How expensive are script writers? Cheaping out on writers just doesn’t seem like an effective way to save money on a $300 million movie.
For people who are cognitively impaired or aren’t paying attention, Superman is a good movie. A few months ago, Variety ran an article asking if theaters should encourage texting or smoking weed during movies to sell more tickets. Superman is made for those theaters.
Texting, Weed and Sing-Alongs: Four Radical Ideas for Bringing New Audiences to Movie Theaters
The characters, casting, dialogue and action are good to great. Krypto and the writing are terrible.
Krypto the Superdog, is a dick with few redeeming qualities. He comes when Superman whistles, but doesn’t do anything to help, and usually makes the situation worse. James Gunn, the writer and director of this movie, fashioned Krypto after the rescue dog that he adopted. His dog is just as destructive and chaotic.
This movie would have been much different if he had adopted a super-beagle.
Superman doesn’t need an origin story, but he isn’t the main character in his own movie and we are dumped into a world we don’t know much about. It was like the MCU starting with The Avengers, rather than that being the sixth movie in the franchise.
Clark Kent is a schmuck who gets ridiculed at the Daily Planet. The movie starts just after Superman got his ass kicked, and he isn’t widely admired or respected. The goofy, young Jimmy Olsen has a hot woman in his thrall. At the Fortress of Solitude, Superman has a cadre of obsequious robots who’s only desire is a kind word or glance from Superman. They yearn to be addressed as individuals.
Lex Luther’s technology and operation make him seem more like an alien from an advanced civilization.
Mutant humans have existed in this world for several centuries. There are many superheroes and supervillains with awesome powers that we know little about.
Superman is the main character, only in that Lex Luther targeted him specifically. Other superheroes and Jimmy Olsen do as much as Superman does, to ruin Luther’s plan.
We don’t know how any of the characters got to be like this or what powers they have.
Krypto is asshoe.
Clark Kent’s Earth parents talk like retrograde stereotypes. It’s bad. Like Stepin Fetchit bad.
Superman’s Kryptonian parents are worse. They left him a recorded message that he watches often. Most of the message was damaged on the way to Earth, but Lex Luther reconstructs the message. Superman’s parents told him that he was sent to Earth because the people are weak and dumb. He should rule the Earth as a tyrant and impregnate as many Earth girls as possible.
It’s cool that much of Superman was filmed in Cleveland. That may have been done because Superman originated from Cleveland in 1938.
After Jor-El’s rape and pillage message to Superman along with his Cleveland roots, made me think of Alex Bevan’s song. “Chase your women and drink your beer.”
Superman isn’t bad, just not good. It’s a 7/10.
I’m sorry. 7 out of 10 does not reflect “not good”. 4-5 would be sensible. All that makes this movie unwatchable has to be called out.