I find it funny to read that HISHE was right about Krypto.

I hate counterarguments like that. Yes, there are all sorts of fantastical elements in these types of movies. But run-of-the-mill humans aren't presented as fantastical therein. So, unless Lex had some sort of fantastical/sci-fi shielding, the complaint about a normal human not being injured (or even phased) by a close proximity explosion is valid. Personally, it wouldn't bother me too much since I grew up on a steady diet of over-the-top '80s/'90s action cinema, but it would briefly set off my BS meter.

Superman's been there for three years. The Justice Gang has been around for awhile. Myxyzptlk turning up barely fazes anyone. Of course Metropolis has been evacuated before, likely half-a-dozen+ times. This is a world where Lex can create a pocket universe and Mr. Terrific can hack it - let alone Oan Guardians and Kryptonian dogs - I think the feasibility of a mass evacuation of a single city is as plausible (or moreso) than a lot of other things we already take as reasonable.

Almost nobody died.

It should be no surprise that he was well/out-matched by... himself.

Also, all his previous outings have seen him get kicked around. That's how superhero films/plots function. If he always wins easily, there's no conflict.

They're Kansas farmers, and they looked and sounded like Kansas farmers. Seemed like a smart choice - also makes it more plausible Clark wouldn't have stood out growing up, given the apparently isolated location.

Branding anyone a yokel or hick because of a thick accent is a little harsh; reading backwardness and stupidity into it (as many seem to be) or general illiteracy because an older woman has difficulty making videocalls is a stretch, too.

Not meaning to brand anyone. Maybe I should have said stereotypical instead. It was just a bit much for me and felt like driving the point home that the Kent’s are just country folks. Just wasn’t a big fan of it and it felt a bit cartoonish. I know some of the movie has been called that but to me it didn’t work.

Again I overall liked the movie a lot but when I heard Martha for the first time I kind of rolled my eyes.

Completely agree.

All his fights were essentially against the same antagonist, which was himself, but being guided bybthe smartest man on earth who also had studied Superman's techniques and countered them. So, yes. He SHOULD lose repeatedly in these situations.

I really hate my local theater. It used to be awesome having a theater within walking distance from my house (it's literally a 15 minutes leisurely walk) but then they messed up the sound system on the biggest screen (the front right speaker blew out) and after years of them not fixing it (unless you count them simply blasting the volume ever since the speaker blew a "fix") I gave up and actually have to drive an hour instead for the next nearest theater that doesn't suck. But I figured, after all these years, I'd give them a shot and go catch this flick. But I check the listings and all the showings of Superman are dubbed in Spanish. Not so much as a single subtitled showing.

I've only seen the film once but I remember thinking that there was not a lot of time to get people out. I do not believe a New York-sized city could be evacuated as quickly as depicted in this film. The traffic jams alone would fuck it up. There is no way all of those buildings were empty.

The point being that for some reason, modern Superman movie directors think we want to see all of Metropolis destroyed in their movies. I think it's completely unnecessary. It would have been more effective for the split to start further away and be stopped BEFORE it got to Metropolis. Those buildings are completely totaled. I did not understand the joke in the post-credit scene....the split buildings aren't just going to "stick" back together. Every single one will have to be torn down and rebuilt. That scene was completely pointless and stupid.

This is back to the same issue about suspending disbelief. I can believe that metahumans exist in this world while disbelieving that a building that was split in half can be shoved back together.

Didn't Ma literally call the TV "The Box"?

I thought this was really fun. 3.5 for the movie up
until the end scene. That end scene went really fucking hard. Bumping it up to 3.75 for me.

Not everything was perfect. But as a 41 year old man, I refuse to get deep into the weeds over a Superman movie .

This just might top Slither as my favorite James Gunn movie.

It's a shame they cut the Batman cameo.

Loved the movie, but I have a question - what was with the monkeys playing with Krypto at the end? Was that supposed to have some significance?

I think it’s kind of both. He might have had something that protected him and Gunn felt no need to show it. Or more likely it just shows how much of a reckless badass Lex is. Supes was in his face over the dog and he not only didn’t back down, he tried to provoke him.

Those were the monkeys Lex had posting in the internet.

Ah, riiiiight.

I took my 10-year-old to our IMAX for this over the weekend and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked the jumping right into the story and avoiding the origin, though I think they overcompensated at the beginning with some bits of dialog that made no sense other than to inform the audience of plot points/motivations.

I also think Gunn likely wanted avoid the civilian collateral damage angle that was fairly central to the Snyder films, but it came off as kind of goofy. I laughed out loud when they were evacuating the whole of Metropolis and cut to a shot apparently showing the last handful of stragglers crossing a bridge to safety. I can suspend my disbelief for flying super-powered aliens and the like, but having several million people peacefully evacuate a major city in a matter of minutes? Can't do it. It also felt like a fair number of people were just kind of standing around in buildings or at street level while crazy super-powered fights were happening. I get they're used to some crazy shit, but I feel like they'd still be running for cover.

