DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. The new "Superman," which opens in theaters everywhere today, launches a new series of movies adapted from DC Comics. It stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent, aka Superman, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. The movie was written and directed by James Gunn, known for his work on Marvel's "Guardians Of The Galaxy" films and the recent DC Comics adaptation, "The Suicide Squad." Our film critic, Justin Chang, has this review.
JUSTIN CHANG, BYLINE: Whether you love or hate the new Superman - and I rather liked it - you can't accuse it of wasting anyone's time. When we first meet the Man of Steel, played by David Corenswet, he's falling from a great height and crash-landing in the Arctic. He's just been badly beaten by a mega villain from the war-hungry nation of Boravia, and he desperately needs some recovery time at the Fortress of Solitude. It's a smart way to kick things off. The director, James Gunn, has an irreverent, borderline slapstick way with comic book material, and he likes to cut to the chase. He knows we don't need another dreary prologue set on the doomed planet Krypton. We already know Clark Kent's origin story inside out.
The opening also immediately reminds us that Superman isn't invincible. Barely a minute in, he's already getting the wind knocked out of him. His emotional and psychological vulnerability will soon be on display as well. Back in Metropolis, he's getting mixed reviews for interfering in Boravian affairs. In this scene, Clark, having just written about his own super heroics in the pages of The Daily Planet, learns that his colleagues aren't so enamored of Superman. They include reporter Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan, and photographer Jimmy Olsen, played by Skyler Gisondo.
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RACHEL BROSNAHAN: (As Lois Lane) So this guy just flew into Midtown and started attacking people, demanding for Superman to show up?
DAVID CORENSWET: (As Clark Kent) Yeah, it's all there in my article.
BROSNAHAN: (As Lois Lane) I don't actually have to make it through your writing, Clark. Knowledge is worth many sacrifices. That isn't one of them.
CORENSWET: (As Clark Kent) A-ha-ha. Very funny, Lois.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Ooh.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Oh, my God. He's so fine.
SKYLER GISONDO: (As Jimmy Olsen) Twenty-two people in the hospital, over 20 million in property damage. It does make you wonder.
BROSNAHAN: (As Lois Lane) Wonder what?
GISONDO: (As Jimmy Olsen) As great as he is, maybe Superman didn't completely think through the ramifications of the Boravia thing.
BROSNAHAN: (As Lois Lane) Well, if this guy is even from Boravia.
GISONDO: (As Jimmy Olsen) What do you mean? His name is the Hammer of Boravia.
BROSNAHAN: (As Lois Lane) Yeah, I doubt his parents named him that, Jimmy. We have no clue what his actual goal was here.
GISONDO: (As Jimmy Olsen) I think it's pretty obvious the goal was kicking Superman's a**.
CORENSWET: (As Clark Kent) Oh, he didn't completely kick Superman's a**.
GISONDO: (As Jimmy Olsen) Pretty thoroughly, Clark.
CHANG: You wouldn't guess from the in-office banter, but Lois and Clark have been steadily dating for months, and she's well aware of his secret identity. In one sharply written scene back at her apartment, Lois interviews Clark as Superman, a nice throwback to an equivalent scene from the 1978 "Superman," when Margot Kidder lobbed softballs at Christopher Reeve. By contrast, Brosnahan's Lois grills Clark mercilessly. What right does Superman have meddling in foreign policy? How can he be certain that his actions are really helping humanity? Before long, the evil tech bro billionaire, Lex Luthor, played by a superbly hissable Nicholas Hoult, will be asking the same question. He finds an ingeniously underhanded way of turning Superman into public enemy No. 1.
Luthor, it's no surprise, has his own devious interest in the Boravia situation. Mostly, though, he's obsessed with taking Superman down, and he has a ridiculous arsenal of high-tech gadgets to help him do it. These include something called a pocket universe, basically a secret dimension that allows Luthor to bend time and space to his will. It also allows director Gunn to indulge his affinity for all things otherworldly and grotesque. As his fans know from his work, not just "Guardians Of The Galaxy" and "The Suicide Squad," but also his low-budget horror movie "Slither." Gunn has an exuberant love for weird critters of every kind. You see this in "Superman," as well, which boasts giant eyeballs, various oversized creepy crawlies and even a cute green toddler. And I haven't even mentioned Clark's scene-stealing pet, Krypto, a loyal, but barely housebroken, caped canine who earns the title of Superman's best friend.
The goofiness doesn't stop there. At times, Superman must reluctantly join forces with a band of second-tier superheroes who call themselves the Justice Gang. They're mostly good company. I especially liked Edi Gathegi as a sarcastic tech wiz known as Mr. Terrific. But all this extra baggage can leave the movie feeling unwieldy and overstuffed. Still, after the oppressive doom and gloom of the last Superman reboot, the Henry Cavill-starring "Man Of Steel," it's refreshing to see a filmmaker grooving on this material with a genuine sense of playfulness. Gunn takes Superman seriously, but not self-seriously. It helps that he has a terrific star in David Corenswet, who looks great as Superman, whether he's soaring through space or pulling bystanders out of harm's way. But as Clark Kent, Corenswet may be even better. He sensitively captures Clark's defensiveness when he's called out, his shame and horror when global opinion turns against him, and his poignant realization of who he is and what he stands for.
In one lovely interlude, Clark briefly returns to his Kansas homestead to see his adoptive parents, nicely played by Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell. It's an emotional scene that Gunn handles beautifully, with a groundedness that only a filmmaker fully in sync with his material could pull off. It may open with Superman crashing to Earth, but in all the ways that count, this movie more than sticks the landing.
BIANCULLI: Justin Chang is a film critic for The New Yorker. He reviewed the new film version of "Superman," opening today in theaters.
On Monday's show, life as a jailhouse lawyer. While serving a life sentence at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for a murder he didn't commit, Calvin Duncan studied law and helped free many wrongfully convicted prisoners, including himself. He's since been exonerated and received a law degree. He continues to do legal work with prisoners. I hope you can join us.
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BIANCULLI: To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram - @nprfreshair. FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Sam Briger is our managing producer. Our senior producer today is Roberta Shorrock. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support by Joyce Lieberman, Julian Herzfeld and Diana Martinez.
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BIANCULLI: Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Hope Wilson (ph) is our consulting visual producer.
For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I'm David Bianculli.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHUCHO VALDES' "CHUCHO'S MOOD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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