'Superman' review: An enjoyable if uneven flight

For my money, there are few more romantic movies than Richard Donner’s “Superman” from 1978. In the scene I’m thinking of — you’re probably thinking of it, too — Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel puts an arm around Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane and whisks her literally off her feet, into the night sky. It was a chivalrous fantasy — innocent but still sexy, bashful but passionate. Midflight, Lois pours out her feelings in an original love poem, almost like a Shakespearean heroine.

James Gunn’s new “Superman” finds itself competing with Donner’s gold-standard movie but also with the last 15 years of cinematic superhero culture. After Zack Snyder’s several films starring Henry Cavill as a strangely bummed-out Superman, Gunn wants a clean slate. He casts David Corenswet, a solid and earnest newcomer, in the title role, now a figure almost as wholesome as he first appeared in a 1938 comic. This Superman has a mostly G-rated mouth (he says “gosh” and “what the hey”) and a cape-clad dog named Krytpo (a 1950s creation who makes his live-action film debut here, though he’s pure CGI). And once again, our hero is sporting the little red trunks that Snyder found so undignified.

But writer-director Gunn, whose “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy made him a darling at Disney-Marvel, knows we’ve seen too many movies to sit through another origin story. So he starts midstream, in a world where Superman and his kind are already known as “metahumans.” Lex Luthor, played by a rage-filled Nicholas Hoult (the underrated actor gets better with every role), is already upending global politics. And Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan as a thoroughly modern commitment-phobe, already knows Clark Kent is Superman. As reporters at The Daily Planet, they duck in and out of each other’s apartments on the sly and bicker about journalistic ethics. Not a ton of romance, there.

All of this makes “Superman” feel less like a radical reinvention and more like business as usual. Meant to launch the new DC Studios, which Gunn now co-chairs, “Superman” introduces us to several characters we’ll surely be seeing more of. That includes the tech-wielding warrior Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi, terrific indeed), whose withering look of annoyance is a superpower I’d love to have, and Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), an amusingly low-class superhero with a nasal accent and a bowl cut. Gunn has brought his knack for offbeat characters, but — in keeping with DC tradition — none are exactly heartwarming.

If you remember the massive star who briefly played Superman’s Kryptonian dad in 1978, you’ll enjoy seeing the massive star who briefly plays him here. “Superman” has plenty of in-jokes, a few new wrinkles (Clark Kent likes punk rock!) and some promising ideas. What I wanted, though, is magic.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com