Superman Talk

Now that the film has had a week to be seen and dissected a trillion ways, I wanted to give a solid recommendation with some thoughts.

Superman is a character like Captain America, Spider-Man, or Captain Picard who means a great deal to those who grew up needing positive male role models and had to turn to fiction to find them. The perception has long been that it's much easier for Superman to default to being a "good person" because it's easy when you have the powers of a god. But clearly, people with tons of power, money, and influence in reality are rarely genuinely good people. They got there by being unethical, competitive, or dominating.

So in this nature vs. nurture story, the naivety and willingness to protect all life—including a squirrel—regardless of circumstance makes for the kind of heartwarming, motivational film that counters so much nihilism. James Gunn easily tackles the real question: how do you stay a good person when the world is telling you you're wrong, a goody-goody, naive, that it doesn't matter, and you're fake to start with—especially when you try to do good and fail by only saving two out of three drowning victims? Meanwhile, filmmakers like Snyder think they're exploring weighty topics that are irrelevant to normal people and aren't anywhere near as clever or sophisticated as they make out.

I loved that the story started in media res with Superman already beaten down. It's like a random comic issue plucked off the shelf that establishes this is a comic book world that's been full of gods, monsters, and metahumans for a while—and shows our hero can indeed be beaten. Every actor was fully committed, all the action scenes felt special and unique, and the dramatic/funny moments all had purpose. You can tell this was made by a Midwesterner. Plus, having James Gunn as writer, director, and studio head means this isn't some diluted committee-made disposable bit of media.

And everyone has a purpose. Jimmy Olsen does valuable shit and has screen presence. Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho, Guy Gardner—same deal. Luthor's subordinates matter. I understood Engineer's backstory, POV, and powers. Perry White got his catchphrase. Lois was an investigative reporter and active heroic character, not some damsel in distress. Luthor did scary horrible shit—like that quick round of Russian Roulette with an innocent bystander—but I also got where he was coming from.

The movie stays light on its feet in ways that make it actually engaging for people not addicted to lore. It's not some bloated modern sci-fi epic that takes itself too seriously. I couldn't tell you what the purpose of Eternals, Shang-Chi, or Ant-Man and the Wasp was, but this one knows exactly what it's doing. Whether it's thousands of monkeys typing #supershit or a baby kaiju running off into the night, every beat has purpose.

Why am I even writing this? It's frustrating to explain to my kids why characters they grew up with from Justice League Unlimited act wildly out of character in something like Batman v Superman. When you've got a big cultural character who COULD inspire people to be better, I get fucking thrilled when something comes out that's quality, is ABOUT something, and was crafted with love and care. Dog adoptions (or at least searches) went up 500% because of Krypto alone. Even as a casual fan, I want to hit movies with my 16- and 18-year-olds, have a good time, and not walk out feeling like shit (cough Man of Steel cough) or like my time got wasted.

A wonderful piece of pop art with real cultural impact—the kind of story with imagination that ripples for decades.