I have been expecting the release of the new version of ‘Superman‘ written and directed by James Gunn and I didn’t miss the opportunity to watch the film on its first day of release for audiences around the world. I’m not sure I’ve seen all the films featuring the character of Superman, but I remember the 1978 film fondly and I was also a big fan of the TV series ‘Lois & Clark’ that was very popular in the ’90s. Remakes of superhero movies are sometimes (admittedly, quite rarely) successful, and I had high hopes. Unfortunately, the disappointment was in line with expectations.
‘Superman‘ is not just about movies but also a true cultural phenomenon and an industry of fashion items, toys and gadgets built around the characters. For producers, success is probably not measured only in the number of tickets sold, let alone in the comments of film critics. The calculation is made much later and it depends on the reaction of the audience and the extent to which they are urged, after watching the film, to buy the new products generated by that version. The new ‘Superman‘ does not bring anything new to the story we know. There is a new twist, probably already known to almost everyone who gets to see the film, which however generates only false or superficial identity crises for the main character. The double identity of the Clark / Superman hero is almost completely absent, the actor David Corenswet spending about 90% of the film in the costume in which I have not yet figured out how the physiological needs are satisfied. Perhaps newer is the fact that Superman is now part of a somewhat larger category of meta-humans who help, when they are in a good mood, humanity in its difficult moments. Fans and critics call this the ‘superhero universe’. The toy-generating novelties are Crypto the puppy and a gallery of robots who have also grown bored with the names they have been given – ‘One’ to ‘Twelve’ -, who are not yet different enough to generate characters, but are elegantly designed enough to make collectors and many parents fork out the money to purchase the models.
The story is dull and uninteresting, even though we live in times when humanity is in great need of superheroes. The pseudo-technical vocabulary produces moments of unintentional humor. Screenwriter James Gunn tried to introduce some political elements related to the conflict between large corporations and the rest of humanity or international politics, but everything is predictable and drowns in clichés. The two actors who take over the role of Clark and Lois – David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan – are OK, but neither he matches Christopher Reeve’s charisma, nor she matches Teri Hatcher from the television series, who was in my opinion the funniest and sexiest Lois in the history of the role. There are many allusions and homages to the original story and previous films in the film – in the sets and other details -, but I wonder how many of the younger viewers understand them. Not even the dog Crypto can save this ‘Superman‘, which for me was a bore with many spectacular special effects.