My only other real gripe was how easily the public turned on Superman. That came off as contrived for the story rather than organic.

I had no problems with the Kents and have seen someone about that age fumble just as much with using a cell phone. I also had no problem with Superman getting his ass kicked multiple times. Clearly Luthor had been planning these attacks for years and we were coming in right as they were launched, so it made sense for the story. The cast was great across the board and I enjoyed the Justice Gang a lot more than I expected to. Despite liking Gunn, I was a little worried he'd go with too much humor, but thought he did a really good job balancing the tone. All in all, it was a fun, heartfelt movie and I look forward to seeing more of DC under Gunn's direction.

I felt this did a WAY better job of examining Superman in a more modern, cynical world, while still being true to the character. Like you have a clear idea of who the guy is and what his motivations are. Plot could have used a little tightening and I wish they just fully did Bizarro in the third act, instead of him probably coming back from Cube Land in a future film as a more classic version. But otherwise enjoyed it, as did my whole in-law family, who were more hesitant going in.

I think a lot of people's complaints boil down to Superman being less formal and unflappable in this, but where they might see stoic, others would see stodgy. I didn't mind it. In the future, I'd like to see more of Clark Kent in public (not just with Lois, where he can drop his guard) and maybe a little more weight to Superman in terms of being a leader or just internalizing that he's the world's greatest hero.

125M for the opening weekend now.

In an age of immediate cancel culture and massive disinformation.. it wasn't that contrived to me. There were probably a lot of people that were fearful of this meta of metahumans and they also saw how his actions (not sanctioned by the President, as Lois points out) in Boravia brought about destruction in Metropolis (by the Hammer of Boravia) before the reveal about Jor-El and Lara-El's true wish for Kal-El.

I also think people are overthinking the whole "need to evacuate the whole city". These people have been living with metahuman threats for a while. I'm sure there's a system in place much like the emergency alert system we have to let people know where and when shit happens and who does and doesn't need to evacuate. Doesn't seem to be an issue when Godzilla runs around because it's isolated parts of the city. It's not like an atomic bomb dropped. And for a real life comparison, Ukrainians in Kyiv are under constant drone and hypersonic missile attacks, but they still live as normally as they can and they rebuild rather quickly because they've been used to it for 3 years. Their infrastructure is much better than say Palestine. I would think Metropolis is just as, if not better, prepared then Kyiv. At the end, they (the Justice Gang) put shit back with most if not all but one building slightly off center. Somehow that's less believable than a single point of a falling building being held up by Superman so as not to crush a car.

Yeah, I don't get the complaints about his defeats at all. I'm glad they showed Lex's intelligence and am glad they didn't do the usual one and done by killing the villain. Hopefully they will continue to feature him as Superman's foil.

The one thing I will say that really surprised me is that they did not hold back that Lex is one evil mofo. I was like, ummm....as these actions of Lex are revealed the world is going to want to arrest Lex and yeah, he was indeed on his way to the pokey at the end of the film.

Of course, he is an Alpha class super-villain so I expect that future films will involve a prison break by Lex and his minions so he can wreak more havoc in the world.

I was not all pumped up to see this film as I knew I might be interested in viewing it in theaters but the marketing campaign leading up to it did not get me excited or turn me off from seeing the film, but when folks on this site and elsewhere started to point out that the film is actually rather good I felt incredibly good about my decision to have a bought a ticket several days ahead of its release date.

It was a nice pleasant surprise and I agree that Mr Terrific and Guy Gardner kind-of stole the show. That being said I really liked the pairing of Corenswet and Brosnahan, it really felt natural...not sure if that is the right word I want to use, but I am trying to say that I buy them as a couple in this film.

I would definitely be down for a Superman II.

To me, the thing is that the idea of Superman is fantastical, so I go into the movie willing to suspend my disbelief and accept the things that he does.

However, regular human people needing to be evacuated because a disaster is occurring is not a fantasy situation, so I am not willing to suspend my disbelief as much, and I expect this drama to have more realistic elements.

Plus, the movie is (from my POV) screaming at me to think about this while it is happening by having the destruction be SO IMMENSE, while Superman dashes around saving a few individuals and a squirrel.

Greatly enjoyed this. Easily the most stand-out DC film I've seen since The Dark Knight. My only complaint: I wish "Super Shit" would have been replaced with "Super Dick".
Sunday Comics Debt: SuperDickery History

Everyone seems to be forgetting the best scene in the whole movie: Mikaela Hoover bouncing up and down at the end.