Review: Yes, ‘Superman’ is political. It’s also fast-paced, goofy and a lot of fun

It came as a great relief when writer director James Gunn revealed his new Superman film which opens in theaters on Friday would not be an origin story After all anyone with even the slightest interest in this movie surely knows at least the basics of his biography After learning their planet Krypton is about to perish two parents put their baby in a spaceship and point it toward Earth where he s adopted by farmers who realize the lad has supernatural powers which when he grows up he uses to make the world a better place The story of Superman at its core is an immigrant success story And yet after Gunn reported the Times of London in an interview published over the weekend that yes it s about politics but on another level it s about morality Fox News hosts went into overdrive on Monday complaining that the Superwoke movie embraced pro-immigrant themes To be certain there are political themes in Superman The main villain is a raging self-centered billionaire who uses media social and traditional to spread lies and hatred The secondary villain is a doddering power-hungry elderly man with an unruly mop of hair and a flock of advisors who constantly shower him with unearned praise And a critical portion of the film is devoted to masked thugs who disappear the villains enemies to a secluded and harsh prison camp without anything close to due process It s worth noting that filming on Superman wrapped last July which makes various scenes feel eerily prescient But as Gunn stated in the same interview there is also a flying dog in the film who wears a cape And despite all odds that flying dog whose name is Krypto is one of the best things about an overstuffed but never boring film that s far more than just another superhero tale This image circulated by Warner Bros Pictures shows Krypto the dog in a scene from Superman Warner Bros Pictures via AP Superman serves a reboot to DC s cinematic universe which began with s Man of Steel In it director Zach Snyder whose film debut was a smart and stylish remake of Dawn of the Dead that to date remains his finest moment reimagined Superman as a brooding but sexy Christ-like figure unafraid to murder his opponents From there Snyder s own films got increasingly tedious and ridiculous And despite a scarce bright spots in Wonder Woman and Aquaman all but one s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom of the eight bulk up-to-date DC flicks failed to recoup their budgets and earned mostly negative reviews One of those flops s The Suicide Squad served as Gunn s entry into DC territory after the success of his Guardians of the Galaxy series for rival studio Marvel which stand among that company s most-loved entries Gunn s work inspired Warner Bros Discovery to hire Gunn and his longtime collaborator Peter Safran to oversee the new universe that starts with Superman Gunn keeps the action moving fast and furious from the very first scene in which Superman has lost a battle for the first time From there the audience is ushered into this new world through a series of fun and breezy and sometimes comical sequences that fill in the plot Without giving away any spoilers there is a lot going on in Superman Not all of it works but Gunn never lingers on any one topic for too long and manages to tell multiple stories in an economical running time of just two hours No superhero movie should ever clock in past the two-hour mark Overall the casting is brilliant David Corenswet an actor who has worked steadily in film and television over the past decade but is just now making his big breakthrough portrays the title character as a truly kind gentle giant who looks for the good in people He sees his main goal as protecting and serving his beloved adopted home and its people One flaw in the film is that we don t see enough of Superman as his alter ego mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent Lois Lane Rachel Brosnahan sizes up her coworker in disguise David Corenswet in Superman Jessica Miglio Warner Bros Entertainment Rachel Brosnahan s Lois Lane is sharp and spicy while Nicholas Hoult channels both Tom Cruise and Billy Corgan as the villainous Lex Luthor Gunn also chose wisely in selecting actors for the other superheroes which are called metahumans in this world a quartet of lesser-known characters in the DC universe Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho Nathan Fillion as the Guy Gardner Green Lantern complete with his awful bowlcut from the comics and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl What James Gunn no love for Matter-Eater Lad Gunn also tosses in winks and nods to the multiple decades worth of Superman portrayals in print film and television including even decidedly uncool stuff like Superman III and the Super Friends cartoon series And then there s Krypto who Gunn modeled after his own rescue pet Mostly untrained and wildly rambunctious Krypto is a good dog who is also a very bad dog in a good way It s a sheer delight every time that little doggo shows up on screen He s also a reminder of why when it works Superman works well Yes it gets political at times But it also celebrates the sheer goofiness inherent in comic books unlike any film before it I m excited to see what comes next Superman Directed by James Gunn Starring David Corenswet Rachel Brosnahan Nicholas Hoult Edi Gathegi Anthony Carrigan Nathan Fillion Rated PG- for violence and language Should you go When it works Superman flies high stars