A Review of ``Superman''

I rarely watch films in theatres nowadays.  I'm not particularly fond of Superman, preferring Batman
over the other super heroes, but thought seeing the film released this year to be a good outing, and
I wasn't disappointed.  I'd heard several bad claims about this film, none of which turned out to be
true.  I'm vaguely aware of some manner of nonsense involving the director of the previous series of
``Superman'' films and, while I enjoyed watching the film at the time, that was before I'd seen much
of anything to do with the character and think this newer film to be better in every single respect.

I won't attempt to avoid revealing aspects of the film's plot; I easily recommend watching the film.

The film assumes light familiarity with Superman, and avoids flashbacks or other tired mechanisms to
introduce anything.  He's defeated in a fight and calls upon Krypto the super dog to drag him to his
fortress of solitude, in which robotic helpers from the planet Krypton help him regain his strength.

An interesting twist in this film's telling of Superman's story is the corruption of the message his
parents sent with him, which Lex Luthor uses to damage his public image after copying an uncorrupted
version: Superman's parents meant to tell him to conquer the Earth and make a harem to preserve some
of Krypton's legacy; as Superman had only heard the first half of their message for his entire life,
he'd misunderstood it to be a call to protect the Earth and preserve hope.  A particularly nice part
of the film involves this message: Initially, Superman is said to enjoy hearing his parents' message
by his robotic helper talking to another and, upon the film's end, the same message is repeated, but
rather than the message from the beginning, family movies by his adoptive parents are shown instead.

Lois Lane and Superman are a couple in this film, but Clark Kent and Lois Lane aren't, although Lois
knows Superman's secret identity.  The ``Justice Gang'' are also in this film, including Hawkgirl, a
Green Lantern, and Mr. Terrific, with the latter playing the most significant role and the first the
least.  A particularly funny scene involves Superman depressed, talking to Lois, while the three are
in the background fighting a large monster.  Regardless, this is a film that takes itself seriously,
and is delightfully free from the miasma of heavy-handed humour choking out most recent films of the
last decade and some.  There are funny scenes, but everything is naturally funny; the audience isn't
told to laugh, as I've seen from far too many examples of films I'd the good taste to avoid viewing.

A good choice was to omit Batman from the film wholly, for he would've overshadowed Superman easily.

The film's special effects look realistic, which means they were done properly, and I noticed upon a
casual review of my memories that the film makes heavy use of fewer sets than other films, to a very
good effect.  I was delighted when the film mentioned a total absence of further Kryptonite found on
Earth, and surprised when an interesting character named Metamorpho was revealed, able to synthesize
more nevertheless.  Lex Luthor is shown to have a pocket dimension he uses to imprison Superman, and
in which he also has an army of monkeys with electrodes in their brains who post derogatory messages
about Superman on social media, which was delightfully not subtle at all.  Lex kills a man who had a
few interactions with Superman in cold blood and later threatens to kidnap and kill a reporter close
to Superman, Clark Kent, another joke played well and seriously.  This pocket dimension becomes open
without end, threatening the Earth, and I felt this could've been written better, but it wasn't bad.

Unlike other iterations of Superman, I was pleased to see almost no race swapping of the characters,
with the boss of the Daily Planet the sole and unfortunate exception, but it didn't spoil it for me.

I was interested in the film after seeing parallels between the country of Boravia and Israel, which
were clear as day.  Boravia wants to genocide the people of Jarhanpur and take their land, with help
from Lex Luthor.  It's nice to see public opinion turning against the illegitimate nation of Israel.

Krypto the super dog was a surprisingly pleasant addition to the film's cast during the final fight.
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