Superman Parent Guide

It’s been a long time since Clark Kent, aka Superman (David Corenswet) crash-landed in a Kansas cornfield. Since then, he’s tried to use his superhuman abilities to help his adoptive home planet. And now, for the first time, he’s lost a fight.

Superman was trying to prevent a war between Boravia and neighboring Jarhanpur, but the political blowback has him back-footed. A metahuman calling himself “The Hammer of Boravia” sought revenge, and along with blowing holes in large parts of Metropolis, readily trounced our boy in the red cape.

Although Superman managed to escape to the Antarctic Fortress of Solitude to recover, the defeat has dealt a blow to his confidence. Even worse, scummy tech billionaire Lex Luthor, consumed by a fanatical loathing of all metahumans and aliens, has dug up some real dirt – a seemingly authentic recording of Clark’s Kryptonian parents which starts as a loving message to the son they evacuated from their dying planet, before taking a dramatic turn and instructing the boy to use his incredible powers to rule the Earth

While I am definitely suffering from chronic stage-four superhero movie fatigue, I was surprised to find myself enjoying this flick. Much of Superman’s appeal comes from the earnest, boy-scout charm which most of the genre tries to avoid – Zach Snyder certainly tried to bring a darker edge to the stories – and this movie wisely embraces the more optimistic aspect of the character. James Gunn isn’t exactly cutting the caped crusader any breaks, forcing him to confront his own sense of invincibility and justice and responsibility and agency, but it never feels as grim or as bleak as Snyder’s predecessor.

Clark Kent’s many important moral lessons notwithstanding, the film isn’t going to be a wonderful choice for very young viewers thanks to the violence and overlong runtime. That said, the film is a perfectly reasonable PG-13 viewing option. Superman might wear his underwear on the outside, but he’s also remarkably careful when pummeling his foes, and just about all of them are seen alive after Superman is through with them. Even the massive municipal destruction standard for a superhero flick seems remarkably bloodless – thanks in part to timely evacuation notices in a world accustomed to insane city-destroying fights. Parents are going to be less enthusiastic about the dozen scatological curses, but for the most part the film is pretty clean.

I grew up watching the old 1978 Superman starring Christopher Reeve in the blue pajamas, and it’s still my favorite take on the character. That show is a goofy, somewhat bloated mess, but it oozes sincerity out of your screen and all over the carpet. It’s hard to imagine James Gunn going quite that far, but even he’s managed to tone down some of the cynicism you’d expect in Guardians of the Galaxy or The Suicide Squad, and this film really stands out as a result. Gunn was also smart enough to keep calling back to John Williams iconic score from the 1978 film, which doesn’t hurt. I’m still pretty tired of the genre, and I dread the number of sequels coming down the pipe – but this is a fun flick.

About author

Keith Hawkes

Keith Hawkes graduated from Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada with a degree in English and History. His interests are movies, American literature, science fiction, almost every kind of music, and museums. He enjoys criticizing films for fun - although he's okay with being paid for it.