Full confession: I have never seen any iteration of Superman before on film or on TV and, as a kid I was more of a Tiger and Roy of the Rovers reader than the American comic books. Sure, I know the basics about the superhero but he never interested me. But good judges have assured me that this latest go round, written and directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet in the titular role is pretty decent, so I thought I would give it a whirl.
This time, his regular nemesis, billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) puts in motion a plan to discredit our hero in the eyes of his previously adoring public, whilst also orchestrating a military conflict.
Whilst I did not find this film terrible, I also struggled to get involved in it. Superman is a pretty dull character and Corenswet no more than adequate. The longer it went on, the less I liked it because of the excessively elongated fight scenes, especially with a cloned version of himself.
There were some positives though. Rachel Brosnahan is more than a passive onlooker and Zlatko Buric is amusingly unhinged as a dictator. Also, whilst I had no idea who the other superheroes who popped up were, it was good to see the always personable Nathan Fillion appear as one of them.
In the end, I appreciated the none too subtle political messaging and a few of the gags, the reliance of prolonged fights and the all too familiar destruction of cities left me cold and quite bored.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10