James Gunn has done the impossible with Superman. Yes, it’s a crowd pleasing blockbuster based on a comic property but that’s been done so often it’s starting to become boring. Yes, it revives the fortunes of a superhero franchise that’s seen better days but that’s been done to great effect with Batman, Spider-Man and (hopefully) Fantastic Four.

What James Gunn has done with his masterpiece film is to create a comic book movie that simulates the experience of reading a comic book. 

Most people reading this review are fans of characters who were created long before we were born. At some point all of us walked into the local comic shop (or pharmacy, stationary store or 7-11) and picked up an issue of a publication featuring a hero in colorful, skin-tight clothing doing battle with the forces of evil. The adventure had already begun when we arrived but we didn’t care. The story at hand pulled us in and made us want to know more.

Gunn’s movie opens with a block of text filling us in on the background of what is to come. It’s a  move that can’t help but evoke Star Wars’ legendary opening in media res. From there the movie is a frantic dash to the finish line with threat following threat as the plot begins to develop. 

Gunn uses exposition sparingly, letting the characters speak for themselves. He doesn’t waste time telling you the history of the Green Lantern Corps or that Mister Terrific is an Olympic gold medalist and the third smartest man in the world. He lets Nathan Fillion and Edi Gathegi tell you what you need to know with their performances and pithy, to-the-point dialog. I don’t know if Isabella Merced’s Hawkgirl is a reincarnated Egyptian princess or a Thanagarian space-cop and I don’t care. She has a chip on her shoulder, a big mace and a pitch perfect battle cry. 

For his main cast Gunn relies heavily on archetypes. David Corenswet’s Superman lacks the wry wit of Christopher Reeve and the majestic gravitas of Henry Caville but he makes up for it with an appealing earnestness and a desire to do good in a world that is more complicated than he’d like to imagine. Nicholas Hoult’s Luthor is a more peevish take on the character then we’ve seen but turns up the menace in one of the movie’s few genuinely disturbing scenes that also brought tears to my eyes. The real standout performance is given by Rachel Brosnahan. Past attempts to render Lois Lane on the big screen have all been missing the essential combination of toughness and compassion that attracts Superman’s attention but makes her more than just his girlfriend. Brosnahan displays these traits in spades making her the definitive movie version. 

Superman isn’t perfect. The humor, which I enjoyed, may come across as heavy handed to viewers who prefer more serious superhero fare. There’s also a third act reveal that makes the plot seem more complicated than it needs to be in retrospect. Most damning of all is a revelation about Superman’s homeworld Krypton that undermines the movie’s pro-immigrant message at a time when it is sorely needed in the real world. For all its flaws Superman is well worth your time. It’s a beautifully shot, superbly acted film full of color, action and memorable moments with characters that you will come to love if you didn’t go in loving them already. I enjoyed it more than any movie I’ve seen this year and more than any superhero movie I’ve seen in a long time.

And yes, Krypto does steal the show.

Overall: 9/10