story, since they give young Clark his sense of morality.
I’m not placing too much stock in a trailer, since the trailer might be misleadingly cut (26 years ago, we all thought “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” was going to be the greatest movie ever, thanks to its trailers), but there’s enough here to give me cause for both optimism and skepticism. The over-the-top action sequences and overstuffed bag of heroes and villains are where it loses me a bit (do we really need a kaiju in there, too?). Personally, I miss the earlier days of superhero movies where confrontations boiled down to a single hero and a single villain (“Superman: The Movie,” 1989’s “Batman,” 2017’s “Wonder Woman,” 2008’s “Iron Man,” et al). Anything more than that feels extraneous to me. At any rate, a three minute trailer does not a movie make, so I’m more than willing to dust off my Fandango account and book myself a screening of James Gunn’s “Superman” this July. There’s certainly enough good in the trailer to lure me into a theater. At the very least, the casting looks terrific, and the reuse of John Williams’ “Superman” theme wraps it up with a nice legacy vibe.
What do you think?
Where to Watch
James Gunn’s “Superman” will be in theaters on July 11th. It’s too early to predict the HBO Max streaming and Warner physical media release dates, as I’m guessing those will depend on the film’s box office performance.
I am not interested to watch James Gunn’s Superman. Clearly he added elements of contemporary politics instead on focusing on telling a Superman tale of heroism. Even Christopher Reeve himself – as screenwriter – made the error of making Superman more relevant with the Cold War and nuclear missiles in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and that film turned out even worse with the producers’ cost-cutting approach on filming.
Apart from the traditional values that defined Superman, any cinematic tale of the icon should be focused more on escapism, fantasy and heroism.
While I do love the 1978 Superman movie (it’s my forever favorite), many of the Superman stories (in comics and other media) intertwined with real-life politics as well. So did Batman (l remember a few 1970s Neal Adams stories dealing with urban poverty). Even the radio plays of the 1940s featured Superman tackling Nazis and other threats to America at the time, so Superman & politics are not exactly strangers, even if cinematic Superman doesn’t reflect that aspect.
Thanks for the reply!
Superheroes and social issues or politics blend better in non-cinematic forms as long as the creators do a good job.
Yes, indeed.
It always boils down to the skill of the creatives involved.