Superman on Canal Plus: is James Gunn’s version up to par? (critical)
The reinvention of the legendary DC Comics superhero is not a revolution but effectively dusts off the genre.
Arrived last summer at the cinema, Superman is the first film in the new DC Universe led by James Gunn. And it will soon be followed by Supergirlwhich is scheduled for release on June 24 in France. In the meantime, the superhero in red underwear arrives this Friday evening on Canal Plus, and in streaming on MyCanal. Our review:
The best scene of Superman is not a Homeric fight between demigods but a simple discussion in a living room. More precisely the very first interview granted by the Man of Steel to Lois Lane (impeccable Rachel Brosnahan), his colleague from Daily Planet and companion for three months, who can no longer bear seeing Clark Kent feed his articles with the words of his alter ego.
The journalist rightly teases him about Superman’s latest feat of arms, intervening on his own to single-handedly stop the invasion of an imaginary country in the East – a thinly veiled reference to the Ukrainian conflict. Heroism in its purest form, which still raises serious questions about the interventionism of the most powerful being in the universe…
“But people were going to die!“, shouts the boy scout played by David Corenswet, who sticks to his position and abruptly ends the interview.
Is Superman above laws and governments? We would have liked the film to explore the geopolitical significance of its hero, but director/screenwriter James Gunn (the trilogy Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad) seems monopolized by an almost untenable brief: reinventing Supes while making him the launching pad of a new DC Comics universe, of which the filmmaker is the co-boss. And let’s admit that, given the circumstances, the guy came out with honors.
Season 3
In contrast to Zack Snyder’s vision, Gunn erases the spirit of seriousness and the Christ-like parable to impose a pop (almost pulp) lightness on the character, which is found as much in the constant jokes as in the colorimetry. The film embraces its vintage side, straddling the line between comics and 80s cinema, and moves at lightning speed: from the first image, a card tells us that metahumans have inhabited the Earth for 300 years.
We sometimes have the impression of having started a series in season 3 (no time to tell us the origins of the second knives Green Lantern, Hawkgirl or Mister Terrific), but this choice forces a certain narrative efficiency, and allows us to concentrate almost entirely on the confrontation between Superman and Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult, deliciously histrionic).
A crazy, egocentric and jealous tech billionaire, determined to destroy his sworn enemy with scientific sleight of hand and by manipulating public opinion (social media haters are compared to monkeys behind their screens – we admit we laughed). David Corenswet effectively holds the helm in the title role: charming, charismatic without making an effort, gentle and tough when necessary.
Find your soul
But the film wants to be too many things at once and sometimes struggles to reconcile everything: the dramaturgy takes a serious hit and the grammar of the action scenes leaves something to be desired, with James Gunn contenting himself with twirling his camera at a wide angle to give impact to his images stuffed to the hilt with digital special effects.
However, some visual ideas stand out from the rest (the verticality and impressive scale of certain fights; a giant fault in the middle of the city; the very funny dog Krypto launched into the battle…) and Superman ends up winning by finding his soul as much in his blunders as in his strokes of brilliance. There are enough crazy attempts and kinetic energy here to dust off the superhero cinema of the last ten years. It is both a little and a lot.
Supermanby James Gunn, with David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult… Duration 2 h 09.
