Just some random rambles. Things I didn't like:
Starting with the biggest one. The whole plot of Superman's Kryptonian parents being evil, it never having a proper conclusion to it and then Superman tossing aside his Kryptonian parents in favour of his Earth ones and it being portrayed as a good thing.That
really rubbed me the wrong way and apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. It comes of as weirdly contradictory to the immigrant allegory that James said he was trying to do, when Jor-El ends up giving Lex a legit reason to fear him. It's much stronger with Clark accepting both sides of his life. Krypton being flawed just like Earth and their destruction being the result of said flaws is a much stronger tragedy than them just being.... Viltrum. It just removes a lot of nuance to the character and creates some really weird implications the more you think about it.
It's crazy when Birthright, the book this movie takes heavy inspiration from, does this plot so much better yet James just doesn't do that. He had the blueprints and just threw it away.
Idk, I just feel the whole thing has weird implications, and I don't think James meant anything malicious, I just don't think he thought it out that well.
Some other minor stuff:
- Hypno glasses is meh. I think Clark being an actual persona is a lot better.
- I'm not in the minority in this, but I feel the Kent's should be dead. I feel more often than not it makes Superman mission to spread kindness in their legacy, just like his birth parents much stronger.
- I'm kinda mixed on Jor-El sending Clark to Earth on a mission to spread kindness. It's not bad, however, I much prefer the plot point of Jor-El not even knowing if Clark would make it, and simply sending Clark into the cosmos in one last shred of hope that somehow, he would survive to be a far more powerful message.
- I do miss the larger scale of destruction in some of the previous movies, especially with the city truly being empty should allow for more creative stuff. Action was still great though.
- Pacing is a bit off, mainly in the first half. It feels kinda choppy, like a lot of it was cut? Not actual flaw but a bit bothersome.
Now negativity aside and for things I did like:
- Action was great, really loved how the flight was portrayed. I do miss the high speed action of MoS but this is still great. I really loved the creative uses of Superman's abilities in this movie, especially stuff like the spinning heat vision move.
- Humor is pretty good for the most part, one of the better humor in JG movies. I feel Gunn excels much better in Pg rated humor than r rated.
- I love the sets, really loved the extra mile they went to make it feel like it was out of a comic book. The whole world felt truly alive.
- Characters were the strongest point. Clark's kindest is really displayed frontmost with him caring about even the smallest animal. And I liked that everyone had something to do in this film, even the daily planet side gang. Mr Terrific does a lot more than I thought he would, and I'm really surprised how well Guy Gardner was done in this film, still a dick but takes his job as a GL seriously nonetheless. Lex was just ******* amazing, man. Absolute hatred to the point of tears is insane. I do wished they kept him and Clark being childhood friends but oh well. Hawkgirl didn't do much but her killing bootleg Netanyahu was hilarious. Literally no questions or is is ever brought up again lmfao.
- Casting for everyone is pretty much perfect, like I literally have no complaints here. Oh yeah, Supergirl was neat ig.
- Movie's plot is honestly solid despite the issue I laid out earlier, and it really leans into the more drama aspects of Superman which I appreciate. It has some quite some moving parts but everything manages to come together and wrap up in a pretty satisfying manner. David and Nicholas might be my new favourite Supes and Lex like.... ever.
It really feels like the movie was laying the groundwork for something much bigger, and for the most part, does a good job at laying that foundation. I feel James definitely has room for improvement.
I feel like I'm being too harsh on this film, but that's because everything else is so amazing but those few plot decisions are just too glaring too ignore. That aside, I haven't felt this amount of joy since Transformers One. Guessed I'm that starved for good content of my favourite things huh.
I'll rewatch it definitely, and my opinion may vary in the future, but rn it's a solid 8/10.
